Egypt's National Training Academy (NTA), launched by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in 2017, is bringing Google's digital skills-building programme ‘Maharat min Google' to Egypt. Google's aim of this online programme is to help people find jobs, advance their careers or grow their businesses. NTA will lead the on-ground online training programme in primary digital skills with a large focus on youth and women in rural and underprivileged communities. In April, Google announced in Dubai its Maharat Min Google programme, with 100 lessons across 26 core topics in digital marketing, such as search engine marketing, social media, e-commerce, geo-targeting, data analytics, and more. Anyone who completes the full course, which takes about nine hours to finish, will then be provided with a certificate attesting to their skills by Google. The goal of this programme is to reach everyone; whether employees, unemployed, or people looking to develop their businesses and reach more global audience online, Martin Roeske, Government Relations and Public Policy Manager at Google MENA told Amwal Al Ghad. "We have been able to establish a good foothold in Egypt," Roeske said. Google already has its large participation in Egypt on the programme to scale and grow it with local partners, mainly the National Training Academy, he added. About the free digital skills-building programme, Roeske said it had been designed in Arabic that provides access to video kit studies by entrepreneurs in-person training to help the region's youth prepare for and find jobs, grow their skillsets or start their own businesses. The programme is available both online through the Maharat portal and offline through Google's partnership with the NTA, he explained. According to the partnership, the offline training offered by the NTA will take modules from the online version, the Google official added. At the end of offline training, participants will get a certificate in fundamental digital marketing skills, he said. Google seeks to make the programme "as broadly and available as possible" and to reach as many as it can, Roeske said. a free digital skills-building program in Arabic that will provide access to free courses, tools and in-person training to help the region's youth prepare for and find jobs, grow their skillsets or start their own businesses. The decision to establish the National Training Academy (NTA) was one of the most significant recommendations of the first World Youth Forum held in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2016. It was created to become a scientific institution to train youth for public service, as well as to improve their abilities and skills and produce cadres capable of holding leading posts in state sectors. Speaking about this year's World Youth Forum in Sharm El-Sheikh, Roeske said he was very happy to participate in such a "worldwide event, which witnessed lots of fantastic interaction between youth, the government, and the public sector.
