Egypt launches “Sustainable Universities” initiative

11 / 03 / 2024

By Marwa Nassar - -

The Egyptian Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has launched the “Sustainable Universities” initiative under the patronage of the Prime Minister, in collaboration with Cairo University.

Dr. Mohamed Othman El-Khashab, President of Cairo University, said that the Sustainable Universities initiative has two pillars. The first pillar focuses on raising awareness of the importance of development issues and empowering university youth to play their roles through activities, training, convoys, and other initiatives where they express their capabilities, interests, and concerns. The second pillar aims to enrich scientific research related to sustainable development goals and link education to various development issues. He confirmed that Cairo University has been aligning its research and educational plans with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations for years.

Hazem Khayrat, Advisor to the Minister of Planning and Economic Development for International Cooperation, said the launch of this initiative embodies the Egyptian state’s belief that investing in human capital and building the Egyptian individual is the core of development and its goal.

He explained that the initiative aims to encourage youth participation through promoting volunteer work to serve their communities, raising awareness of the Egyptian state’s vision in various development fields. The initiative also seeks to open channels of communication between youth and decision-makers through two tracks; community service and scientific research.

Dr. Mohamed Alaa, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation Office and Head of the Human Rights Unit at the Ministry, the General Supervisor of the Sustainable Universities Initiative, stated that the “Sustainable Universities” initiative complements other initiatives launched by the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, including the “Youth for Development” initiative, which aims to encourage youth activity through student competitions in policy writing and presenting initiatives for implementable development projects.

Alaa also emphasized that the initiative opens up opportunities for youth creativity without restricting them to specific contributions within the framework of the initiative. The coordinators of the initiative at the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and Cairo University have set criteria for judging the activities of students, such as conducting research projects, awareness-raising activities, women’s empowerment, etc., without limiting these activities. One of the most important judging criteria is the number of participating students, gender representation, and achieving developmental impact related to Egypt’s Vision 2030 and/or the National Strategy for Human Rights, among other criteria aimed at encouraging youth to contribute effectively to development efforts and building awareness of their ability to develop their communities.

As an ambassador for the initiative, Dr. Tarek Shawki clarified that the main goal is to encourage educational institutions to positively engage in serving development issues and to provide guidance to the initiative’s implementers on how to achieve its goals optimally, develop them, link participating youth with stakeholders in public work fields to expand the benefits of their contributions, and market the initiative globally in the best possible way.