Establishing Regional LabourMarket Observatories Implementation Knowledge, Challenges and Lessons Learned from Egypt

Ministry of Technical Education and Training

In cooperation withPublished by

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2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

Unemployment in Egypt: Trends 2010‐2014

Unemployment Rate Unemployment Rate Male

Unemployment Rate Female Unemployment Rate Youth (15‐29 aged)

Imprint Published by the

Deutsche Gesellschaft für

Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

Registered Offices

Bonn and Eschborn, Germany

Employment Promotion Programme (EPP) 12 Waked St., 12th floor 11579 Downtown, Cairo, Egypt T +20 (2) 259 290 37 F +20 (2) 258 955 64 x 103 info@epp-egypt.net www.giz.de; www.epp-egypt.net

As at

August 2015

Text

Mrs. Laura Schmid with contributions from Tanja Lohmann, Atef Malak and Khawla Konyna

GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication.

On behalf of the

German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Establishing Regional Labour Market Observatories (RLMOs) in Egypt

Implementation Knowledge, Challenges and Lessons Learned from the Employment Promotion Programme (EPP) in Egypt

A Guide for Practitioners

August 2015, Egypt

Table of Contents List of Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................... 3 

1.  Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 4 

2.  Background ................................................................................................................................................ 4 

2.1  Labour Market Monitoring and Information Systems: Internationally and within the GIZ ........ 4 

2.2  The Employment Promotion Programme (EPP): Objective and Overview ........................................ 6 

2.3  Relevance and Availability of Labour Market Information (LMI) in Egypt ......................................... 6 

3.  EPP’s Model: Establishing Regional Labour Market Observatories (RLMOs) in SOC and SC ........ 7 

3.1  Objectives of the RLMOs ...................................................................................................................................... 7 

3.2  Methodological Approach ................................................................................................................................... 8 

3.3  Establishing RLMOs: Operational Management, Staff Selection and EPP’s Contributions ....... 10 

3.4  Outcomes and Achievements of the RLMOs in SOC and SC ............................................................... 11 

4.  Dissemination of RLMOs ........................................................................................................................12 

4.1  Requirements for Successful Dissemination ............................................................................................... 12 

4.2  Dissemination Concept ........................................................................................................................................ 13 

4.3  Rational for choosing the Dissemination Concept ................................................................................... 14 

4.4  Current Status of Dissemination ...................................................................................................................... 15 

5.  Institutionalization of RLMOs ................................................................................................................15 

6.  Challenges and Lessons Learned ...........................................................................................................16 

7.  Excurse – Innovation ...............................................................................................................................20 

Annex I: 7 Steps of the PROSPECT Cycle ......................................................................................................21 

Annex II: The Intervention Areas ...................................................................................................................22 

Annex III Profile RLMO Working Group Member Aswan ..........................................................................29 

Annex IV: Profile RLMO Working Group Member Aswan .........................................................................30 

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List of Abbreviations

ALMP Active Labour Market Programme

AusAID Australian Agency for International Development

BMZ German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development

CAPMAS Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics

DACUM Developing A Curriculum

DFAT Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

Egypt-YEP Youth Employment Promotion Forum

EN RLMM European Network on Regional Labour Market Monitoring

EPP Employment Promotion Programme

ETF European Training Foundation

ETP Enterprise Training Partnership

EU European Union

GD-VET General Directorate for Vocation Education & Training

GIZ Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit

IDSC Information Decision and Support Center

ILO International Labour Organization

IT Information Technology

LM Labour Market

LMI Labour Market Information

LMIS Labour Market Information Systems

LMM Labour Market Monitoring

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MKI Mubarak-Kohl Initiative

MoE Ministry of Education

MoMM Ministry of Manpower and Migration

MoTEVT Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training

NCHRD National Center for Human Resource Development

RLMO Regional Labour Market Observatory

RUDS Regional Units for the Dual Systems

SC Sadat City

SOC Sixth of October City

StC Steering Committee

TE Technical Education

TSE Technical Secondary Education

TSS Technical Secondary Schools

TTC Textile Technology Center

TVET Technical and Vocational Education and Training

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1. Introduction

The aim of this guide is to summarize the experiences and lessons learned from the Employment Promotion Programme (EPP) in Egypt, which is establishing Regional Labour Market Observatories (RLMOs) in six Egyptian Governorates. The first part of the guide++ provides some general information about Labour Market Monitoring (LMM) and the establishment of Labour Market Information Systems (LMIS) internationally and as part of GIZ’s support to its partner countries , the objectives and fields of intervention of the EPP as well as an overview about the current availability of Labour Market Information (LMI) in Egypt. After mapping out the broader context, the second part in detail describes EPP’s model and methodological approach (the PROSPECT method) for establishing RLMOs and summarizes the main achievements of the two pilot RLMOs in Sixth of October City (SOC) and Sadat City (SC). The third part outlines EPP’s strategy and progress made so far with regard to the further dissemination of the RLMOs to four additional regions. The forth parts tackles the critical issue of institutionalization and anchoring the RLMOs on the national level which is essential to ensure sustainability. The fifth part summarizes the main challenges and lessons learned. The final part concludes and gives a small outlook on possible innovations and future developments in the field of LMM. The annex provides some background material.

2. Background

2.1 Labour Market Monitoring and Information Systems: Internationally and within

the GIZ

Over the past decade policy-makers, economists and development actors have started to realize that accurate, continuous and sector specific LMI are a crucial prerequisite for job creation, evidence-based policy making, sustainable economic growth and the alignment of the education system to private sector needs. Hence, there has been a growing interest, in developed and developing countries alike, to establish LMIS in order to produce labour market intelligence as basis of evidence-based policy-making at the national and regional levels.

In Europe alone there are currently an estimated of 300 RLMOs operating within different countries. Moreover, the growing number of National Observatories, the establishment of the European Labour Market Observatory (ELMO)1 by the European Economic and Social Committee in 2007, and the creation of the European Network on Regional Labour Market Monitoring (EN RLMM)2 - a non-profit organization encompassing 26 RLMOs and research institutions from different European countries and providing a dialogue platform to enable knowledge sharing and inform about new methods and innovations in the field of LMM - underlines the growing significance of LMI on the national, supranational and regional levels.

1 http://www.eesc.europa.eu/?i=portal.en.lmo-observatory 2 http://www.regionallabourmarketmonitoring.net/

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Being aware of the importance of LMI and LMMS to promote economic and job growth, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has supported developing countries in their efforts to establish and improve regional and national labour market observatories and increase their capacities. As Table 1 displays currently the GIZ’s efforts in the area of LMI and LMM are concentrated in 7 countries. One of these 7 countries is Egypt where the GIZ, as part through the EPP, is supporting the establishment of RLMOs. This paper summarizes EPPs’ experience in establishing RLMOs in Egypt and outlines lessons learned and challenges aiming to improve the knowledge base within GIZ and in the MENA region in the area of RLMM.

Labour Market Information (LMI) – Definition:

Any information about the structure and working of a labour market (LM) and any factors likely to influence the structure and working of that market. In general LMI comprises the following:

Employment trends (including unemployment and employment rates) Information about labour demand including trends and conditions in particular industries

or the local economy and information about education, qualifications, experience and skill requirements for specific jobs

Information about labour supply including a labour force profile (age, education, gender, ethnicity, etc.)

Salary information and information about occupational safety and health Information about rules and regulations of a distinct LM (1 and 2)

LMI vs. Labour Market Intelligence

At a very basic level a distinction has been made between LMI and labour market intelligence, in terms that LMI refers to quantitative or qualitative data found in original sources such as tables, spreadsheets, graphs and charts, and labour market intelligence relates to an interpretation of labour market information, referring to subsets of information that have been subjected to further analysis and evaluation regarding micro and/or macro-economic factors. (1 and 2)

LMIS Definition

A LMIS consists of a set of institutional arrangements, procedures and mechanisms that are designed to produce labour market information. The three key elements defining a LMIS are the labour market information as such, the users of LMI, and the methodology that is applied to collect and analyse it including the system managers, data gatherers, operators and analysts. (3)

Sources:

(1) Offer, M. (2003) Labour Market Information on Careers Service Web Sites in Higher Education, Cambridge: NICEC

(2) The Scottish Government (2014) http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Economy/labour-market/WhatisLM (3) ILO (2000): Improving LMI in South Africa. ILO/SAMAT Policy Paper No. 10

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Country Project Name Time

Egypt Employment Promotion Programme (EPP) 01.06.2011-31.12.2015

Palestine Support of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) System

01.10.2012 - 30.09.2015

Pakistan Support to TVET Reform 01.11.2010 –31. 10.2015

Albania Human Resources Development Programme 16.08.2011 - 31.12.2014

Kirgizstan Vocational Education & Training and Employment Promotion Programme

01.01.2014 - 31.12.2016

Ruanda Promotion of the economy and employment Programme

30.06.2013 - 01.06.2016

Morocco Youth employment promotion in rural areas 01.01.2015 - 31.12.2017

Table 1. GIZ activities in LMM and LMIS worldwide

2.2 The Employment Promotion Programme (EPP): Objective and Overview

EPP aims at improving both the employment perspectives for young Egyptians and the private sector’s access to skilled human resources through aligning the technical education (TE) system with private sector needs. EPP’s main objective is that public institutions and the private sector have the capacity to cooperatively implement new approaches in the field of youth employment.

To achieve this, EPP, which is commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for 4 years and 6 months (06/2011-12/2015) with 4.6 Mio. Euros and co-funded by AusAID/DFAT with 1.8 Mio. and RWE DEA with 0.25 Mio. Euros, works at the national and regional levels. EPP’s main implementation partner has been the Ministry of Education (MoE) especially the TE sector and from March 2015 onwards the newly founded Ministry of Technical Education and Vocational Training (MoTEVT)3.Other important partners are national and regional private sector associations (e.g. regional Investors’ Associations), the National Center for Human Resource Development (NCHRD), public institutions (e.g. Cairo University) and civil society organizations (e.g. Egyptian National Competitiveness Council or the Al Korra Foundation).

EPP comprises of four different fields of intervention (1. Policy advice to the MoE/MoTEVT, 2. Decentralized LMI, 3. Career Guidance Services and 4. Labour Market Oriented Training) dealing with distinct issues but all cooperating to jointly achieve EPP’s above outlined objective. The focus of this case study is EPP’s Component 2, which aims at providing decentralized LMI. This objective arose out of a thorough examination of the Egyptian LM and its challenges during a planning and evaluation mission 2011, which stated the high importance of decentralized LMI for employment promotion and its current absence in Egypt (See section 2.3).

2.3 Relevance and Availability of Labour Market Information (LMI) in Egypt

LMI are collected and produced by a variety of institutions in Egypt. The most relevant is the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS)4, Egypt’s official statistical agency that collects, 3 The shift in implementation partners in the middle of the project is the reason why in this guide for some activities it is referred to the MoE whilst for others the MoE is replaced with the MoTEVT. 4 http://www.capmas.gov.eg/?lang=2

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processes, and disseminates all statistical data and conducts the census. Although data provided by CAPMAS is fairly accurate, encompasses a wide range of indicators and is updated at least once a year (for key LM indicators updates are given quarterly), it mostly focuses on the national (macro) level.

In addition to CAPMAS, there are other official Egyptian organizations collecting LMI such as the Ministry of Manpower and Migration (MoMM), the Information Decision and Support Center (IDSC) encompassing the Egyptian Observatory for Education, Training and Employment5, the Industrial Training Council6 which currently works on establishing a web-based LMIS and the 12 sectoral Enterprise Training Partnerships (ETPs). The latter have been established within the EU sponsored TVET I project and are amongst the few entities working on the local and national level. Besides, various international organizations such as the World Bank, UNFPA and the ILO (e.g. MasterCard School to Work Transition Survey in Egypt, 2014) produce specific LMI and relevant data.

However, most of the produced data either concentrates on the national level or is not shared widely due to a deeply rooted mistrust between Egyptian ministries and international institutions as well as amongst the different Egyptian ministries which impedes knowledge and data sharing. Hence, the gathered data is only of limited use to adequately inform the development of policies and programmes that promote employment and economic growth according to specific needs (e.g. regional, spectral needs). To align TVET policies to private sector needs, and develop relevant active labour market programmes (ALMPs), opting for a decentralized approach is crucial. This is particularly significant given, that framework conditions in Egypt vary significantly from Governorate to Governorate, which calls for a less centralized approach to tackle diverse employment challenges. However, so far there are hardly any regional entities in Egypt providing LMI outside the framework of sporadic baseline studies and enterprise surveys conducted by donors.

3. EPP’s Model: Establishing Regional Labour Market Observatories (RLMOs) in SOC and SC

3.1 Objectives of the RLMOs

Aiming at improving the availability of regional LMI and promoting the implementation of evidence-based ALMPs in Egypt, EPP is establishing RLMOs guided by the PROSPECT method. So far two pilot RLMOs in SOC and SC have been established and are fully operational (dissemination activities are undergoing, see section 3), which on the one hand aim at providing accurate and decentralized LMI and on the other hand encourage a stakeholder dialogue between the public and private sector, which is missing on the national as well as regional level. The main objectives of the RLMOs are:

Get up-to-date and continuous LMI and information about skills needs in specific economic sectors in a region

Gain a substantial knowledge base to develop ALMPs catering the specific regional needs Enable different actors to develop and implement programmes to promote employment

in the region based on the gained LMI Initiate a stakeholder dialogue between different public and private institutions and

players active in the LM to foster an understanding of shared responsibilities, to improve the communication between the private and public sector and enhance joint decision making

5 http://www.observatory.gov.eg/front/ar/index.aspx 6 http://itcegypt.eg/EN/Strategic.html

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Improve the alignment of the TVET system to private sector needs

3.2 Methodological Approach

Considering that not only the lack of available LMI on the regional level impedes employment promotion in Egypt, but also the weak dialogue between the public and private sector, EPP decided to apply the PROSPECT method with its strong emphasis on dialogue as basis the to establish the RLMOs.7 Thereby, EPP is supported by the international experts from the State Agency for Employment Promotion of North Rhine Westphalia (G.I.B) in piloting the PROSPECT method and tailoring it to the Egyptian context.

PROSPECT is a survey based, participatory method to continuously monitor regional labour markets and collect LMI, which has been implemented in Germany and the Netherlands before. PROSPECT is conducted in multiple cycles (1 cycle covers 1-3 specific economic sectors) with each cycle consisting of 7 distinct steps (see Annex 1). In order to gain a holistic view about the LM and draft specific interventions to tackle employment challenges identified in the region, information is collected with regard to the following three main fields in a survey based approach:

The employment sector (analysing the labour demand) The work force potential (analysing the labour supply) Labour market matching mechanisms and training possibilities (e.g. information about

training and TVET providers and re-qualification possibilities)

In addition to the company surveys, in-depth interviews with selected companies / employers (e.g. companies with a high labour demand, or a high turnover) and focus group discussions with job seekers are conducted to specify and verify information or challenges identified in the surveys.

Two other key features of the PROSPECT method are:

1. The strong focus on creating a regional employment dialogue

2. The identification of specific intervention areas based on the gained LMI

Creating a regional employment dialogue is being achieved by ensuring the participation of various relevant actors in the RLMO working group, and by forming multi-stakeholder Steering Committees (StC) in each location. With regard to the working group Figure 1 shows the three crucial players to be involved to establish a proper employment dialogue.

7 EPP is aware of some LM experts’ criticism about the PROSPECT method (e.g. PROSPECT as a survey based approach needs a lot of labour and is very costly), but nevertheless sees it as a suitable method to be applied in the Egyptian context due to its specific features.

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Fig. 1: Triangle of Success: Main stakeholders to establish RLMOs

In addition Figure 2 provides an overview about a broader range of different relevant stakeholders to be ideally involved in such an employment dialogue and be represented in the StC. The role of the StC is to guide the RLMO working groups, jointly take decisions on the sector selection, approve questionnaires, decide on the selection of the companies for the in-depth interviews, and approve the interventions (see next point) that are to be implemented in the region. Hence, the more relevant stakeholders involved in the StC the better informed their decisions can be.

Fig. 2 Potential stakeholders to be involved in the employment dialogue

Regarding the second key aspect of the PROSPECT cycle, the identification of specific interventions based on the gained LMI, the goal is to immediately make use of the information collected by engaging all stakeholders in the problem solving. By trying to transfer the gained information into

Private sector employers

Public TVET Sector

Private TVET Sector

Public Employment Service (PES)

Government

NGOs

Chambers and Employers' Associations

Workers Associations

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policy making and to find different implementation partners for the interventions the PROSPECT method allows to give a direct response to some of the identified constrains.

3.3 Establishing RLMOs: Operational Management, Staff Selection and EPP’s

Contributions

After choosing the method, the next steps in establishing the RLMOs were the staff and venue. Both regions - SOC and SC - are significant industrial zones in Egypt with a considerable number of international and national enterprises and high labour demand. Therefore, the Egyptian partners selected them as suitable locations to pilot the RLMOs. In both locations venues for the RLMOs compromising of a meeting and a working room were identified in technical school and the MoTEVT agreed to offer the space to the RLMOs. EPP refurbished the venues including the provision of laptops, data-shows, office material and furniture.

Selecting the staff for the RLMO working groups was subject to a variety of constraints; most prominently, the financial constraints on the side of the Egyptian public and private sector partners to pay for highly skilled researchers. Given these financial limitations, it was opted for a staffing model in which different stakeholders with an interest to participate in the RLMOs second employees for 2-3 days a week to work and be trained in the RLMOs. The number and composition of seconded staff varies slightly in the RLMOs ranging from 7-10 people. As Table 2 illustrates there is a higher share of teachers in the RLMO SC working group, whereas the group composition in SOC is more diverse.

Institution RLMO SOC RLMO SC MoE (Teachers)

4 (3 Female, 1 Male)

6 (2 Female, 4 Male)

MoMM 1 (Male) 1 (Male) Private Sector 1 (Female) 2 (Male)

NGOs and Civil Society

Egyptian European Organization for Training and Development (EEOTD) (2 Male)

Others Cairo University Textile Training Center, (2 Female)

None

Total Number 10 9

Table 2. Overview about the seconded staff in the RLMOs in SOC and SC

Given the in general rather low capacities (little knowledge about the LM, LM indicators and LM analysis) of the seconded staff, EPP invested heavily in capacity building measures. The capacity building activities were partly conducted by external consultants and partly done by the EPP advisors who dedicated 1 day per week to visit and work with each of the RLMOs. The conducted capacity building measures included: Trainings on statistics, quantitative and qualitative research, questionnaire design, LM analysis, IT skills and databank design, communication and interviewing skills, English language as well as project proposal writing.

Each RLMO has a steering level (StC) where the employment dialogue takes place. The StCs in SC and SOC are both chaired by a Board Member of the Investors’ Association. The StCs usually comprise of the supervisors of the seconded RLMO staff (or another representative of each entity that seconds a

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staff member) as well as other prominent national and regional players active in the LM For instance in SOC as Figure 3 illustrates representative of the National Observatory in Egypt are part of the StC. The GIZ EPP advisors also take part in the StCs but merely as advisors. On average, the StCs meet every 3 months to discuss reports and recommendations of the working group, make decisions and provide guidance.

Figure 3. Steering Committee Members and Stakeholders RLMO SOC

3.4 Outcomes and Achievements of the RLMOs in SOC and SC

In SOC and SC the first PROSPECT cycles which took between 15-17 months to implement have been concluded successfully. In each location, LM Reports summarizing the findings of the LM surveys in the selected sectors have been produced, five intervention areas have been identified and regional conferences to present the findings to a wider audience of national and international stakeholders were held. Both locations started the second PROSPECT cycle while simultaneously working on finding implementation partners for the interventions originating from the first cycles.

With regard to the interventions, currently six (2 in SOC and 4 in SC) out of the 10 identified interventions (see Annex 2 for overview) are being implemented. These are: 1. Establishing an Employment Centre to match blue collar jobs in SOC under the umbrella of the SOC-IA and in cooperation with the National Employment Pact (NEP)8, 2. Introducing the new profession “Food Technology Specialist” based on employers demand in SOC, a process which is led by the MoTEVT, 3. Improving the quality and outreach of the DS in SC, which will be implemented jointly by the RUDS and IA in SC and GIZ EPP, 4. Offering training for employment in the textile sector in SC, which will be implemented by Education for Employment (EFE) in cooperation with the SC-IA and funded by the International Organisation for Migration (IoM), 5. Establishing a Human Resources Club, which will be

8 NEP is a very well-functioning private employment service provider, which is supported by another GIZ project in Egypt.

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implemented by SC-IA and funded via a small grant of the German Embassy and 6. Promoting employment for the disabled in SC, which will be implemented by the International Labour Organization (ILO). For the remaining interventions implementing partners are being looked for and the RLMO teams are facilitating workshops and meetings to market the interventions to different stakeholders as well as national and international donors. Besides, at an early stage of the first PROSPECT cycle in SOC, the opportunity arose to establish a DS school inside Giza Textile Company in cooperation with Cairo University Textile Technology Center (TTC). The SOC RLMO team channelled the information to the MoE and facilitated the establishment of the first DS school inside a factory. The school is fully operational now and receives teaching support from the TTC - a StC member of the RLMO in SOC.

Regarding the RLMO teams’ roles in the interventions, it is important to note that their role and responsibility is to identify the intervention area, draft a project proposal as well as market and monitor the interventions, but not to play an active role in the implementation as such.

An additional achievement is the significant progresses individual RLMO team members made in terms of their ability to conduct, write and present a LM analysis guided by the PROSPECR method, interact with different stakeholders and grow into their new roles as RLMO members and researchers.

4. Dissemination of RLMOs

As requested by the Egyptian Government, EPP has started to engage in the further dissemination of the RLMO model to the following four new regions: Suez, Port Said, Ismailia and Aswan. The request from the MoE to disseminate the RLMO model can be seen as an achievement in itself. The four new regions have been chosen by the MoE, EPP’s main implementation partner, because they see a significant added value to employment promotion there. The dissemination process builds on EPP’s experiences with the two pilot RLMOs in SC and SOC and is described in detail below.

4.1 Requirements for Successful Dissemination

Based on the gained experience, EPP has developed key requirements for the successful dissemination of the RLMOs. Only if the following requirements are met (at least to a high degree), the sustainability of the RLMOs according to the PROSPECT method can be assured:

a) Technical Skills: Specific skills and knowledge by the RLMO working group member are required to ensure

successful running of the RLMOs. Necessary skills include: LM research, statistics, qualitative and quantitative research, questionnaire design, analytical skills as well as interviewing and communication skills. b) Stakeholders Dialogue and Dynamics of Change:

Stakeholder dialogue is a key requirement to ensure the success of the RLMO. Potential for successful stakeholder dialogue can be assessed through: Interest and willingness from different governmental, private sector and civil society institutions to participate and support the RLMOs and the interventions, commitment by the supervisors to second their staff and actively participate in the StC meetings as well as the ability to identify change agents amongst the stakeholders and ensure and maintain a willingness to implement change amongst the stakeholders. c) Operational Capacity of the RLMOs

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To enable the RLMOs to be operational certain logistical, technical and institutional support is needed. This includes: a physical venue for the RLMOs, availability of training manuals and access to knowledge and data, availability of a local resource person(s) for technical guidance, allocation of funds to cover the running costs (it is estimated that the running costs per PROSPECT cycle are 3000 Euros per year).9

4.2 Dissemination Concept

Aiming at achieving the above identified requirements, EPP has developed a multi-layered dissemination concept consisting of the following three steps:

Step 1: Input training to improve the technical skills of the RLMOs working group members

In order to improve the technical skills of the RLMO working group members, EPP in cooperation with a local consultant (a Statistics and Econometrics Professor from Cairo University), has developed an input training course to capacitate the seconded people from the 4 new regions. The training on “Labour Market Information and Monitoring” is held in Cairo and consists of the following four modules (5 days of training per module), which are each complemented by project work on the ground:

Module I: Introduction to Labour Market Monitoring and the Prospect Method

Module I introduces key LM indicators and basic concepts about the LM (e.g. what is underemployment, how to calculate the employment-to-population ratio etc.). Besides, the participants are familiarized with the PROSPECT method and the roles and objectives of the RLMOs as well as the StCs.

Project Work 1:

Project work is carried out as group work in the respective Governorate. The expected outcome of the first project work is a report describing the main sectors, their growth and employment potential in each region. (Sector Synopsis)

Module II: Questionnaire Design

Module II focuses on training the participants on how to design a questionnaire (e.g. what question techniques to use etc.), how to conduct an interview and how to test a questionnaire.

Project Work 2:

Project work is carried out as group work in the respective Governorate. The expected outcome of the second project work is a collection of raw data after interviewing companies from the selected sectors.

Module III: Basics of Data Entry and Coding

Module III aims at teaching the participants how to best use Excel, code data and enter data in an efficient and reliable way.

9 This excludes the staff costs (salaries) born by the seconding entities and training costs. This costs include: transportation for the RLMO staff during the company visits, communication and printing and hospitality for the meetings (e.g. Steering Committee Meetings)

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Project Work 3:

Project work is carried out as group work in the respective Governorate. The expected outcome of the third project work is that the LMI gained through the questionnaires is entered in Excel sheets.

Module IV: Basics of Social Research: Qualitative and Quantitative Statistical Approaches

Module IV introduces some basic quantitative and qualitative statistics and research techniques and aims at training the participants on how to best analyse and interpret the LMI collected via the surveys and in-depth interviews.

Project Work 4:

Project work is carried out as group work in the respective Governorate. The expected outcome of the forth project work is a short report describing the studied sectors and processing the information gained during the company surveys.

Throughout each project work, the RLMOs teams receive feedback from the EPP advisors and the international / local experts.

Step 2: Ensuring Stakeholders Dialogue: Diverse group composition and establishment of a steering committee10

In order to ensure the vital stakeholders dialogue, the members of the RLMOs should be selected and seconded from different governmental, private sector and civil society organisations, which all have a role and interest in employment and education related issues (see Figure 2 for main stakeholders). The StC needs to be established according to the above stated requirements (see 3.2). An active and well-informed StC is vital for the functioning of the RLMOs and needs to advise, support and direct the RLMO team during their project work and afterwards.

Step 3: Ensuring the operational capacities of the RLMOs To ensure the operational capacities of the RLMO, a physical venue needs to be selected and if needed refurbished (e.g. computer, internet access, good working environment). An agreement with the MoTEVT (or another stakeholder) to provide venues and ensure that venues remain with the RLMOs has to be put in place (selection and refurbishment of physical venues for the RLMOs).

In order to increase the sustainability of the RLMOs, a national training provider or institution should be identified to independently offer the technical input training. For better visibility of the RLMOs, and

to make better use of the provided information, they should be linked to a national entity (see Part 5

for details on linking the RLMOs to national institutions).

In order to allow the RLMO teams to conduct the surveys and write the reports, permission have to be issued from the respective institutions in charge (e.g. regional Investor’s Association to facilitate access to companies and data from employers) to get access to the respective administrative data (permissions to collect data from employers and governmental institutions).

4.3 Rational for choosing the Dissemination Concept

The key rational for choosing this dissemination concept is to transfer the technical knowledge to

10 Step 2 and 3 are equally important and also valid for the already existing locations.

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conduct a LM analysis, whilst at the same time assessing the willingness for a committed and long-lasting stakeholder dialogue in the respective region. The quality of the project work and the level of involvement of the StC and the level of involvement of the StC serves as a good indicator for this assessment. Thus, the potential for the sustainable establishment of new RLMOs guided by the PROSPECT method can be evaluated during this early phase of the dissemination which allows for informed decisions whether to engage fundamentally in establishing an RLMO in a region. The advantages of the outlined dissemination concept can be summarized as follows:

Conveying technical skills and capacitating people in LMM and LM analysis Testing the ground for stakeholder dialogue and assessing stakeholders’ commitment to

support the RLMOs and implement the interventions in an early stage of the dissemination process

Enabling the political partners to disseminate the RLMO model in a way that does not require GIZ support in the future and allows them to react adequately in times of high political pressure to implement interventions quickly and in a visible manner

Creating understanding and awareness amongst the political partners for the importance of decentralized LMI and ALMPs

4.4 Current Status of Dissemination

The model of RLMOs has been disseminated according to the above outlined concept to 4 new locations. So far the following achievements have been made:

4 dissemination regions (Port Said, Suez, Ismailia and Aswan) identified and selected by the MoE

Venues identified and refurbished with EPP support in 4 schools In total 25 new RLMO staff members delegated from different organizations 4 training modules developed (see detailed description 3.2) 3 training modules successfully conducted including project works Sector synopsis (one crucial step in the PROSPECT cycle and basis for sector selection) written

in all locations National Coordinator selected to support Aswan RLMO StCs established and meetings held in each location

5. Institutionalization of RLMOs

Institutionalization and sustainability are two crucial concerns and key priorities underpinning all EPP

activities. Yet, the question of how to best institutionalize the RLMOs has been a challenge, partly

because EPP has prioritized the establishment and operationalization of the RLMOs in the piloting

regions, and partly, because by adopting a bottom up model, which emphasizes multi-stakeholder

involvement and a flat hierarchy without one designate institution as ”the owner” of the RLMOs.

However, especially with the dissemination of the RLMO model proceeding quickly, institutionalizing

them becomes a pressing issue to ensure that the venues are secured, ministerial decrees

acknowledging the legal status of the RLMOs can be issued, a knowledge hub for further

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dissemination independently from EPP at the national level is established, a quality control and

assurance system is in place and the budget covering the operational costs is allocated. This will be

the focus of the coming programme phase.

In order to identify a suitable Egyptian partner to institutionalize the RLMOs, the following selection

criteria have been developed:

a) Mandate and strategy of the potential institutionalization partner: Ideally the national anchor or partner for institutionalization should not be one of the three crucial member institutions of the RLMO (see Fig. 1 for the main three stakeholders) to prevent mistrust and bias amongst the participating institutions. Besides, it should have the mandate and legal status to function as a coordinator of the LMIS in Egypt.

b) LMI experience: The partner institution should have experience with LM research, preferably with LMIS and have good research capacities.

c) Financial independence: The potential institutionalization partner should have the financial means and the willingness to support the further dissemination of the RLMOs and hire additional skilled staff, if needed.

d) Intrinsic motivation: The potential institutionalization partner should have a strong motivation to become the national anchor for the RLMOs and be willing to cooperate with EPP and if needed receive capacity training and technical assistance in the institutionalization process.

e) Acceptance amongst the RLMO members: The potential institutionalization partner should be respected and accepted by the RLMO working groups and their StCs

Against this background, the Egyptian National Observatory for Education, Training and Employment at IDSC has been identified as the most suitable future partner for the institutionalization. The National Observatory is not only already familiar and involved in the RLMOs’ work through participating in the StC in SOC, but it has also allocated space on its website to publish the LM analysis of the RLMOs in SOC and SC. Besides, the RLMO teams have repeatedly expressed their wish for the National Observatory to become their national anchor (e.g. at a high level stakeholder workshop in November 2014).

6. Challenges and Lessons Learned

Establishing RLMOs and applying the PROSPECT methodology for the first time in a developing country context in Egypt, the following challenges and lessons learned could be drawn:

Adaptation of the PROSPECT method to the Egyptian context:

One important lesson learned is the significance to tailor the PROSPECT method to the Egyptian context. The necessary adaptations can hardly be anticipated prior to implementation, but arise during the implementation process. Hence, a high degree of flexibility and willingness to alter the process ad hoc is required. One example for a necessary amendment of the PROSPECT method, is that in Egypt the company surveys were carried out through individual company visits, whereas in Germany the surveys were conducted via phone interviews. Although visiting companies (e.g. 150 companies were

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visited in the first PROSPECT cycle in SOC by the RLMO team) is more time and cost intensive, this adaptation is necessary since contacting companies -especially SMEs- in Egypt via phone to get information is for various reasons difficult (hard to get phone contact, mistrust to give information via phone etc.).

Accuracy of and access to relevant data:

The availability and accuracy of general data and LMI has proven to be another challenge. As outlined in part 2.3 most data represents the macro level, its accuracy and topicality declines drastically in the Governorates outside Cairo (e.g. sectoral data in Aswan dates back from 2009) and access to data is restricted and often kept inside one institution. Hence, including the three institutions outlined in Figure 1 in the RLMOs becomes even more crucial with regard to safeguarding access to the most important administrative data of each institution (e.g. CAPMAS data is provided by the RLMO staff seconded from the MoMM).

An additional aspect affecting the accuracy and liability of data is the high informality in Egypt. The existence of a large informal sector and a high percentage of informal employment in the formal sector, distorts the determination of the scale of unemployment and other LM indicators and sometimes even influences the sector selection11. For example when selecting the sectors to be analyzed in Aswan, it was decided against the agricultural sector despite its relatively high employment share, due to the high informality and the related difficulties to gain reliable data.

Capacities of the RLMO working groups:

Capacities within the RLMOs working group vary considerably due to the heterogeneity of the groups, the different backgrounds of individual RLMO team members and different levels of motivation. Especially, in the Governorates further away from Cairo (e.g. Aswan) capacities are extremely low (see Annex III and IV for the profiles of two RLMO working group members in Aswan and their skills self-assessment). Given the overall rather weak capacities of the RLMO working groups, EPP had to adapt its expectations and increase its efforts for capacity development. Moreover, given that the PROSPECT method is implemented for the first time in Egypt, it is also a challenging task to find adequate local consultants to do capacity development or fulfill the role of a national coordinator. National coordinators or extensive external support are particularly important in the more remote locations where direct weekly support from the EPP team is not feasible.

Staffing of the RLMO working groups:

Another challenge affecting the effectiveness of the RLMOs work is related to the staffing concept. Currently, staff is seconded for two full days a week from different institutions to work at the RLMOs. On the one hand, this staffing concept entails a certain cost effectiveness and allows for sustainability since the salaries are covered by the seconding institutions (e.g. MoTEVT). On the other hand, it also creates a set of challenges. Firstly, the seconded staff frequently faces difficulties to differentiate between their new position as RLMO researchers and their “old positions” (wearing two hats). Apart from the challenging internal role finding process, this staffing concept requires advanced time management as well as reporting skills (e.g. regular updates to the respective supervisors), which are skills that unfortunately not all RLMO members possess to a sufficient extent. Secondly, adopting the modality of staff secondement has proven to be prone to a high risk of staff fluctuation. Seconding organizations for instance, may temporarily withdraw their staff from the RLMOs in times of

11 Gita Subrahmanyam, 2012: The challenge of informality for labour market information and outcomes in Egypt. LSE Research Paper, London.

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particularly high work load at the seconding institution (e.g. exam time at the MoTEVT) or even entirely, if a superior feels threatened by the progress or new skills his or her employee has acquired at the RLMO.

To accommodate for high staff fluctuation and maintain the operational capacity of the RLMOs in times of understaffing, it is important to create internal knowledge transfer channels and mechanisms to integrate new RLMO working group members quickly.

A third disadvantage of not having full-time staff at the RLMOs is the comparatively long time it takes to complete one PROSPECT cycle. In Germany one cycle takes maximum 9-12 months, whereas in Egypt it on average took 15-17 months.

Further challenges arising from the staffing concept and equally affecting the delivery rate of the RLMOs, are: 1) The adoption of a generalist approach, in which all RLMO team members are trained to do every task needed to complete the PROSPECT cycle, regardless of their distinct skills and 2) The flat hierarchical structure of the RLMOs without a supervisor / director and where all RLMO working group members are equal. Although not generally negative per se, a flat hierarchy contradicts the prevailing working culture in Egypt and sometimes leads to tensions in the team (e.g. possible conflict: what are roles and responsibilities of RLMO coordinator compared to rest of the team. Hence, hiring a fulltime RLMO manager to coordinate the team, ensure that working hours and tasks are fulfilled and handle the communication with the steering, might be a crucial next step in the future to enhance the performance of the RLMOs.

Payment and incentives of the RLMOs

Since EPP does not pay any top-up of the RLMO working group members‘ salaries, which means that they currently only receive their modest monthly salaries, keeping up their motivation and eagerness to work is a challenge. In the absence of monetary incentives, finding an appropriate incentive mechanism that does not harm the internal coherence of the RLMO working group (e.g. incentives given as rewards after competitions amongst team members may cause frictions), but yet helps to increase the RLMO teams’ motivation is crucial. EPP is currently trying to develop mechanisms to honor good performance and motivate staff without risking frictions through, for instance organizing team building events and handing out signs of appreciation to the team members for the successful completion of one PROSPECT cycle. However, a more systematic reward and appraisal system for good performance has to be developed in the future.

Multi-stakeholder dialogue and StC commitment:

Having a StC chaired by the private sector (e.g. in SOC and SC Head of IA chairs StC) proved to be beneficial to secure outreach to companies and get detailed insights from employers. Moreover, creating a platform for a regional employment dialogue between the public and private sector helps to foster a better understanding and allows for the alignment of policies and technical education strategies to private sector needs (e.g. joint development between MoTEVT and private sector of a new profession in the food industry is planned, as one outcome of the stakeholder dialogue in SOC).

However, to effectively guide the RLMOs and shape policies jointly, it is crucial that StC meetings are held regularly, information is shared continuously and well in advance, and commitments made by the StC members are translated into action on the ground. This also requires a dedicated followed up by the RLMO teams and the regular organization of StC meetings. Moreover, reaching consensus (e.g. on interventions) between private and public sector entities, but also amongst different public institutions has sometimes proven to be difficult. Besides, for similar

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reasons as mentioned above for the RLMO teams, ensuring dedication and a high motivation of the StC is a challenge. So far commitment of the StCs varied drastically between the locations and is often dependent on individual personalities and how they see that the RLMOs’ work can be beneficial for them (e.g. increased reputation).

Added value through interventions

During the last three years it became clear the there is a restricted understanding at the decision making and higher political level in Egypt about the added value of decentralized LMI. On the one hand, this is due to Egyptian policy-makers’ lack of knowledge about the advantages of a well-structured LMI system. On the other hand, it results from a strong focus on providing quick solutions to the employment crisis, ideally with a high visibility to please their constituents, rather than concentrating on long-term interventions to change framework conditions such as the RLMOs. Given the importance to secure political support, cater to the needs of the partner institutions and raise awareness about the advantages of the RLMOs, it is crucial to implement the interventions identified during the PROSPECT cycle and market them appropriately as a direct outcome of the RLMOs. This can be done, for instance through a signing ceremony to launch interventions (e.g. conducted in SC in June 2015) or similar events aiming to attract local media, to promote the RLMOs’ work and create visibility. Taken together the interventions are not only beneficial in terms of addressing acute challenges in the local LM but also serve a broader purpose in securing the sustainability of the RLMOs (via securing demand for their outcomes).

However, to get to the stage where the RLMO teams are able to identify and market interventions adequately, requires intensive capacity building, in particular with regard to project proposal writing (capacities in this regard have been overall weak) and familiarizing the RLMO teams with the vast international and national donor and NGO landscape involved in LM issues. Moreover, the interventions may foster a conflict of interest amongst the RLMO team members if their seconding organization is or would like to implement a specific intervention. Besides, it is very time intensive and requires intense follow-up by the RLMO teams, until an intervention is successfully implemented, which impacts negatively on their work schedule.

Institutionalization and sustainability:

Finding an appropriate national partner to anchor the RLMOs to (see detailed criteria for such a national anchor in part 5), without compromising a strong buy-in from the private sector nor alienating one of the two crucial public player has been a challenge. Considering the complex institutional set-up in Egypt, the lack of trust amongst them and the low capacities even at the national level, it is important to consider institutionalization at an early stage, as formalizing agreements can take a long time and additional capacity building for the institutionalization partner may be required.

Another important lessons learned in terms of sustainability is to identify a suitable national training provider to offer the developed training modules or curricula. Establishing this national knowledge source safeguards that the knowledge remains in the country. Thereby, however it is crucial to secure intellectual property rights and that courses are run at reasonable costs to enable a broad accessibility.

Additional lessons learned for EPP:

Additional lessons learned for EPP are the necessity to communicate shortcomings, benefits and possibilities openly to the RLMO staff members, the political partners and potential implementing partners for the interventions to not create unrealistic expectations. In the whole process of

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supporting the RLMOs, which has been done under a high involvement of EPP staff (weekly visits of EPP advisors to the RLMO pilot locations to guide the teams), it is of utmost importance to ensure that ownership remains with the RLMOs and that the EPP experts function as advisors and back-stoppers without imposing intervention areas or their ideas. This can be challenging given the weak capacities of the teams particularly with regard to marketing the interventions on the on hand, and the substantial pressure to show tangible results to the stakeholders on the other hand.

Realistically, to be able to push forward the interventions and seize windows of opportunities, EPP support during the initial PROSPECT cycles (1-3rd cycle) is expected to remain high (e.g. EPP provided the contacts and initiated several meetings with other donors e.g. ILO, IoM to market the interventions due to a lack of knowledge of the RLMO team members about the donor landscape in Egypt). However, to allow the RLMO team to be eventually in the driving seat, capacity building and knowledge sharing about how to marketing the interventions (e.g. providing contacts and overviews about different international donors and development programs to the RLMO teams, role plays, etc.) have to be prioritized. Moreover, networking and the exchange of best practices and lessons learned (e.g. through participating at EN RLMM workshops) has proven to be very useful. However, given the relative short period of GIZ engagement in this area, intensifying networking and knowledge exchange inside and outside the GIZ to be aware of innovations and best practices needs to be encouraged further.

7. Excurse – Innovation

With the growing relevance and significance of RLMM (see chapter 2), there is also a strive to optimize operations and pilot new ways to ultimately make the RLMOs sustainable. One big area for future innovation is the use of big data and more sophisticated IT applications to gain and process administrative data (e.g. from main recruiting pages online) and gather vacancy specifications. Another area is changing the modality of how LMI is gained from labour and cost intensive survey-based approaches to purely demand-oriented approaches. In contrast to repetitively producing comprehensively LM surveys, the latter approach is based on the private or public sector requesting the RLMO to analyze a specific issue and gain data on a rather narrowly defined topic of particular interest to them.

Looking especially at Egypt, it is also important to strategically disseminate to location and aligned the RLMOs with government developing projects and make use of government incentives, if possible. For instance, the Egyptian Government’s plan to upgrade the Suez Canal region and promote foreign and local investment alongside, private sector development is an important factor to open RLMOs there.

At present, the public awareness for LMI in Egypt is not sufficient to opt for such a demand-driven approach, which is more cost and time effective than vast LM surveys. However, with the dissemination of the RLMOs proceeding, an increased interest of international donors (e.g. ILO, EU, World Bank) to support Egypt in establishing a well-functioning LMIS and the next phase of EPP (EPP II will be implemented from 2016-2018) with an even larger commitment in this area ahead, there is an unprecedented momentum support to Egypt in developing and improving a regional and national LMIS. Aiming to seize this momentum, EPP II will intensify its support to the RLMOs in optimizing their data collection and operational capacities, to strive for international standards and thus, try to contribute to the establishment of a demand-oriented LMIS in Egypt.

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Annex I: 7 Steps of the PROSPECT Cycle

The PROSPECT method consist of seven distinct steps that ultimately lead to a clearer picture of the LM (see Figure A1). The seven distinct steps can be described as follows:

1. Strategic selection of economic sectors to be studies in the Prospect cycle (Sector synopsis is the reference document)

2. Survey of the enterprises in the selected sectors and collection of (quantitative) data about the demand side of the labor market (enterprise survey conducted through field visits)

3. In-depth interviews and collection of detailed (qualitative) data about the demand side of the labor market

4. Analysis of existing training and matching services in the region 5. Analysis of the supply side of the labor market (labor force) including focus group discussions

with job seekers and other target groups 6. Develop strategies and recommend measures and interventions to address identified

challenges in the LM 7. Launching of the LM analysis at a sectoral conference and marketing the interventions

Figure A1: Practical Steps of the PROSPECT Cycle

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Annex II: The Intervention Areas

Overview of the Interventions of the first PROSPECT cycles

Conducted by the Regional Labour Market Observatories (RLMOs) in SC and SOC

Title of the Intervention

Location Problem Description Objective and Proposed Activities

Implementation Partners

Status and Duration

1. Enhancing the quality and outreach of the Dual System

Sadat City The Dual System (DS) was introduced in Egypt in 1994 and is currently applied under the supervision of the Regional Units of the Dual System (RUDS) in proposed schools in 27 Governorates. The DS’s key strength is that it brings education closer to LM needs through combining school-based technical education with practical in-company training.

However, the scope of the DS is still limited and the offers of in-company training opportunities are decreasing. The LM study in SC showed that only 44% of the interviewed enterprises offer in company training for DS graduates and that there is limited communication between schools and enterprises

Improve the quality and outreach of the DS in SC to enhance in-company training opportunities and the employability of graduates alongside strengthening the dialogue between the private sector and the MoTEVT with regard to demand-oriented TE.

Proposed Activities:

Familiarize the RUDS staff and the DS teachers with DS tools (e.g. report book) and operational procedures

Introduce a quality management and assurance system at the RUDS and the DS schools

Awareness raising events for parents, companies and potential DS students

GIZ EPP

RUDS SC

IA SC

NCHRD

Being implemented

May 2015-

Dec. 2015

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2. Training for employment

Sadat City The SC LM study showed that there are altogether 1085 vacancies (food & agro-food: 141, textile 569, engineering: 375) in SC. The labor demand is concentrated on the 20-39 age group and on three occupational categories: 1. Production, 2. Technician and 3. Production and limited skilled workers.

The survey also showed that 55% of the enterprises in the three sectors face problems in filling vacancies, and 57% of the enterprises are unsatisfied with the professional level of job applicants mainly due to a "Lack of technical skills". This mismatch takes place despite relatively high unemployment amongst the workforce holding technical secondary and community college education in the SC region.

Satisfying employers’ needs for trained labor through offering targeted and tailor-made training for employment.

Proposed Activities:

Conducting workshops with employers to identify the required technical skills

Designing the required training programs and developing training schedules

Conducting technical training and work ethics/ job preparation training courses to qualify young graduates as per the enterprises’ needs

IoM

EFE

SC IA

Being implemented

July-Dec. 2015

3. Establishing an HR Club

Sadat City A well-functioning HR department plays a major role in ensuring competitiveness. However, the results of the LM survey in SC show that 69% of the interviewed enterprises do not have an HR department; most of them micro and small enterprises (SMEs). Moreover, the study finds that the three major problems related to labor for

Creating awareness amongst employers about HR issues and introducing best practices in HR to SME managers, employers and HR managers to sensitize them and build their capacities in order to increase productivity and competitiveness of companies

Proposed Activities:

German Embassy (provided a grant for small and micro projects)

SC IA

GIZ- EPP

Being implemented

July-Dec. 2015

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enterprises are: 1. The high "labor turnover" (61% of the enterprises), 2. The "Lack of commitment (frequently absent, being late, etc.)", and 3. The lack of technical skills (57% of the enterprises).

Establish an HR Club, which meets monthly to discuss proposed HR topics and spread best practices in HR

Organize a kick-off meeting to introduce the HR Club to enterprises, (especially SMEs) and HR managers in SC and to define their labour related problems and potential topics / speakers

Establish a knowledge base and make available the gained information and contacts

4. Promoting the employment of people with disabilities

Sadat City Expert interviews in SC showed that despite a designated law that promotes employment of people with disabilities and fines enterprises that do not hire people with disabilities, social and economic inclusion of people with disabilities remains a huge challenge.

Overall the LM study in SC shows that /33/ of the interviewed enterprises have a total of /115/ staff with special needs (1.2% of their labor).

Moreover, /43/ enterprises have future opportunities for people with disabilities and expressed the need

Inclusion of people with disabilities socially and economically in the LM of SC and raising awareness of employers and public sector entities how to promote inclusion.

Proposed Activities:

Training Public Employment Office staff in SC how to promote the placement of people with disabilities

Creating awareness and offering consultancy to enterprise on how to integrate people with disabilities and make the workplace suitable

HR Club session on inclusive

ILO

MoMM

Being implemented

Aug-Dec. 2015

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to fill /740/ vacancies. employment.

5. Developing the quality of the public employment services

Sadat City The SC LM study showed that only 41% of the interviewed enterprises use the MoMM’s public employment office which is the officially mandated entity to offer employment services free of charge, as a way to attract job seekers.

During stakeholder discussion enterprises mentioned that the MoMM staff does not satisfy their needs for qualified labor. It became clear during the interviews that enterprises are reluctant to use the public employment services because of their dual organizational structure (inspection and employment services are combined and both tasks are conducted by the same employee = conflicting interests).

Improve quality of the public employment services through re-organization (distribution of roles & responsibilities), and building capacities of the PEO staff to satisfy the needs of enterprises

Proposed Activities:

Depending on implementation partners

Not yet identified

Pending

6. Establishing a new profession in the food industry

Sixth of October City

There are no vocations that provide the food sector with technical staff neither from the TE schools nor in the universities in SOC despite the increasing dynamics of employment in the food sector and the fact that /46/ food enterprises needs /270/ secondary school graduates in the next 12 months. Moreover, many enterprises face the challenge that the majority of low skilled job seekers are often unqualified and lack work ethics and loyalty.

Introducing a new profession “food technology specialist” that serves the requirements of employers for skilled labor.

Proposed Activities:

Focus group discussions and DACUM workshop to identify employers requests

Develop a new curricula based on employers’ needs

Implement new curricula

MoTEVT Process has been initiated and focus group discussions took place

Currently this intervention is on hold due to restructuring of the MoTEVT

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7. SOC-IA Employment Center powered by NEP

Sixth of October City

The SOC LM analysis found that there is a huge mismatch on the labor market and that there are many blue color vacancies in SOC, despite a high unemployment rate in the surrounding governorates (especially Fayoum exports labor to SOC). Moreover the LM analysis discovered that public employment services are unable to effectively fill these vacancies and reach out to job seekers alike companies. Besides, apart from the NEP there are also hardly any effective private employment agencies active in the SOC region.

Establishing an employment center that serves the members of SOCIA and other companies in SOC to fill their vacancies with well-prepared job seekers.

Proposed Activities:

Establishing an employment center attached to SOCIA and powered by NEP

SOCIA will hire the staff and provide the venue for the employment center, whilst NEP will transfer the knowledge, avail access to job seekers and its data base, train the staff and manage the employment center in the initial phase

The cooperation with between NEP and SOCIA is envisioned in three phases, which ideally terminate in a phase, where the employment center is fully run on the operational level by SOCIA including well-trained employment officers, a job scout and a manager, who also is in charge of monitoring

NEP will provide support also in the final phase but not on

National Employment Pact (NEP)

SOCIA

GIZ-EPP

GIZ-LMAP

Concept note has been drafted and jointly discusses in a planning workshop

A venue and possible staff has been selected

A cooperation agreement has been signed and the NEP Steering Committee agreed

Signing of legal agreement is pending to allow for implementation on the ground

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an operational level but through access to innovation, training, job tracing etc.

8. Promoting of female employment in industrial enterprises

Sixth of October City

Overall, there is a low percentage of female labor within the interviewed enterprises. Females constitute only 4% of labor in the engineering enterprises and 15% in the food enterprises.

However, females constitute 19% of the labor force in urban Giza, ofwhich 27% are unemployed.

Promoting employment of females in the industrial sector

Proposed Activities:

Depending on implementation partners

Not yet identified

Pending

9. Training for Employment

Sixth of October City

Employers in the engineering sector-especially in the "Household equipment" subsector complain about a shortage of skilled labor. The survey and in-depth interviews showed that there are /11/ x-large enterprises (labor size 500 or above) offering /403/ vacancies. These vacancies remain unfilled despite the 151400 unemployed in the urban Giza area (SOC included).

Satisfying employers’ needs for trained labor through offering targeted and tailor-made training for employment

Proposed Activities:

Conducting workshops with employers to identify the required technical skills

Designing the required training programs and developing training schedule

Conducting technical training and life skills training courses to qualify young graduates as per the enterprises’ needs

Not yet identified

Pending

10. Promoting decent jobs

Sixth of October City

Most of the enterprises in the engineering and food sector face problems in filling vacancies and retaining labor especially with regard

Enhancing productivity of enterprises through improving work quality and offering work ethics courses in order to lower

Not yet identified

Pending

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to blue collar jobs. There are two angles to this problem (supply and demand side). On the supply side, turnover is very high and most workers stated, the low salaries as the main reason for labor mobility. Other reasons are long commutes or unjust treatment at enterprises. On the other side, enterprises stated that they are unable to attract skilled and ow skilled labor and to keep them.

On the supply side, the applicants have low skills and lack the required level of commitment.

Taken together this creates a mismatch which affects the employment and productivity levels negatively.

turnover.

Proposed Activities:

Depending on implementation partners

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Annex III Profile RLMO Working Group Member Aswan

Yehia Abou Hassem Mohammed

Delegating Organisation MoTEVT

Current Position Head of Coordination Department Technical Education

Supervisor in Charge Nadia Hamedna Allaha Ali (General Director of TE, Aswan)

Education / Degree Technical Diploma in Industrial Studies in Aswan

Days seconded from MoE As he is the coordinator of the RLMO every day at the initial stage but later delegated for 2 days

Motivation and Experience with Labour Market Information

Motivation to join the Observatory

Find ways to combat unemployment and help others to find jobs

Personal reasons: he has two brothers who are currently unemployed, huge interest in combating unemployment

Experience with LM Information

(0-5, 0= experience, 5=excellent)

2 after the first training (before 1) Works in a sports club in the afternoon where he

organizes events for the private sector and got to know about LM problems and recruitment problems

Individual skill you want to gain / improve through participating in the RLMO

Communication skills how to deal with people in the ministries and the

private sector Team work skills

What strength / skills / knowledge can you add to the RLMO work

Report writing and IT skills

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Annex IV: Profile RLMO Working Group Member Aswan

Mervet Ab del Said

Delegating Organisation Ministry of Manpower and Migration

Current Position Modir Malik / Financial Manager

Supervisor in Charge Mahmoud Hassan (Head of MoMM in Aswan)

Education / Degree Cairo University (Accounting Degree)

Motivation and Experience with Labour Market Information

Motivation to join the Observatory

She likes to learn new things She works already with Investors Association Wants to know about LM

Experience with LM Information (0-5)

0 Past knowledge specialised in finance

Individual skill you want to gain / improve here

Communication and Interviewing Skills English language training

What strength / skill / knowledge can you add to the RLMO work

Knowledge about finance and accounting