Egypt - IOM Egypt is hosting a two-day workshop with its partners on May 30-31 in Ain Sokhna to mark the completion of the Labour Migration and Human Development component of its European Union (EU)-funded START programme in Egypt.

START was designed to address unemployment and underemployment in communities impacted by large numbers of migrants returning from Libya and outward, irregular migration due to lack of training and jobs for young people.

The workshop is providing the programme’s partners and service providers in Egypt with an opportunity to share methodologies, discuss challenges faced, analyse lessons learnt, and highlight best practices identified during START’s four-year lifetime.

Partners and service providers taking part in the workshop included Education for Employment | Egypt, El Mahrousa Center for Socioeconomic Development, Innovety, Microsoft, Nahdet El Mahrousa and the National Employment Pact.

“The workshop has been an excellent opportunity to share experiences and make recommendations for future programming. IOM will produce a short publication summarizing the findings, which will be shared among participating partners,” said START programme manager and IOM Egypt head of office Amr Taha. 

Throughout its lifetime, the programme has provided technical, soft skills and entrepreneurship training to 2,782 young people in Fayoum, Qalyoubia, Sharquiya and Menoufeya governorates. It referred 2,347 beneficiaries to job interviews, of whom 24.5 percent were hired.

It organized five employment fairs and established four Information, Counselling and Referral Services offices (ICRS) that now serve as one-stop-shops for job seekers and employers to bolster the employability of young people through skill enhancement, job placement and business start-ups.

For further information, please contact Amr Taha at IOM Egypt, Tel: +202-27365140, Email: iomegypt@iom.int