The Minister of Planning and Economic Development discusses the national project for family development and the file of the capacity building before the Human Rights Committee in the House of Representatives

Dr. Hala El-Said: We address the demographic issue from a human rights and development approach

Egypt’s Minister of Planning & Economic Development, Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, discussed the features of the National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family 21/2022-23/2024.

El-Said also discussed the Ministry’s activities in the field of training, capacity building, and qualification of cadres in the country.
This discussion came at a meeting of the Human Rights Committee of the House of Representatives.During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said said that the population issue in Egypt is one of the obstacles to development, as the large and steady increase in population growth affects the returns of development and the quality of life of the Egyptian citizen.
El-Said pointed out that the percentage of the poor increased with the increase in the size of the family, and that only 7% of individuals who live in families with less than 4 members are poor, while that percentage increases to 48% for individuals who live in families with 6-7 members. El-Said pointed out that 80% of the individuals who live in families with 10 or more members are poor.El-Said pointed out that the most numerous age group in the 2006 census is from 15 to 24 years old and therefore falls into the age of marriage, which resulted in an increase in births in 2017, and that the most numerous age group in 2017 is from 0 to 9 years (25%) of the population).


El-Said said that we expect this category to enter the age of marriage and childbearing from 2030 until 2042, which warns of a population boom again despite the decrease in the population growth rate, in the period from 2030 to 2042.El-Said explained that despite the short-term successes in the field of family planning in the nineties of the last century, and the reduction of fertility rates in Egypt from 4.4 (child/woman) in 1988 to 3 (child/woman) in 2008, the results were not sustainable or Continuous in the long term.El-Said emphasized that the general strategic objective of the family development plan is to improve the quality of life of Egyptian citizens and families by controlling population growth and improving population characteristics. El-Said pointed out that the plan’s axes include the axis of economic empowerment, the axis of service intervention by reducing the unmet need for women for family planning methods and making them available free of charge to all, and the axis of cultural, awareness, and educational intervention by raising citizens’ awareness of the basic concepts of the population issue and the social and economic effects of the population increase.El-Said confirmed that the average return on each Egyptian pound spent on family planning programs is estimated at EGP 151.7 Egyptian, which the state will spend in the areas of health, education, housing, and support, according to a study prepared by the Egyptian Center for Economic Studies.On the activities of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development in the field of training, capacity building, and qualification of cadres in the country; Dr. Hala El-Said referred to the training provided through the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development - the training arm of the ministry. El-Said explained that the institute's programs for capacity building and development during 2020-2021 included about 43 total trainees and 578 training programs.El-Said also referred to the “Be an Ambassador” initiative, which completed the training of 1,100 trainees in its first phase.Moreover, 3,873 women were trained within the Egyptian Women's Leadership Program in 12 governorates and an initiative for a digital future, through which 1,000 women were trained as a first stage on the general principles of computers.
This is in addition to several training programs outside the Republic, including the Government Leadership Development Program, the African Women Leaders Program, and other programs.
She also referred to the exercises on implementing program and performance plans and budgets, through which 632 training courses and workshops were organized, benefiting 8,070 people in various ministries.
El-Said reviewed the Egypt Award for Government Excellence, the training programs that were provided through it, and the capacity building axis in cooperation with the UAE.
 El-Said pointed to the ministry's role through training in the field of digital transformation with the governorates and training in providing services or through mobile service units and vehicles. El-Said also drew attention to training within the framework of the Rowad 2030 project on the idea of ​​entrepreneurship offered to students and youth, as well as working to establish business incubators in cooperation with various universities. El-Said also shed light on the Ministry's Equal Opportunities Unit, the training programs that were carried out through it, the Demographic Center in Cairo, which has so far graduated 2,468 graduates with a general diploma in demography, and a special diploma in population and development.