Egypt’s annual World Youth Forum (WYF) will not be launch its fifth edition this year as it will transfer its budget to support five development initiatives in Egypt and abroad, said the executive director Rasha Ragheb on Saturday.
The first initiative will be launched to support small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), helping entrepreneurs start their businesses or expand their activities through business incubators.
It will also include funded training programs where technical support is provided to industrial workers in Egypt, especially in villages and towns that fall under the Decent Life initiative.
Egypt’s National Training Academy and United Nations Children’s Fund will carry out the second initiative that aims to qualify Egyptian, Arab and African youth for the labour market and empower them to obtain decent jobs.
Ebda Presidential Initiative will launch the third initiative that addresses food security challenges by offering support programs to develop the capacities of farmers and those in charge of food industries in Egypt and Africa.
It will be also implemented in cooperation with the National Alliance for Civil Development Work, the Decent Life Foundation, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
WYF will also launch a mental health support programme to provide psychological, health, and community care support for refugees, migrants and displaced people and their families.
The fifth initiative is an international project to support and empower refugees and migrants by helping them integrate into educational systems and ease their access to healthcare services and social protection programmes.
The initiative will be carried out in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Egypt, the International Organisation for Migration, and Save the Children.
Since November 2017, the WYF has held four editions of the conference under the auspices of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi with the participation of tens of thousands of young people from all over the world.
