By Hend GadAllah 

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, agreed to continue operating the "Develop and Change" unit in cooperation with Microsoft. He directed towards expanding the unit services up to 5 million young men and women in all governorates during the next three years; in light of the political leadership directives to support the field of leadership business, self-employment culture, and youth training to manage small and medium enterprises.

Sobhy explained that the unit initiatives in the field of information technology include the e-recruitment, self-employment, the implementation of virtual employment days by MS Team, the training for employment, "Develop and Change"  ambassadors in Africa, the “Be an Entrepreneur”, “Draw Your Future” - Build Your Project initiatives and Entrepreneur Competitions And innovation.

The unit continues the process of refining and training 1000 trainers of youth and sports workers in the governorates. It aims to train about one million young people annually, implement the integrated model of The "Develop and Change” initiative to help young people of both genders acquire knowledge and skills. It provides real opportunities to help them achieve their goals and understand the labor market well, by providing guidance and career counseling services to identify the opportunities and available jobs, as well as identifying specialized training programs in areas related to the Egyptian labor market. The most important thing is technological training and entrepreneurial skills, as well as empowering young people and linking them to employers in the labor market and providing job opportunities that fit their acquired experience and skills.

In this context, the Ministry of Youth and Sports - through the Central Administration for Projects and Youth Training (the General Administration for Projects) seeks the process main engine for qualifying Egyptian youth, and to provide trained cadres to work for private sector companies with decent jobs. Moreover, it encourages the principles of entrepreneurship and self-employment. This is through the establishment of an integrated unit to manage all the systems of the "develop and change" initiative, ensure the provision of distinguished services to Egyptian youth by working with more than 500 trainers, and recruitment officials from the Ministry's employees within the youth directorates and centers in the governorates.

 It is worth noting that the "develop and change" initiative is a national initiative launched by the Ministry of Youth and Sports in cooperation with Microsoft Egypt to solve the problems of unemployment and digital illiteracy for Egyptian youth, by providing an integrated system. This system combines youth training and capacity building to increase their employability.