The Minister of Planning and Economic Development participates in the closing ceremony of the Youth Competition for Family Development

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated today in the closing ceremony of the youth competition for the project to strengthen the Egypt Family Planning Program, which was held by (The John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy, Civic Engagement, and Responsible Business at the College of Business Administration) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).



The ceremony took place at the university headquarters in Tahrir, in the presence of Dr. Tarek Tawfik, Deputy Minister of Health for Population Affairs, Ms. Margaret Sancho, Deputy Director of the US Agency for International Development in Egypt (USAID), and Ms. Shwanbet Shaw On, Director of the John Snow Foundation for Consultations specialized in the field of public health.


During her speech, El-Said said that young people are the partners of the present and the hope of the future.

She noted that young people are the driving force for development and construction, where there is no limit to their ambition and no limits to their passion and dreams.

El-Said pointed out that the Egyptian state has spared no effort to empower young people and provide them with all means of support, to benefit from the demographic grant represented in the fact that Egypt is a young nation, where the youth rate is 65% of the total population.

El-Said added that the state has in recent years intensified investment in youth and established national institutions to implement training and capacity-building programs to qualify young people for leadership, empowering them economically, and keeping pace with the changing and accelerating requirements of the labor market.

El-Said stressed the state's keenness on effective communication and direct dialogue with young people, especially through youth conferences and various events such as the competition.

El-Said also explained that the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development's sponsorship of the Egyptian family development competition contributes to benefiting from the efforts of a prestigious educational institution, along with international community organizations, with the state's efforts in implementing the national project for the development of the Egyptian family.
She added that this reflects the participatory approach adopted by the ministry, as well as its permanent orientation to empower and participate young people in development efforts, and reflects the country's firm belief in the pivotal role of youth as well as their ability to overcome any challenge.

El-Said referred to the importance of the population issue and its dimensions to sustainable development, as it is a pivotal issue in the developmental orientation of the Egyptian state, stressing that it receives the attention of all the state and the political leadership as a national security issue.

El-Said explained that the high rates of population increase represent one of the most important challenges that the state sought to confront as part of its efforts to achieve sustainable development through Egypt's Vision 2030.


 El-Said pointed out the importance of the population issue in the developmental orientation of the Egyptian state, which is based on taking into account the balance between population increase and available resources, as well as the keenness to maximize the benefit from the current human wealth that Egyptian society enjoys.

El-Said reviewed some indicators of the increase in population growth rates and the challenges they pose to the Egyptian state, explaining that the population in Egypt has reached 102 million, and the annual birth rate is about 2.3 million per year.

 El-Said added that the average number of children per woman according to the 2017 census is 3.4 children per woman, decreasing to 2.9 in 2020, noting that the most numerous age group is from 0 to 9 years old, which portends a population boom in 2030-2042 when this number reaches age group for marriage.

On the impact of population increase on sustainable development, El-Said explained that the worsening rate of population growth in Egypt leads to an increase in the imbalance between resources and population, which increases economic, social, and environmental pressures, and leads to a decline in per capita income from development efforts and the fruits of economic growth that the state has been able to achieve.


El-Said added that these challenges necessitated a quick move to control the steady increase in the population and find radical and sustainable solutions to it.
El-Said added that one of the most prominent principles on which population policies are based is looking at the population as one of the most important elements of the state’s comprehensive strength, taking into account achieving a balance between population increase and available resources, as well as the state’s commitment to integrating the population component in economic and social development plans.

In addition to the importance of educating community members about the dangers of high fertility rates at the national level and providing family planning and reproductive health services of high quality, with women and children’s health at the heart of any population strategy.

El-Said referred to the speedy movement of the Egyptian government to prepare and implement the national project for the development of the Egyptian family, based on five pillars: economic empowerment, service intervention, cultural, media and educational intervention, digital transformation, and legislative intervention.


El-Said explained that the first axis of achieving economic empowerment aims to empower women in the age group 18-45 years to work, earn a living, and have financial independence.


On the second pillar of the project, which is the service intervention, El-Said explained that it aims to reduce the unmet need for women for family planning methods and make them available free of charge to all, through appointing female doctors trained in family planning methods, and distributing them to health facilities at the level of Egypt.

El-Said added that the third pillar, which relates to cultural, media, and educational intervention, aims to raise the Egyptian citizen's awareness of the basic concepts of the population issue and the social and economic effects of the population increase.

On the fourth and fifth pillar related to digital transformation and legislative intervention, El-Said stressed the state's endeavor to intelligently reach the women targeted to provide the service, facilitate, follow-up and evaluate it, by building an integrated database for family planning services, in addition to developing a legislative and regulatory framework governing the policies taken to control population growth.


El-Said stressed the importance of the family development competition in supporting the national project for the development of the Egyptian family, which is scheduled to be launched in the next few weeks, explaining that it is possible to benefit from the recommendations issued by the competition in the plan, as well as to seek the assistance of university youth to implement the project’s inputs and various activities.



El-Said welcomed the announcement of the launch of the next edition of the student competition 2021/2022 and the sponsorship of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development for it.


In conclusion, Dr. Hala El-Said announced the first and second place winners, wishing them continued success, stressing the keenness of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development to benefit from their recommendations and integrate them into the national project for the development of the Egyptian family.