Youth in Focus: Findings from the 2010 Egypt Human Development Report
29 Jun 2010 in Education, Employment, Marriage, Housing and Credit, Civic Participation
Editor's Note: On June 27, 2010, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) released the 2010 Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) entitled “Youth in Egypt: Building our Future.” On the occasion of the release of the EHDR, Mary Kraetsch spoke with Heba Handoussa, lead author of the EHDR, about the report’s goals and main findings.
Middle East Youth Initiative (MEYI): What are the main objectives of the 2009/2010 Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR)? Is there a particular reason that you, as lead author, and the UNDP decided to examine youth development issues in Egypt at this time?
Heba Handoussa: In consultation with others, I had proposed the theme of youth because I am keenly aware of the critical situation whereby youth unemployment is creating social problems; it is not only employment that matters, but the quality of jobs, which has also been declining. The most affected group in this regard is young women. According to Ragui Assaad, one of the key contributing authors of the EHDR [and nonresident senior fellow at Brookings], the level of unemployment for young men and young women has declined somewhat. However, the participation rate of young women in the labor market has declined significantly, and for the first time in a decade has gone below 20 percent. Moreover, unemployment levels have increased for university graduates, both men and women, which is a recent phenomenon. This can be partly explained by the youth bulge and partly by the mismatch between the acquisition of skills and the demands of the labor market. In the report, we concluded that Egypt’s youth can be a critical force for development if the right conditions are put in place for an inclusive society where youth are given the opportunity to find decent work and engage productively in their communities.
