The coming back of career Guidance in Egypt

The coming back of career Guidance in Egypt: Why and How? Aboubakr Abdeen Badawi

Social, Economic and CG Policies in Egypt: 1950 s- Mid 60 s • 1950 s: Social Equity Policy; • 1950 s: Industrialization policy, TVET and Apprenticeship Programmes; • 1950 s: Vocational Guidance units and programmes (PVTD, Ministry of Labour); • 1950 s-Mid 60 s: Sort of Vocational Guidance in technical Schools; • 1950 s-Mid 60 s: Government Guaranteed Employment for all graduates;

Social, Economic and CG Policies in Egypt: the 21 st Century • Free Market Economy: declared Social Equity Policy, BUT!; • Foreign Investment: Privatization, Agr. !, consumables and unemployment; • Educational Choices solely linked to Grades; • 6/10 of unemployed are Youth, 1/5 young male and 1/3 young female; • Some skill shortage; • Revival of the call for CG and PPP;

Clients Demand • Students and trainees: info on the labour market and free choice; • Education and training staff: info on the labour market; • Job seekers: info on vacancies and competences needed; • Employers: relevance of education and training and labour productivity; • Experts: enhancing labour productivity and selfsatisfaction + Employment; • Technical assistance providers: free choice and Democracy.

Energizers • • • ETF study on CG in Egypt (2006); Formulation of a Country Task Force (2007); Enthusiasm by top-officials; Involvement of Cabinet Ministers; Interest by university professors; Interest by Business community; Readiness of technical cooperation providers; Support by the ETF; Commitment of self-motivated individuals.

Evidence Documented • Minister of Education Letter to ETF, continued support to CG development; • Minister of Manpower and Migration to ETF, continued support to CG Development; • Ruling party policy committee members, the need for coherent CG system; • An Employers organization (EIU) establishing HRD centers with CG function; • Better rate of completion and employment of graduates that received CG services.

Context • Huge numbers in education: 2 millions in secondary TVET alone, 16 million in preuniversity education; • Scarcity of funds (>90% of Education Budget as salaries); • Burning issues in several fields: unemployment/poverty/informal sector etc. ; • Observatory function with core data; • High-level officials convinced of the need; • New TVET Strategy is currently developed.

Basics • Government role is crucial, but not the sole player; • A coherent system to be considered, but implementation in phases based on the anticipated Impact; • Cost effectiveness of the tools and methodologies; • Continuous assessment of the impact and redirection if needed.

The Vision µA multi-stakeholders coherent system providing qualitative and quantitative information on current and foreseen future needs of the labour market, individual’s capacity and continued support to students, trainees, jobseekers and other interested individuals using adequate media including ICT.

Priorities • TVET schools and centres’ students/ trainees; • Job-seekers in the employment offices; • Networking with methodological guide; • Cost effective modalities; • Staff training; • Optimized impact; • Focusing on areas that do not require change of legislation.

Towards a Stronger Policy • Partnership and coordination; • Leadership from all stakeholders; • Quality effective service, even if relatively limited; • Co-sharing the cost with stakeholders and optimizing international technical cooperation; • Working towards a comprehensive legislation, when time is appropriate.

Looking Forward To Your Valuable Comments/ Remarks THANK YOU, , ,