By Hend GadAllah

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, honored the five winning teams in the semifinals of the "Youth Challenge 2020" initiative. The ministry launched it last January under the slogan "Our time ... our role ... our future", in cooperation with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF ), The United Nations Development Program, and Plan International institution.

The honoring ceremony, which was held this morning at the Civic Education Center On Thursday Morning, was attended by Major General Ismail El-Far, Head of the Central Projects and Youth Training Department at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Egypt Official, Ms. Randa Abu Al-Hassan, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Egypt, Mr. Mudasser Siddiqui, Director of Plan International Egypt.

Dr. Ahsraf Sobhy explained that "Youth Challenge 2020" initiative reflects the support and patronage of the political leadership of Egypt's youth, especially with regard to training and qualifying youth in everything related to developing creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship skills and enabling them to participate effectively in achieving sustainable development goals and Egypt’s vision 2030. He emphasized that the Ministry sets among its priorities the implementation of several programs and projects in technology, entrepreneurship, and life skills in cooperation with international institutions ,organizations, and parties concerned with training and qualifying youth in all Egyptian governorates. This will create job opportunities for youth and provide them with the necessary skills to keep pace with the labor market and achieve sustainable development. 

He added that the Youth Challenge 2020 program aims for training youth to innovate for development and to implement innovative and creative community entrepreneurship projects that are based on effective partnership and providing all sustainable means to secure a decent life for the human being. He called on emerging teams to exert more effort in International competition and achieving a worthy position to Egypt.

Jeremy Hopkins, UNICEF Representative in Egypt, said: “This challenge has come to an end, but it is just the beginning of a journey for these five teams of amazing young innovators. We contribute, through Youth Challenge, and Starting off Generation initiatives, and Meshwary program, to provide the next generation of Egyptian youth with the skills they need to succeed in life, and empower them empowering to achieve their full potential. He concluded, “I would like to express my gratitude and congratulations to the Ministry of Youth and Sports for its effective leadership and expansion of its various youth programs, and all our partners for this fruitful cooperation.” 

Mrs. Randa Abul-Hassan, Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program in Egypt, confirmed that "the United Nations Development Program in Egypt believes in the capabilities of Egyptian youth and they are a priority in its various activities to provide them with the resources, and tools they need to lead a better future and qualify them to adopt a major role in shaping a suitable tomorrow for all through Achieving the 2030. The Youth Challenge 2020 is one of those activities that have contributed to enabling young people to innovate in solving community challenges, enhance their confidence and skills in serving their societies, and promote community entrepreneurship and its comprehensive and constructive impact.

She thanked Dr. Ashraf Sobhy for their continuous support and a long-term fruitful partnership.

Mr. Mudasser Siddiqui, Director of Plan International Egypt, said: “The Youth Challenge was an enjoyable journey full of learning, innovation, teamwork and fruitful competition among youth, supported by a strong and unified partnership under the leadership of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. It confirmed that our belief that youth are the driving force of change through their energy, passion and creativity, which has produced many innovative ideas, which will definitely contribute to find better solutions to social issues in the coming period.

The Director of Plan International Egypt affirmed: “In plan International, we are working on empowering and leading youth. we focus in particular on empowering and leading young women. It was very encouraging that nearly 50% of all participating team members were young women and the same applies on the five winning teams. It is extremely important to see young women play an active role in the developing their societies, alongside their male peers.

The ceremony activities included a video presentation of the winning teams who qualified for the next stage, namely (Handy - Pure - Terrs - Creative Entity - Glory). The activities concluded with the opening a dialogue and discussions with the winning youth, followed by the distributing certificates to the winners.

It is noteworthy that the initiative was implemented through the Central Administration for Projects and Youth Training in 10 governorates, namely “Cairo, Alexandria, Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Aswan, Kafr El Sheikh, Beheira, Gharbia, Damietta.” It was through many training of trainers workshops from the Meshwary Program and the Youth Leadership Program, in addition to implementing 11 camps. five teams from the 10 target governorates were escalated, and each team received 16,000 pounds to be borne by the participating parties, as initial funding, as a nucleus to move their ideas to the next stage. Handy and Pure teams from Cairo and Beheira governorate has been promoted to participate in the global competition "Youth Challenge" within the framework of Starting off Generation Initiative. These teams will receive additional funding for the Entrepreneurship Incubator.