The latest Egypt Human Development Report focuses on the future foretold via the challenges facing Egyptian youth, reports Doaa El-Bey The 11th Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) entitled "Youth in Egypt: Building our future" is out. It focuses on the aspirations and opportunities available to youth, the challenges they face in realising their personal goals, and their potential to contribute to human development in Egypt. The report looks at Egyptian youths aged 18 to 29, as they represent nearly a quarter of the total population. The report aims to "show how outcomes for youth in Egypt will depend on building their human capital with appropriate policies, investment and programmes," according to the report's lead author, Heba Handoussa. In her analysis of the status of youth in the first chapter, she outlines nine main messages of this year's EHDR including: overcoming failure in the education system; breaking the cycle of poverty; creating jobs; eliminating gender discrimination; youth wellbeing; and youth participation in governance. Handoussa underlined at the EHDR launching conference this Sunday that the nine messages of the study are directed to society as well as to the government. "Responsibility is always thrown on the government. But we, as a society, have a joint responsibility with the government towards youth," she said in her opening remarks. The nine EHDR "messages" illustrate the main obstacles facing youth. These obstacles are often intertwined and have cumulative negative effects on one another. That is, poverty can lead to poor education and health, putting youth in a vicious circle of deprivation. Education was listed high on the list of obstacles impeding youth. The report recommends educational reform and describes the secondary school completion exam as a "high stake exam". It points to the fact that although primary education has become accessible to most children, secondary education is inaccessible to 82 per cent of girls of low-income families in rural areas. Poverty is another factor that affects youth. Heba El-Laithy, professor of statistics at Cairo University and author of the EHDR's chapter on poverty, asserts that youth poverty leads to lost opportunities in terms of acquiring skills, securing jobs, or developing positive health habits. She divides youth poverty into three groups: rural poor, poor in slum areas, and urban poor. The report suggests ways to improve the conditions of the three groups by halting or reversing rural migration. El-Laithy pointed to the initiative of developing the 1,000 poorest areas as a means to improving the environment within the poorest rural areas. Regarding the second group, slum upgrading and helping youth to take up private enterprise initiatives can be a good solution. Support can be given to the third group in the form of vocational training and second chance education, so as to improve the likelihood of finding decent jobs. Unemployment is also a pressing problem for youth as 90 per cent of the unemployed are young people. Unemployment is the most serious reason for youth exclusion in society. The report also discussed the phenomenon of youth unemployment amongst educated youth, tackling the problem of the quality of education they get. In tackling the issue of gender discrimination, the report called for increasing women's participation in public life as an essential element of gender reform. It pointed out that although there are numerous laws protecting and promoting equality between men and women, implementation continues to fall short. In addition, prevailing social norms sometimes affect implementation, especially in rural areas or amongst young women who often lack awareness of their rights. Health was another issue the report raised. Habiba Wasef, a health expert and author of the one of the report's chapters, pointed out that youth are considered a high-risk group when health problems with serious potential consequences occur. She also brought up issues like the importance of effective coordination and mobilisation around health, education and sports whenever youth is involved. The report further looked into enhancing youth participation in good governance. First, when youth participate early in policymaking this prepares the next generation of leaders to take responsibility for running state affairs. Second, participation allows them to express their needs and expectations. Third, by partnering with them -- rather than excluding them -- society capitalises on their resources and capabilities. The report affirmed that the government must play a leading role in providing an enabling environment for youth inclusion. The report cited movements like 6 April, the Wael Abbas blog, the Shayfenkom Movement and Alashank Ya Balady Association as good examples of youth participation in good governance. In terms of encouraging entrepreneurship, two young persons were given the floor at the press conference to talk about their experiences. The first was Seif Abu Zeid, a young man in his mid-20s who established his own enterprise three years ago. He said that young entrepreneurs in Egypt face many challenges, such as problems relating to funding, hiring skilled workers, poor access to information and the reluctance of society to accept them. "Society does not encourage a young entrepreneur until his project succeeds. Funding is a big problem; 96 per cent of loan request to the banks of small and medium enterprises were declined," he said. Speaking second, Noha Sallam, one of the founders of Masr Al-Mahrousa, a non- governmental organisation and a business incubator for youth developmental ideas, concurred that funding was one of the main obstacles facing her organisation. The Institute for National Planning and the Ministry of Economic Development, with support from the UN Development Programme (UNDP), produced the latest EHDR. Prior to this release, the last EHDR was issued in 2008. The first report was issued in 1994.
