Egypt believes in the importance of developing the capacities and potential of young people as future leaders in order to achieve sustainable development and Egypt Vision 2030. Recent history and events have shown that young people are active actors in society and have the awareness, capacity and determination to bring about constructive social change, and positively impact the lives of millions of people in the most vulnerable groups and the victims of disasters or accidents.

For Egypt, youth are valuable resources whom we must support and invest in, and we must embrace their ideas and energies to address the social problems that we are solving. The Ministry of Social Solidarity, in partnership with other sectors of the government and society, is working to ensure that young people from all backgrounds, from rural and urban areas, volunteer in various areas of development, thereby enhancing the opportunities of young people to deal with their personal and community challenges and enjoy team spirit, cooperation and innovation.

The Ministry of Social Solidarity provides capacity-building programmes and communication channels for young people to volunteer to participate and respond creatively to Egypt’s development challenges. Youth have participated as volunteers in all the presidential initiatives and major development projects undertaken by the Egyptian state over the past few years, such as the national initiative for the development of Egyptian villages, Hayah Karima, and Waii, the Community Awareness Raising Programme and the Fund to Combat Addiction and Substance Abuse. These initiatives strengthen the leadership role of young people in the community and humanitarian work, and boost their motivation, resilience and potential for the development of their communities as active citizens, future responsible leaders and role models for younger generations in Egypt.