● Following up on the most prominent developments and achievements of the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”, the first institutional cooperation with the World Economic Forum to advance women’s empowerment efforts in Egypt.
● Al-Mashat and Morsy discuss future steps to enhance cooperation with the private sector to increase women’s participation in various fields through the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator”.
Dr. Rania Al-Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, met with Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women, to discuss a number of files and joint work programs within the framework of cooperation with international institutions and development partners, to support efforts to empower women and enhance their role in development, within the framework of the state’s development and strategic vision for National Women Empowerment 2030.
The meeting witnessed the discussion of a number of files, including the implementation of the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator” which was launched in cooperation between the Ministry of International Cooperation, the National Council for Women, and the World Economic Forum. This is the first cooperation of its kind between the government and the World Economic Forum, and the first platform of its kind in the Middle East and Africa region, through which the government and private sectors participate in taking action to bridge economic gaps.
The Minister stressed the importance of coordinating joint work and demonstrating the efforts made within the framework of the incentive to support Egypt’s ranking in international indicators and reports that monitor the improvement of women’s status in the economy and their role in achieving development.
Al-Mashat stated that there are many women’s empowerment programs being implemented with partners, including the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the World Bank, the European Union, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and other companies, stressing that empowering women and developing their role is a common denominator in various strategies with development partners, both multilateral and bilateral.
For her part, Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women, stressed the efforts being made under the umbrella of the National Strategy for Women’s Empowerment 2030, to increase women’s participation in various economic and social fields, and the importance of the programs implemented with development partners in this regard.
In a related context, the two sides discussed the ongoing efforts to implement the economic and social empowerment program for women in cooperation with the United States Agency for International Development, the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Central Bank, and many private sector institutions and research institutions, during the period from 2022-2027, with a grant worth $39 million.
The project is scheduled to work to increase women's access to economic opportunities in Egypt and remove barriers that prevent women's participation in the economy, in addition to focusing on improving the work environment for women in the private sector, expanding women's financial inclusion, and reducing the social and economic impacts of violence against women. It will also work in close partnership with the private sector in a number of high-growth sectors, including sectors that are traditionally uncommon for women’s employment in Egypt, and promote equal employment opportunities for women, and improve employment practices in the private sector, in integration with the Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator.
It is worth noting that the Ministry of International Cooperation launched, in 2020, the “Closing the Gender Gap Accelerator,” which is the first model of its kind for cooperation between the public and private sectors in Africa and the Middle East and North Africa region, with the aim of helping governments and companies take decisive action to bridge economic gaps between the genders, increasing women’s participation in the workforce, closing gender gaps in wages, pushing more women to managerial and leadership positions, and achieving gender equality in the future of work.
The ongoing portfolio of the Ministry of International Cooperation includes 117 projects across all governorates of Egypt and in various development fields, being implemented with 35 development partners and 27 concerned parties at the local level, with a value exceeding $4.5 billion, in order to advance women’s empowerment efforts.