Egypt State Information Service

The strategy of promoting youth is based on a group of pillars; topped by providing proper youthful services all over the governorates in addition to deep-rooting the values of citizenship and belonging, enlarging youth participation in the public life, caring for talents and innovators, activating young girls' role and promoting the youth cultural and social standard.

The state accords great interest to such a vast sector that represents 41% of the population. In 1956, Law No. 197 was issued to establish the Supreme Council for Youth Care, with the objective to realize the resources of power and care for youth, through physical and social education. In 1978, a republican decree was issued to establish a new youth ministry.

The decree included a new element in the field of youth care and organizing their work. It stipulated establishing youth directorates in governorates. In 1979, the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports was established.

The 1980s witnessed active participation of youth in decision-making institutions, youth parliament programmes, implementing a culture of private business, improving training programmes and centres, supporting the civil society and non-governmental organizations and providing them with facilities and technical assis-tance to activate their role and to promote the culture of voluntary work and other concepts that focus on both societal and social responsibility of individuals.

In 1999, a decree was issued to constitute the Ministry of Youth. Article (3) stipulated establishing the National Council for Youth and Sports. Bringing this into effect, the Council was established in 2003 with youth and woman representatives from the different ministries concerned with youth.

National Council for Youth was established according to the Republican decree no. 425 of 2005. The Council works on caring for youth and the young generations, promoting their capabilities, preparing the youthful cadres, encouraging the voluntary work, establishing informative database, supporting the infrastructure of the youthful activities, setting regulations affiliated to the youth and empowering youth economically, socially and politically.

In addition to the tangible efforts to develop the youthful utilities, distinguished efforts to develop concepts and values have been made and supporting the culture of peace, participation and dialogue is on top of these efforts and clearly shown as follows:

* The number of youth centres reached 4,460 distributed all over the country. These centres are being developed through the National Project for Developing Youth Centres which was launched in 2000/01. The development included the infrastructure, libraries, amending the statute, modernizing programmes and training. This covered 2939 centres.

* In 2006, 79 new centres were established in 12 governorates and 96 centres were equipped by gymnasium halls and sports tools at an amount of LE 1.3 million. In addition, 339 libraries of youth centres were completely furnished at a total cost of LE 2.5 million, so the number of libraries reached 2,966.

* A plan is being implemented to establish a youth centre in every Egyptian vil-lage whose population is over 5000 citizens, where Upper Egypt villages of high population density are prioritized.

* Productive youth centre initiative aims at transforming youth centres into pro-ductive centres that have developmental features, provide job opportunities for youth and are self-financed. Twenty seven centres were chosen to start in 16 governorates in cooperation with the Social Fund of Development and the Industry Modernization Centre. A training programme on the crafts of building and construction is implemented in the youth centres in cooperation with the productive training machinery to minimize unemployment.

* Information technology clubs are established in cooperation with the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology to establish 547 new clubs, so the number of clubs rose to 1,000.

* About 1,000 young males and females benefited from the programme of hiring youth in the youth centres in 2006, so the number of beneficiaries reached 6060, in addition to developing the activities of 230 clubs, out of 269, to voluntarily participate in the youth centres and implement the initiative of " Serve your Country" in 19 village, with the participation of 780 young male and female members.

* Eight meetings were held with "Suzanne Mubarak's Woman International Movement for Peace" in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said in 2006/07 to spread the culture of peace through the festival of "Reading for All".

Within the framework of President Mubarak's call for combating illiteracy, the literacy classes increased in youth centres in cooperation with the General Organization for Adult Education. The distinguished youth are teaching in return of a simple payment, and 446 classes were established so the total number of classes reached 1,359 with a total number of 36,244 students.

The civil education programmes aim at developing the spirit of citizenship and supporting the feeling of the Egyptian identity of the teenagers (13-18 years) and (18-24 years) and the young people, deep-rooting the values of participation and voluntary work, supporting the spirit of tolerance, accepting the other and respecting the public freedoms. In 2006, the civil education guide has been issued and training has been implemented in five sites all over Egypt; in Cairo, Alexandria, Damietta, Ismailia and Aswan. Nineteen training courses have been achieved, and 191 young males and females benefited. Preparing and constructing the civil education centre and preparing the youthful leadership has been accomplished in Cairo, Alexandria and Sohag.

The avant-garde parliament has been held since 2000 at four levels: youth centres, governorates and the regional parliaments, in addition to the national parliament.

The youth parliament, however, includes 11,000 members of youth (18-35 years old) in 241 parliamentary branches in youth centres. The first conference of youth parliament was held within the period March 18-23, 2006 with 68 young male and 40 young female participants.

The number of youth camps reached 31 all over Egypt. A plan for developing these camps and changing them into integrated youth cities started. Year 2006 wit-nessed the implementation of cultural and intellectual programmes in the camps, in addition to workshops and various cultural activities on the periphery of the camp, where 329 groups were organized in 24 camps with the participation of 52,545 young males and females from universities, non-governmental organizations, youth centres, Future Youth Club- the General Union of Scouts and the General labour Union.

This project aims at making use of the youth energy to establish agricultural productive projects that generate proper income for them. That's by enabling them to possess areas of the new reclamation lands (6 feddans each) provided with BOT utilities as well as a proper domicile. Feasibility studies were prepared and work started at Beir Abed in North Sinai. Assiut governorate was chosen to carry out the project in one of the desert villages in cooperation with the ministries of Irrigation, Agriculture, Housing, Urbanization Authority, the Social Fund for Development and the National Financing Fund for Youth and Sports Care.

The Social Fund for Development (SFD) is considered the first Egyptian socio-economic security network that aims at decreasing the high percentage of unem-ployment. It was set up by virtue of decree no. 40 of 1991 to support the Egyptian economic reform.

SFD has pumped LE 9.9 billion to the Egyptian economy since it was established and till October 2006 in the various branches of development either the small or micro-size enterprises, being a social security network and one of the mechanisms of bringing about human and societal development through training, increasing awareness, supporting the societal participation, promoting its abilities, supporting education and health in the disadvantaged areas and enhancing public work projects with the aim of creating the proper atmosphere to the small investments and improving the standard of living of the Egyptian citizen.

The first Egyptian law on developing small establishments was issued in June 2004 in recognition of the importance of the small enterprises for being a locomotive for the comprehensive development of the Egyptian economy.

The main policy of the small enterprises national strategy was drawn up in cooperation between the Social Fund and the International Canadian Agency for Development. The strategy shows the aims and concepts of developing the small enterprises according to the state policy and the economic and social state in Egypt.

Year	Small-size Enterprises		Micro- size Enterprises		Societal and Human Development Enterprises		Total
	Expenditure	Job opportunities	Expenditure	Job opportunities	Expenditure	Job opportunities	Expenditure	Job opportunities
2002	354	65.8	18	16.1	19.5	1.4	391.5	83.3
2003	251	38.0	30	20.6	111.8	18.8	392.8	77.4
2004	368	43.4	46	40.3	355	64.0	769.0	147.7
2005	769	90.8	213	135.7	258	40.3	1240.0	266.8
2006	757	91.8	212	146.3	110	22.1	1079.0	260.2
Total	2499	329.8	519	359	854.3	146.6	3872.3	835.4

Year 2007 witnessed new facilitations to encourage small-size enterprises where the compounds for small establishment services were erected in all governorates.

These compounds aim at facilitating services of tax cards, commercial registra-tions, work permits, small establishments national ID numbers and the integrated loan centres in one place.

To encourage debtors to payback regularly, they are exempted from the last in-stallment through 392 specialized loan windows in 20 banks in all governorates in Egypt.

In response to the economic and social changes, promoting the culture of private business has been spread among youth in all governorates and an integrated system was implemented in 77 colleges in 17 Egyptian universities and academies in cooperation with the Ministry of Higher Education and with the upper intermediate technical education. Work started in the first branch specialized in the small enterprises. Protocols were signed with the National Council for Youth, a number of the great clubs, the General Authority for Investment, the Free Zones and the Post Authority.

Mubarak National Project for Youth Housing is considered one of the most im-portant projects of integrated ideal housing and a leading addition by the state in the efforts of housing.

The project has three stages with a total number of 140,000 units. The first stage was inaugurated in December 1987 in 6th of October City. The project of "Future Housing" was carried out in cooperation between the State and businessmen, and it is fully inhabited.

The idea of holding the International Youth Forum came as a fruit of the successful Suzanne Mubarak Woman International Movement for Peace that emerged in Geneva in June 2003 as a nonprofit making NGO. It was the first woman peaceful initiative that emerged from the Middle East. It aims at dedicating the creative energies and abilities for setting the spirit of solidarity and brotherhood in the region, empowering women to participate in spreading and setting peace, and allowing woman to participate in peace negotiations as a response to their requirements in the areas of disputes and poverty.

The International Youth Forum that was held in Sharm el-Sheikh (1-3 September, 2007) is considered the first of its kind for youth in the Middle East and North Africa with the participation of more than 800 young males and females from about 100 countries all over the world.

Mrs. Mubarak, the head and founder of Suzanne Mubarak's Woman International Movement for Peace, launched the starting signal for the Forum activities, which was held under the title "Youth for Peace.. Youth Speak and We Listen."

The conference activities include five major pivots: a) youth role in building the culture of peace and the role of media, b) discovering unlimited horizons through the revolu-tion of communications and information technology, c) providing wider fields for youth to participate in developing their societies economically and increasing job opportunities, d) the societal participation for youth and their role in decision-taking, e) the mechanisms that provide protection for the environment and elevating the standard of health awareness, using sport as a tool for entrenching the positive behaviours of youth and to propagate the team spirit.

Mrs. Mubarak called in her address in the Forum inaugural ceremony for work-ing for a world where peace prevails. "Peace is not a far fetched idea. It is necessary now to achieve peace between our families, in our societies, our neighborhood, our countries and our hearts", she said.

The Forum presented a determined and clear agenda that included short and mediu-term policies on the ways of supporting youth participation in the social and economic fields, in addition to the political participation.

It approved establishing a unit for youth under the umbrella of Mrs Suzanne Mubarak Woman International Movement for Peace that would be of a great importance to achieve the continuous dialogue among the world youth.

The Forum discussed the ways of guaranteeing human security for youth through three pivots that are sport, creating job opportunities for youth and education.

Mrs. Mubarak said at the closing session of the Forum: "the successful stories that you introduced gave us hope and courage. They open new horizons of opportunities and original solutions that touch our issues on the international level." She also said that the electronic peace initiative launched from Sharm el-Sheikh with the partners, was the major motivation to build the bridges of interconnection and increase the mutual trust among the participants. "Through this entity, we will deal directly and profoundly by a youthful concept with several issues which we focused on through the various pivots of the Forum; such as constituting working groups that aim at gathering youth along with business circles to create new channels that work on creating more job opportunities", she added.

The National Council for Youth plays a constructive role in supporting the cul-ture of peace among youth through several activities and issuing books bearing the titles: "We and the Culture of Peace", "What Do You Know about Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak Woman International Movement for Peace", and "Nobel Prize for Peace and Respecting the Other", in addition to organizing seminars and symposiums with intellectuals and the symbols of politics to deepen the philosophy of peace in the minds of youth.

The youth camps witnessed constructive dialogues in the summer of 2007 to deep-root the principles of democracy and to motivate youth to dedicate a financial prize to the best interviewer in each seminar.

Sport is an important criterion of development and progress of every nation, and is a constitutional right. The State, with all its institutions, cares for sponsoring youth and providing the integrated and balanced growth to develop their skills and minds.

Ancient Egyptians practiced sports and gave it a great interest for the sake of health and power. One of the main bases of choosing the pharaoh rulers was to run a race called (Korban race).

Pictures inscribed on tomb walls show that most of the games are originally Egyptian. Egyptians practiced various sports in both Turkish and Memlouk eras. However, modern sports were known by Egyptians during the British occupation in 1882 under the rule of khedive Abbass Helmi. The first Egyptian team was formed in 1895 and named "Nashed" after the name of its founder. Sports clubs started to emerge at the beginning of the 20th century.

The first official cup known by Egypt was in 1913. In 1921, the first Egyptian football union was established as well as the first swimming pool which was affiliated to the Ministry of Education. In 1922, Prince Farouq Cup was set as an award that became the Cup of Egypt.

Sports witnessed an Egyptian movement including all unions. Egypt won 16 Olympic medals during 192-1948. Moreover, Egypt participated in the Olympic Games in Belgium in 1920 as well as in the World Cup in 1934. After the July Revolution in 1952, youth centres, playgrounds, stadiums and village clubs were established in the various Egyptian governorates. Proudly, the Egyptian national football team reached the finals of the World Cup in Italy in 1990, won the African Nation Cup in 1986 and 1998 as well as winning the World Handball Championship for Juniors in 1993.

Egypt participated in Athens Olympic Games in 2004 where it won 5 medals (1 gold, 1 silver and 3 bronze). The Egyptian Military Team won the African Football Champion for the third consecutive time and the fourth in its history in 2004 and the German World Cup in 2005. In 2006, the Egyptian football National Team won the Cup of African Nations.

The National Council for Sport was established in December 2005 to implement an integrated policy aiming at promoting sports. The government and the civil society participate in financing and implementing this policy through developing the sports legislations and the sports establishments in addition to expanding the base of practicing in sports by the largest number of citizens, as well as developing the championship programmes, sponsoring talents and developing sports management system and the human cadres. The Council has adopted new innovative methods to finance and invest in sports, in addition to developing the industry of sports wear and equipments in cooperation with the private sector.

The map of sports activities has been enlarged to cover all Egypt and develop youthsports institutions to become educational and cultural to build the healthy body, mind and behaviour as well as deep-rooting the values of citizenship and loyalty among youth.

- The period from 2004 to the 3rd quarter of the financial year 2006 /07 witnessed the establishment of 241 sports facilities institutions at a rate of 96% of the targeted 5th five-year plan that included clubs, stadiums, covered halls, swimming pools, play-grounds and sports centres. The carried-out investments reached about LE 722 million at a rate of 97% of the targeted investments.

- LE 97 million were approved in 2007 to develop the facilities in 72 sport clubs in 23 governorates, in addition to establishing 7 swimming pools in 7 governorates: (Cairo – Qalubeya – Ismailia - North Sinai – Sohag – Qena – Daqahleya) beside the establishment of 4 sport stadiums in 4 governorates.

- Signing a protocol between the National Council for Sport and the Ministry of Housing and Utilities to build 50 sport clubs, specialized in one game with focusing on the individual games according to a time table along 3 years and with a BOT right of 25 years at a cost not less than LE 15 million for per club.

- The National Project for Juniors that was carried out in 21 governorates with about 5000 juniors in wrestling, boxing, judo, taikwondo, weight-lifting and athletics.

- The project of the "Olympic Champion" in the athletic games, weight-lifting, boxing, judo, wrestling and taikwondo aims at winning Olympic medals in Beijing in 2008 and in London in 2012.

- Sport Talents School where 6 games are currently practiced with a number of 89 students in various school grades; starting from grade one in the prep-school to grade three of the secondary school.

- In 2006, the Egyptian Athletics team won 8 medals in the African Championship in Mauritius (4 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze), it ranked 4th and Egypt accessed to the membership of the International Federation of Marine Rallies.

- The Egyptian Squash realized great achievements. Ramy Ashor won the Squash World Championship under 19 years in Newzeland and Amr Musaad ranked 2nd in 2006. Amr Shabana ranked 1st and won the gold medal in the Squash World Championship in Hong Kong and ranked 2nd and won the silver medal in the world championship in Boston, USA. In addition, he ranked 1st in the Squash Championship in Saudi Arabia.

- The National team of body-building won two gold medals in the World cham-pionship for Juniors in Italy and won two gold medals in the 60th World Championship in Czech.

- The Egyptian swimmer Mohammad El-Zanati won 3 silver and 2 bronze medals in the World Cup for Swimming in the Open Water in Brazil, Spain and Macedonia. He also ranked 1st in Portugal in May, 2007.

- The Egyptian runner Abdul-Reheem Idrees ranked 1st in the World Champion-ship in Germany in June 2007 hitting a new Arab and African record 13.60 seconds in 100m, hurdles.

- Amr Shabana ranked 1st in Squash Championship in New York, USA in 2007 and his colleague Mohammed Abbas won the gold medal in Malysia Squash World Championship in the same year.

- Egypt hit great scores in the African Tournament in Algeria, July, 2007 and won 197 medals (74 gold – 60 silver – 63 bronze). Egypt ranked 1st in Nairobi in 1987, in Cairo 1996 and in Abuja in 2003.

Women participated in sports and achieved tangible leap. Thus, they were merged in all activities and sports institutions. Salient achievements in this field are:

- Year 2000 witnessed that the draft statute of the Olympic Federations and Clubs was amended empowering women to adopt the membership of the board of directors for the first time. The number of women reached 15 in the board of directors. The statute of the youth centres was amended in 2007 to empower women in the boards of directors: two women at least.

- The number of women participating in sports federations at the beginning of 2004 was 29,658 women, and 7,336 women in the sports clubs, as well as 1132 in the qualitative federations and 930,187 registered at schools.

- The championship sector in the Armed Forces paid due attention to women sport. In May, 2007, about 20 female players joined the national teams preparing for both the African and Arab tournaments as well as the world and Olympic tournament.

President Hosni Mubarak inaugurated the 11th Arab Games Tournament 11-25 November, 2007, with the participation of 22 countries, represented by 7,000 sports males and females. Egypt ranked 1st and won 344 medals; 148 gold, 102 silver, 94 bronze.

The State pays due attention to this sector. The people of special needs proved that they are able to achieve honorable records by strong will, persistence and challenge. The State established sport centres for the handicapped in 1982 to reach 25 in 20 governorates.

In April 1992, the Egyptian Paralympic Federation was established and Egyptian Paralympics were launched in 1994 with the participation of 200 female and male players. The number reached 25,000 players in 2007. The Egyptian National Team won 46 medals (26 gold, 13 silver, 7 bronze) in the 5th Regional Games Tournament in Dubai in November, 2006.

- The National Council for Sports allocated LE 90 million in 2006 to develop the present sport institutions and establishing new playgrounds to the handicapped, in addition to carrying out a project that aims at improving the physical fitness of the handicapped and compensate them of the abilities they lost because of their disability in 47 directorates distributed in 27 directorates all over Egypt for 6000 beneficiaries.

- In April, 2007, a sport festival was held for the university students of special needs in the University of Suez Canal with the participation of 330 students aiming at discovering the distinguished player and guiding them to the championship sector. The Egyptian team ranked 1st in the 1st Arab Championship in Syria 2007.

- Egypt celebrated passing the Olympic torch on its land in July 2007 and choos-ing Bibliotheca Alexandrina to be the first stop of the torch while the final destination was Shanghai, China.

- The Egyptian players participated in the Summer World Games Tournament, held in Shanghai, during the period October 2-11, 2007, and the Egyptian players won 46 medals. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak honoured the winners on November 25, 2007 and asserted at the festival that a draft law for protecting the rights of handicapped had been finished.

- The National football team comes amongst the best 20 national teams in the world in the international classification conducted by the FIFA and ranked the 19th internationally and the 1st as for the Arab teams.