Etijah Previous Experience
Etijah has four main significant programs with the objective of fighting social and economic inequality including the Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship (TOMOOH/Ambition) program, U.S. Egypt Higher Education Initiative Public University Scholarships program (HEI), vocational trainings in Safe Spaces and “Strengthening Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Development (SEED) project. The four projects aim to empower the disadvantaged youth and women who are likely to end up in a cycle of poverty, with entrepreneurial capacity and skills. The overall goal is to contribute to expanding social entrepreneurship and self-employment opportunities.
Etijah, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports and the UNFPA, implemented Safe Spaces project at youth centers located in Al Sharqiya governorate. It focuses on female’s essential role by supporting and empowering Egyptian and Syrian women and girls.
The Safe Spaces project enables women participants to overcome multiple challenges including gender-based violence. It encompasses several activities such as self-defense techniques, group therapy, theater workshops, storytelling workshops, vocational training, and recreational activities.
As part of scaling up the Safe Spaces and building on our previous successes and lessons learned, the participants of Safe Spaces project can be trained on craft handed techniques and other skills for generating their incomes for a better livelihood. They can leave and work from home (home-based) or at factory once they get proficient and well trained. Home-based work is one form of the informal work in which women engages predominantly. The term “home-based worker” is used to refer to the general category of workers who carry out remunerative work within their homes or in the surrounding ground.[1]
One of the Safe Spaces activities is a theater show called “We are here” where the Syrians and Egyptians are the main actors, the theater visits different governorates to raise awareness about gender-based violence.
HEI targets developing the capacity of more than 600 students who are disadvantaged economically and socially, including 76 disabled students, through comprehensive academic and practical training that results in educated, motivated, college graduates, in highly technical fields. Once the youth are assessed and placed in faculties, they join a community service program to develop their leadership and communication skills, while engaging in initiatives to expand their technical skills and thereby their career choices. The community service program introduces youth to disseminate their learning in their local communities. During 2018, HEI students gave about 15,268 voluntary hours serving marginalized people across different governorates.
SEED project which is inspired by the grave economic conditions that cripple youth and women ability to seize, find and create economic opportunities. In this context, the project aims at raising awareness on entrepreneurship and strengthening the capacities of 1260 youth people aged between 18 and 28 with a main focus on women in 2 governorates (Sohag and Kafr El-Sheikh) to become community leaders. This is implemented through: the establishment of 2 local hubs, a desk review on entrepreneurship ecosystem, TOT program including training on entrepreneurship skills, business management, mentor-ship and entrepreneurship event and launching event linking participants with various youth entrepreneur organizations, investors and mentors to provide financial assistance and guidance to the participants to help them develop their ideas into feasible businesses that will have a positive social impact in Egypt. These interventions all will create the basis of a sustainable network of youth entrepreneurs which will help to coordinate the efforts of existing youth entrepreneurship organizations. In this context, the sectors supported by this project are categorized under the following categories: community development, economic empowerment and gender equality.
TOMOOH project, it aims at improving the youth employment situation in Egypt through equipping them with the needed skills that shall increase their access to join the labor market. Tomooh enhances the self-employment by focusing on advanced design thinking to early stage start-ups for young university graduates from Cairo and the surrounding governorates. The program offers trainings to start-up entrepreneurs to access wider-range of business tools and market awareness, a hub serving as a co-working space for the participants to network and to work in an inspiring collaborative environment, and a mentorship program providing guidance to the participants and developing their entrepreneurial capabilities to better shape their startups and ensure correct business validation. A one-on-one business consulting service system is deployed to guide the participants through planning, establishing, launching, stabilizing, and growing their own businesses. The entrepreneurship program takes place in a Hub at Etijah’s main office.
Etijah’s impact on vulnerable women:
Etijah created a strategic partnership with UNFPA and the Ministry of Youth and Sports to work collectively on working against structural challenges that hinder women's economic empowerment. These structural challenges are mainly related to Sexual and Reproductive health “SRH” issues including family planning, ending FGM, fighting early marriage and raising awareness on violence against women. The challenges facing women in the public sphere made it necessary to create Safe Spaces in targeted areas, where women can are encouraged freedom of expression away from responsibilities and presence of men. A safe space goes beyond the physical place. It is about the behaviors and interactions that create an open and accepting environment, a space where everyone feels respected and valued. Women can contribute actively without fear of being judged on any basis.
These safe spaces are meant to provide psychosocial support for women and offer empowerment and educational activities. The spaces provide psychological support services to mitigate the risk of SGBV, provide the necessary support to survivors, assist in early detecting cases and raise the awareness of SGBV, reproductive health and basic health topics among refugees. The safe spaces delivered GBV programming and services to 21063 beneficiaries. The project built a full cycle of referral mechanism and case management to address gender-based violence against women to reach a total number of 3899 cases managed though the case management team. Women in the safe spaces to learn how to support their livelihoods, and achieve economic independence. Etijah has adopted two main approaches for raising awareness on SRH issues including; Sports for Development (S4D) and theatrical performances that present questions and challenges facing women, to engage youth in societal and population challenges.
Vocational trainings are a core part of activities in the Safe Spaces. These trainings seek to address demographic, economic and social demands. Providing vocational training to refugees can build their profiles of employability skills; enable them to work and earn their living and provide economic tools and networks to women. There are mainly eight vocational training programs that are conducted in the safe spaces including Sewing, embroidery, crochet, Coiffeur, Henna making, pottery, photography and finally making leather products. Along with vocational trainings, there are several cultural activities that are carried out including drawing, therapeutic Yoga, Sports activities, art exhibitions and creating an area for the vocational training products. These activities create solid cohesion between women refugees and Egyptians.
[1] Empowering Women through Home-based Work and Institutionalized Threats in Ethiopia, Tarik Hadgu Tedla, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, The Netherlands, December 2012.
