Report No: ACS22455 Arab Republic of Egypt Egypt Youth Engagement Summary Note June 2017 GSU05 MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Document of the World Bank Standard Disclaimer: This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. Copyright Statement: The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. 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Summary Note Egypt: Youth Engagement (P158641) June 2017 Document of the World Bank Acronyms and Abbreviations AF Additional Financing DLI Disbursement-Linked Indicator GoE Government of Egypt ICR Implementation Completion Report MoIC Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NGO Non-Governmental Organization O&M Operations and Maintenance PforR Programs for Result TPM Third Party Monitoring 4 Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 6 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 9 1.1. Context ................................................................................................................................. 9 1.2. Relevance ........................................................................................................................... 10 2. Project Objectives and Description ....................................................................................... 10 2.1. Project Development Objectives........................................................................................ 10 2.2. Project Activities ................................................................................................................ 11 2.3. Other Significant Changes in Project Design .................................................................... 12 3. Youth Mainstreaming Methodology ..................................................................................... 12 3.1. What is Youth Mainstreaming? ......................................................................................... 12 3.2. Instruments for Youth Mainstreaming ............................................................................... 13 3.3. Portfolio Review ................................................................................................................ 14 4. Results ................................................................................................................................... 15 4.1. Pillar 1: Youth Mainstreaming........................................................................................... 15 4.2. Pillar 2: Youth M&E .......................................................................................................... 18 4.3. Pillar 3: Outreach, Communication and Entrepreneurship ................................................ 19 4.4. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes ..................................................... 23 5. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................. 24 5.1. Progress ............................................................................................................................ 24 5.2. Lessons learned .................................................................................................................. 25 5.3. Next steps ........................................................................................................................... 26 Annex: Activity Overview ............................................................................................................ 28 5 Executive Summary More than half of Egypt’s 91 million citizen are considered youth under 30 years old, and they were decisive in bringing about the political changes since 2011.1 Despite a number of serious efforts by the Government of Egypt (GoE) in recent years to develop more inclusive youth policies to address unemployment, social exclusion and governance, core grievances voiced during the 2011 protests remain unaddressed.2 Contrary to the expectations of young Egyptians, personal liberties such as freedom of expression and assembly have been further restricted since 2014, and many young people have been arrested. As a result, many young people feel that mistakes of the past are being repeated, since very few channels remain available for Egyptians to peacefully voice dissent or to initiate positive change in their communities, with an ever increasing risk of youth radicalization and violent response.3 Nevertheless, the resourcefulness and resilience of young people is immense, despite persisting barriers to economic, social and political inclusion. Throughout the post-2011 period, young people in Egypt have demonstrated their strife for creating a better future for their families and communities. Despite many disappointing experiences since the Arab Spring, many youth remain committed to working towards a modern and inclusive Egypt, governed by accountable politicians, without corruption and poverty, where all people can live a decent life.4 Young people are connected globally, and are striving to build an integrated economy that creates jobs and economic growth, while supporting the social fabric and protecting cultural roots. This openness allowed the Youth Engagement Initiative to connect and work with young people on a variety of topics and sectors, including World Bank financed projects and programs, youth-led entrepreneurship and social innovation programs, and strategic policy issues such as the youth unemployment challenge and education. In this context, the Egypt Youth Engagement Project (P158641) has piloted new instruments and approaches to support inclusion and participation through mainstreaming youth in Bank financed operations. Mainstreaming across the Bank portfolio denotes the process of a meaningful engagement and broad integration of young people into structures and activities of projects. This process aims to strengthen the participation and inclusion of young people in development projects, and to enhance the benefits that youth can derive from such investments. Youth Mainstreaming aims at putting young people at the heart of policy making and planning. Activities ranged from technical support during project preparation and appraisal, to developing a youth-led third party project monitoring and evaluation mechanism. Mainstreaming has been applied across sectors and across the project cycle, including Entrepreneurship, Social Development, Regional Development, Agriculture, Health, Energy, etc. The project work was complemented by a series of analytical pieces, covering unemployment and inactivity, a mapping 1 For operational purposes, youth can be broadly defined as the age cohort between 15-30 years of age. 2 See for example, Fawzy (2012). Accumulative Bad Governance. IDS Bulletin Volume 43 Number 1, London. 3 See for example, Wardany (2011). The Mubarak Regime’s Failed Youth Policies and the January Uprising. IDS Bulletin Volume 43 Number 1, London. 4 Chatham House (2017) Why Aren't More Muslim Brothers Turning to Violence? Blog. 6 of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt, and several guidance notes on (i) youth-inclusive education sector reform, (ii) Conducting effective consultations with youth, and (iii) Toolkit on Third Party Monitoring and Evaluation with youth. In addition, the Project leveraged a variety of youth-led initiatives with a focus on Entrepreneurship and Social Innovation, thereby directly supporting youth and establishing the Bank as development partner committed to the next generation. These included the RiseUp Innovation Summit in Cairo (the largest start-up event in the Middle East); support to the Gesr Social Entrepreneurship Summit in Cairo (the leading social innovation and incubation event in Egypt); support to the YouThinkGreen incubator (a new hub for environmental and eco-friendly entrepreneurs); and the launch of the Arab Creativity Bank (the first crowdfunding platform in the Middle East for youth-led initiatives financing innovation, arts and culture, and social impact). To support the overall program, the Project organized a direct outreach campaign to reach Egypt’s youth. Complementing the programmatic activities, the outreach activities consisted of a social media campaign for youth, implemented in close cooperation with the Ministry of International Cooperation (MoIC). The online momentum was supported by offline events, and the TA made of a series of contributions at youth conferences across Egypt (e.g. Arab Youth Forum in March 2016; Social Enterprise Week in May 2017). The momentum of all activities of the platform cumulated in a series of Youth Essay Competitions focusing on Youth Employment Policies, and Youth Entrepreneurship, which enabled young Egyptians to develop new solutions and present their ideas to policy makers and development partners. The essay model was highly effective, and replicated by other development partners such as UNIDO. Overall, the World Bank through its Egypt Youth Engagement Project (P158641) directly contributed to providing youth with voice and agency, and impact for young people. The Project helped to create partnerships and new opportunities, and helped to increase the impact and participation of Egypt’s youth in World Bank-financed projects and programs in Egypt. A strong business case for investing in such activities exists, since youth is the largest demographic group of Egypt’s population and represents the future of the country. The Project has also helped to better communicate the World Bank mission and its approach to inclusive development, while supporting the social contract. In addition, support to youth inclusion through mainstreaming can be pivotal in strengthening the impact of new and ongoing World Bank supported projects. Looking forward, youth inclusion can only be reached slowly and has to be carefully built from a bottom up approach, given the challenging context in Egypt and many other MENA countries. In the current context, the World Bank should continue to build on the tested mainstreaming approaches and foster internal collaboration to ensure Youth Development can be further promoted in a cross-sectoral manner and build into a wide range of sectoral interventions. In addition, future engagement should build on the partnerships developed on the ground in particular with the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem, which enables youth to engage in innovative ways and empowers them to find solutions for the most pressing development challenges in their community. 7 8 1. Introduction 1.1. Context Egypt is a country of mostly young people, many of which were decisive in bringing about political change in recent years. As a country of 90 million, with half the population under 25 years of age, Egypt is home to the largest youth population in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. While young people took to the streets in 2011 chanting “Bread, Freedom and Social Justice�, the protests did not help to generate solutions to these demands. Youth who had the ambition to re-build the country were faced by quickly deteriorating labor market conditions and increasing political instability, while prices soared. Despite a number of serious efforts by the Government of Egypt (GoE) to develop more inclusive youth policies, core grievances remain unaddressed. The GoE has implemented a number of labor market reforms to improve the job situation for young people, although the impact of these programs is not yet being felt. The GoE also tried to provide more voice and agency to youth, for example through a new election law that allocates 16 parliament seats for youth. While these are positive developments, the security concerns have led to mass arrests and civil society has been effectively paralyzed, just as basic democratic principles such as free and fair elections have been undermined. As a result, very few channels remain available to young Egyptians to peacefully voice dissent or to initiate positive change in their communities, with an ever increasing risk of radicalization and violent response. Box: What is Youth Inclusion? The World Bank support to youth combines the ‘lifecycle approach’ to youth, as defined by the WDR 2007 on Youth in Development as ‘the period of time during which a young person goes through a formative transition into adulthood’. For operational purposes, the Bank mostly considers the 15-30 age range during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. For analytical and operational work, different definitions are sometimes used, depending on context and objectives. Taking a lifecycle approach provides a holistic and integrated methodology that connects and reinforces the various policy support measures in a coherent manner. Research shows that risky behaviors of youth are frequently inter-related and can have similar origins. Focusing on these common causes rather than the problems themselves is likely to have a deeper, lasting impact and help address multiple challenges at the same time. Youth need challenging experiences that are appropriate, diverse and sufficiently intense. All young people, whether in school, employment or without work, whether low-income or affluent, need a mix of services, support and opportunities to stay engaged. They need relevant and reliable information to make informed decisions and to understand how the choices they make will affect 9 their lives. They need opportunities for real participation and involvement in a range of community life. Positive outcomes require an understanding lives and young people, including their social environment, relationships and opportunities. Giving greater attention to the care, empowerment and protection of youth is the soundest way to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty and risky behavior, and to reduce vulnerability to extremism, while empowering young people and giving them the knowledge, skills and confidence to meet the global challenges of our times. 1.2. Relevance The approach of the Egypt Youth Engagement Initiative and its support to (a) Economic Opportunities; (b) Social Inclusion, and (c) Participation for young people remained fully aligned with the higher-level regional development objectives of the MENA Regional Strategy. In particular, the Project is aligned with Pillar 1 of the Regional Strategy, Renewing the Social Contract, as the TA promotes an inclusive approach towards building trust between citizens and institutions and supports the strong participation of beneficiaries. It is also well aligned with pillars 2 and 3 of the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF) for Egypt. 2. Project Objectives and Description 2.1. Project Development Objectives The development objective of the Egypt Youth Engagement Project is to promote and mainstream youth inclusion in Egypt through the World Bank portfolio. The Project aimed to support agency, voice and participation of youth (ages 15-30) and strengthen the relationship with young citizens by providing opportunities for young people in Egypt. Expected Results. The activities under Project are designed to enable short-term and long-term impacts along the key dimensions for Youth Inclusion in line with: (a) Economic Opportunities; (b) Social Inclusion; and (b) Participation. While the mainstreaming will directly contribute to youth development opportunities and youth inclusion, Youth Third Party Monitoring will give voice and agency to young people while strengthening project results and accountability. The support to Entrepreneurship and Social Entrepreneurship will set positive examples and show-case new opportunities of youth empowerment for young Egyptians, while fostering entrepreneurship and social inclusion. In the medium term, the combined Youth Engagement is expected to contribute to a more constructive dialog between youth organizations and public institutions. 10 2.2. Project Activities The initiative aimed to reach its objective through three key components: (i) Mainstreaming Youth Inclusion, (ii) Youth Monitoring and Evaluation, and (iii) Entrepreneurship, Outreach and Communication. Pillar 1: Mainstreaming Youth Inclusion focusses on increasing the participation of youth in development projects and the impact of such projects on young people, by leveraging existing and new World Bank financed projects and programs in Egypt. Mainstreaming is being targeted to ensure meaningful impacts for youth beneficiaries, and will take different shapes within each project. The emphasis is on youth participation and employment creation, for example by setting specific youth targets in employment and investment programs, or by creating a space for youth groups as part of a project’s implementation arrangements. Mainstreaming will make small changes to project designs and implementation arrangements and will be complemented by consultation workshops and communications activities via: (a) a participatory study to inform Bank staff about priorities of young people; and (b) holding workshops for pipeline projects to include youth priorities in design. In addition, an outreach campaign will also allow youth to better understand development efforts and their impacts. Pillar 2: Youth-Led Monitoring & Evaluation:5 The Youth Engagement initiative aimed to support a selected group of World Bank projects which are ongoing and introduce Third Party Monitoring (TPM) activities by engaging youth associations from universities and civil society organizations. For each project, the Youth Monitoring & Evaluation activities aim to follow the World Bank TPM guidelines by: (i) identifying project monitoring needs that would benefit from monitoring by a TMP mechanism; (ii) assessing the local project context; (iii) selecting the monitoring methodology or approach most suitable to the context; (iv) designing the implementation modalities for TMP and drafting relevant Terms of Reference; (v) selecting and training dedicated youth who will support TMP through youth associations; (vi) implementing monitoring by trained youth associations; and (vii) continuously monitoring results and assessing project effectiveness. Under Pillar II of the TA, the Youth Engagement Initiative further collaborated with the Ministry of International Cooperation in Egypt (MoIC) in capacity building activities related to M&E. In a first step the Ministry together with the World Bank conducted a needs assessment to identify areas of support, which included an M&E Technical Training on Performance Measurement and Management and Third Party Monitoring training series in Egypt. Both activities were implemented with the support of an external partner selected through a competitive bidding process. The Performance Measurement and Management training included a two-day workshop while the Third Party Monitoring course was implemented over a series of workshops and other training activities. 5 Pillar was initially called: Youth Third Party Monitoring (YTPM) and was broadened to support the full M&E spectrum. 11 Pillar 3: Outreach, Communication & Entrepreneurship 6 supports youth-led entrepreneurship and social-entrepreneurship activities, including ideation and incubator events, as well as an essay competition, and active outreach and communication with youth. The activities support youth-oriented entrepreneurship and provide exciting new opportunities to develop innovative ideas to create positive change. The supported grant challenge and incubation events leverage existing activities with internal and external partners in Egypt, and will be targeted at youth and in particular young women with a focus on social entrepreneurship. 2.3. Other Significant Changes in Project Design Following modest delays due to new legislation requiring security clearance for each activity, the Project closing date was extended from April 30, 2017 to June 30, 2017 to facilitate an orderly completion of the planned and ongoing activities. The Project was not restructured. However, the scope of pillars 2 and 3 was somewhat expanded to support innovating through new approaches for youth engagement. 3. Youth Mainstreaming Methodology 3.1. What is Youth Mainstreaming? Definition: Youth mainstreaming denotes a process for a meaningful engagement and broad integration of young people into structures and activities of development projects to strengthen the participation and inclusion of young people in development projects, and to enhance the benefits that youth can derive from such investments. Mainstreaming can take various forms, which can substantially differ by sector and stage of the project cycle, and is critically dependent on available resources, capacity and commitment for working with young people. Within the World Bank country portfolio, youth mainstreaming is an effective mechanism to support voice and agency, based on the recognition that young people are equal and valuable partners for development. Youth Development is cross-sectoral in nature and lends itself to mainstreaming across the Bank portfolio. When approaching youth through the transition framework from adolescence to adulthood, it becomes clear that all sectors are related to the lives of young people, with varying degrees of intensity. For example, the most relevant sectors include education and skills, social protection and labor, social development, urban and rural development, governance, as well as poverty, health, environment, ICT, transport, and others. While specialized youth projects have been implemented in these sectors, the cross-sectoral nature of youth development allows supporting youth through regular programs in the different sectors by complementing the existing project design, activities and frameworks. 6 Pillar was initially called: Entrepreneurship Grant Challenge, and was broadened to support a wider variety of youth-led initiatives, including social entrepreneurship and an essay competition. 12 Youth Mainstreaming works through the project cycle approach to support impact, participation and engagement for young people. Mainstreaming puts young people at the heart of development and can be applied at any stage of the project cycle, broadly defined as design stage, i.e. identification, preparation and appraisal; which is followed by implementation, and completion. Since the implementation phase is typically the longest, it can be further divided into (i) effectiveness and starting phase; (ii) mid-term of implementation; and (iii) additional financing (AF) and project extension, where applicable, and is supported by (iv) monitoring of progress. During the completion phase, projects focus on evaluations, conduct Implementation Completion Reports (ICRs), and ensure effective mechanisms for Operations and Maintenance (O&M) of provided infrastructure, when applicable. Available entry points for mainstreaming differ substantially depending on the project stage, and are typically most meaningful for early-stage engagement. The other main constraints for effective youth mainstreaming are the available resources and capacity to absorb and implement of implementing partners. 3.2. Instruments for Youth Mainstreaming Three categories of mainstreaming instruments exist: Inclusion, Participation and Benefit. The available instruments can be easily combined and tend to be complementary. 1. Inclusion refers to introducing the needs and priorities of young people into the conceptualization of project activities and is most applicable for the design stage of the project cycle (preparation, appraisal) and project extensions. Available inclusion instruments include youth consultations, design thinking workshops7, nudging8 and other behavioral approaches, outreach campaigns, and other initiatives that can ensure projects are youth-informed. 2. Participation describes the active participation of young people to support project implementation, for example as community mobilizers; trainers, coaches and peers; enumerators in third party monitoring and other data collection; through participation in project steering committees; and as engaged citizens to strengthen accountability and safeguards at the local level. Participation can be applied during the implementation and completion phase. 3. Benefit refers to direct and indirect youth beneficiaries of a project. For example, benefit can be increased by adjusting the Results Framework or existing targeting mechanisms; by revising selected project activities or their implementation; by amending the project operations manual; or in selected cases by a restructuring a project. Overall, the impact of youth mainstreaming can be very high when applying Benefit instruments, however, these instruments can also require substantial transaction costs for the Bank and clients.9 7 Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the available instruments to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for project success. 8 Is a concept from the behavioral economics, and can be defined as coaxing or gently encouraging someone to do something without restricting any options or changing the overall incentive structure. 9 For example, changes in loan agreements and restructuring are require substantial resources and time and need. 13 Table 1: Youth Mainstreaming Methodology Categories of Youth Mainstreaming Instruments Project Cycle Stage Inclusion Participation Benefit Identification ✔ Design Preparation ✔ Appraisal ✔ Effectiveness ✔ ✔ ✔ Mid-term ✔ ✔ ✔ Implementation Project extension / AF ✔ ✔ ✔ Monitoring ✔ Evaluation ✔ Completion & ICR ✔ Sustainability O&M ✔ Source: Egypt Youth Engagement (P158641) 3.3. Portfolio Review In addition to its other outputs, the Youth Engagement Initiative was instrumental in developing a methodology for conducting a World Bank country portfolio review for youth mainstreaming. In essence, the portfolio review is based on a classification of each project regarding project cycle stage and sector. Portfolio activities that can be considered include grants, lending projects, programs for results (PforRs), as well as analytical work and other technical assistance, all of which are covered in the portfolio review carried out under this TA. To identify specific entry points, the portfolio review is conducted through a deep-dive for each project, including an analysis of the (i) development objectives, (ii) project components and activities, (iv) implementation arrangements and partners, and (v) results framework. Potential constraints such as budget, timeline, and capacity of implementing agencies are also considered. The methodology 14 has been further developed and is currently being applied to the Bank portfolio in Jordan, and is earmarked for becoming an integral part of the Youth Mainstreaming Toolkit of the MENA Regional Youth Platform in FY17/18. 4. Results 4.1. Pillar 1: Youth Mainstreaming As described above, a comprehensive portfolio review of the World Bank’s Egypt portfolio was conducted. The Egypt portfolio currently consists of 22 active projects and programs with a total value of US$8.1 billion, supported by a large analytical and technical assistance program (around US$200 million in grants). During the portfolio review, a deep-dive was conducted for each project to establish the potential for youth mainstreaming and the appropriate entry points. The deep-dive included an analysis of development objectives, components and activities, implementation, and results framework, as well as progress in the project cycle. Together, these indicators were the foundation for prioritizing a number of projects in close dialog with the CMU to ensure strategic alignment. Together with the relevant Task Teams specific entry points and options for youth mainstreaming support were then developed based on the project cycle approach explained above. The following projects and specific categories of youth mainstreaming instruments have been analyzed and/or benefitted from mainstreaming support during at different project cycle stages. Table 2: Egypt Youth Mainstreaming in FY16-17 Categories of Youth Mainstreaming Instruments Project Cycle Inclusion Participation Benefit Education Program; Identification Cairo Urban Development Design Program Agriculture Preparation Program Appraisal Upper Egypt Local Inclusive Development Housing Implementation Effectiveness PforR ✔ Finance (P157395) Program (P150993) 15 Cash Transfer Energy Programs: Mid-term ✔ Program Takaful and Karama Project extension / AF ✔ ✔ ✔ Monitoring Health Care Quality Evaluation Improvement Project Completion & (P080228) ICR Sustainability O&M ✔ Youth Unemployment Assessment; Social Entrepreneurship Analytical Work Mapping; Vulnerability to Youth Radicalization Despite a challenging operational environment and increasing security restrictions during the project duration, several mainstreaming activities could be successfully developed, tested and implemented. While not all of the above listed projects fully benefited from youth mainstreaming due to the rapidly changing political and security environment, the Youth Engagement TA was nevertheless able to develop and test new instruments for all three categories of mainstreaming instruments. The most important mainstreaming interventions are described in more detail below. Identification: Support to the Education Quality Improvement Program (pipeline) during the identification stage helped to lay the ground for a stakeholder engagement supporting the education reform process. Activities included technical aspects of a high-level national education event with GoE counterparts. The focus of the Mainstreaming contribution was a presentation based on best-practices regarding participatory approaches, with an emphasis on how youth engagement can effectively be applied during education sector reform. Mainstreaming Progress: The Education Program is moving relatively slowly within a challenging sector context and remains at pipeline stage, which did not enable the Youth Engagement project to provide additional technical assistance. Preparation: Upon request from the task team of the Inclusive Agricultural Development Program in Upper Egypt (P158293), several entry points for youth mainstreaming were explored. Since the program aimed to directly benefit young people in rural areas, the Agriculture program has high potential for meaningful youth mainstreaming. The Youth Engagement Initiative participated in the preparation mission to support voice and agency of 16 young people, and supported the consultation process in order to ensure that the priorities and needs of young Egyptians will be considered and taken into account at the early stage of project design. Mainstreaming Progress: Due to a series of considerations by GoE and the Bank, the Agricultural Development Program is currently on hold. Appraisal & Effectiveness: Considered as high-priority flagship program by GoE, the Upper Egypt Local Development PforR (P157395) has benefited from a fast-tracked preparation and appraisal. In this context, the Youth Engagement Initiative supported critical design elements of the PforR. These include youth informed Disbursement-linked indicator (DLIs), as well as a menu of options for youth entrepreneurship training for the Project Appraisal Document and the Operations Manual. Following the successful Program appraisal, the Youth Engagement Initiative has provided continuous support to the PforR and offered inputs to the Operation Manual and Terms of References of local sub-activities to further strengthen entry points for youth engagement in the implementation process. Mainstreaming Progress: The PforR is effective and is considered as a complex operation in a low-capacity context in Upper Egypt, and would benefit from continuous additional mainstreaming support. Monitoring and Evaluation: To increase participation of young people during project implementation, the Youth Engagement Initiative developed the conceptual foundations for a Youth Third Party Monitoring (TPM) system in the context of the Health Care Quality Improvement Project (P080228) in Upper Egypt. The objective of the youth-led TPM was to collect critical monitoring and evaluation data to assess the outcomes, efficiency and efficacy of the health project, with data directly contributing to the results framework, project evaluation and ICR. Mainstreaming Progress: The Youth Engagement Initiative developed the operating model, and contracted an implementing civil society organization to coordinate the various stakeholders, train youth monitors and ensure rigor in data collection and report writing. The launch of the TPM was put on hold in late FY16 upon request of GoE due to an intervention by the security services. However, the TPM model has subsequently been further advanced to support Bank activities in Jordan and potentially Tunisia. In addition, the Youth Engagement Initiative consulted with a wide range of Task Teams in virtually all sectors, and coordinated closely with the Program Leaders supporting the Egypt portfolio. The TA was successful in presenting the value proposition of youth mainstreaming and collaborate with the various Task Teams. However, in many instances entry points were limited due to either the nature of the project, or other external reasons. For most active projects in the portfolio, critical project stages for mainstreaming had already been passed. In conclusion, effectiveness of youth mainstreaming increases when the following conditions are fulfilled:  Mainstreaming is applied during early stage of project cycle (design or early implementation)  Continuous support to projects is provided 17  It is possible to openly engage with youth and conduct data collection 4.2. Pillar 2: Youth M&E Participatory methods such as Youth M&E require stakeholder engagement. The Youth Engagement Initiative aimed to develop and test youth-led M&E methods within selected Bank financed operations. Since such participatory methods include new external stakeholders in the form of youth and civil society, it is critical to engage in a dialog with all relevant government authorities concerned with each project. In addition, overall capacity on M&E methods and on TPM solutions are essential for key counterparts to ensure effective implementation, with MoIC taking a pivotal role in the oversight and monitoring process. To that end, and based on an in-depth need assessment, the Youth Engagement Initiative conducted a series of highly technical training workshops with MoIC on M&E methods, with a focus on results-based approaches and youth-led TPM. 1. TPM Capacity Building (Part 1): Youth Monitoring - Principles and Field Experiences for Third Party Monitoring (February 2016). The capacity building exercise provided an overview of global best-practice to technical and managerial staff at MoIC to jointly explore options for supporting TPM work in Egypt with and through MoIC. Results: The workshop was successful in obtaining a clear commitment by MoIC to support and test TPM approaches in Bank financed operations, and to identify projects with other development partners which could be suitable for TPM. 2. TPM Capacity Building (Part 2 and 3): Youth Monitoring - Principles and Field Experiences for Third Party Monitoring (April and May 2017). The workshops were structured as short series, comprising an orientation and a following deep-dive session, both targeting technical M&E staff at MoIC. The orientation workshop introduced the concept of Social Accountability as critical tool for strengthening citizen engagement in service delivery, exploring solid applications through the Third Party Monitoring process and aimed to raise awareness about Social Accountability (SA) tools at both the local and Governmental levels. The deep-dive workshop focused on Social Accountability and participatory methods in practice by highlighting lessons learned from the application of Third Party Monitoring in projects, with external stakeholders sharing their implementation practices with MoIC staff. The Egypt Youth Imitative partnered with an experienced NGO (CARE Egypt) to provide orientation workshops on tested Third Party Monitoring methods and toolkits, which have involved youth and the civil society groups. Results: The workshops: (a) raised the participants’ awareness about the SA tools, and emphasized the importance of citizen engagement in M&E; (b) showcased practical examples and applications of SA in Egypt, highlighting the experiences of youth monitors; and (c) provided an avenue for 18 CSOs and youth groups to directly interface with the Government officials, allowing them to collaborate by identifying entry points to increase citizen engagement in order to improve of projects, through project design, implementation and evaluation. The workshops were attended by a delegation from Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation (MIIC) M&E unit, Youth representatives, Social Fund for Development (SFD), CARE Egypt and the World Bank. The workshops were interactive and sustained the interest of the stakeholders involved. As a direct result, it was agreed that MoIC would arrange a smaller workshop to tailor the TPM model to the Ministry’s M&E Agenda to ensure aid effectiveness and citizen satisfaction. 3. Results-Based M&E Workshop (March 2017). The training aimed to establish capacities for Performance Measurement and Management (PMM) among high-level staff from MoIC. In particular, the training enabled the workshop participants to apply the instruments and methods which are used for PMM in line with best practice. The training was case-study based and followed a four-step approach, consisting of:  an initial expert input in order to provide the participants with the methodological and theoretical knowledge for the further discussion,  an input (case study) from the participants relating to the current status of the instruments/methods/approaches to be developed further,  a guided group work for developing further the existing instruments, methods and approaches,  A plenary discussion, assessment and finalization of the improved instruments. During the training focus was on the following topics, which had been prepared and customized with regards to the needs and priorities of participants:  Performance measurement and management  Results chains and results models  Development and application of performance indicators  Project and program risk assessment  Performance rating  Results-based monitoring and evaluation 4.3. Pillar 3: Outreach, Communication and Entrepreneurship Overall, the activities under Pillar 3 were effectively implemented and generated substantial outreach and visibility. The Youth Engagement Initiative was able to increase knowledge exchange and promote youth inclusion activities within and outside the World Bank in Egypt. Through the analytical work, the Youth Engagement Initiative was able to shed light on youth related risk factors (e.g. Unemployment Brief), and inform policy makers (e.g. through a complimentary note on Education), which draws on global practices whilst highlighting successful 19 implementation mechanisms. By leveraging selected high-level youth events as described below, the Youth Engagement Initiative was able to exchange knowledge with a variety of stakeholders and promote the World Bank’s youth inclusion agenda. In addition, such exposure allowed the Youth Engagement Initiative to identify and test further avenues for the youth engagement, which can be capitalized on by future youth engagement efforts. Rebuilding the social contract requires addressing existing barriers and building trust between citizens and the state. Engaging with youth can help to accomplish these objectives by directly supporting voice and agency among young people, while also highlighting positive role models and the potential of participatory youth inclusion with public authorities. The activities implemented under this pillar directly support and reinforce the MENA Regional Strategy and Egypt’s Country Partnership Framework (CPF), by (i) actively engaging youth, (ii) showcasing youth leaders and role models among peers, (iii) highlighting the resourcefulness and innovative solutions developed by youth, and (iv) showcasing new opportunities for youth inclusion to public authorities and development partners by leveraging the convening role of the Bank. a. Outreach & Communication Social Media Outreach The Youth Engagement Initiative supported MoIC in implementing a Social Media Outreach on selected development topics with relevance for youth. The social media outreach was supported by infographics, project results and key figures to stimulate an active online debate and to promote engagement of the Egyptian young people. The outreach resulted in valuable feedback and input for MoIC and helped to shape its communication approach, thereby directly supporting the strengthening of the social contract. The online debate also revealed some of the challenges public institutions face when directly communicating with youth and it is recommended to work with experienced online moderators. Youth Essay Competition The essay competitions were successful in generating creative ideas and solutions, attracting several hundred submissions, of which the best contributions were rewarded. The essay competition topics were very specific and aimed to provide solutions to concrete development challenges related to employment and entrepreneurship.10 Together with the Economic Research Forum Cairo (ERF), the Youth Engagement Initiative implemented two national competitions in January 2017 and May 2017, and is collaborating with a regional essay competition with UNIDO in Upper Egypt (June 2017). The competitions were open to all Egyptians up to the age 30, and invited youth to submit an essay in Arabic or English. Finalists presented their essays at an 10 (i) Youth Employment in Egypt, and (ii) Entrepreneurship: Tackling Social Challenges. The Youth Essay Competitions was very popular among Egypt’s youth. 20 Award Ceremony in Cairo to a high-level audience of policy makers, sector specialists and youth stakeholders. The winning essays received a financial reward and essays are published online. Overall, the essay competition enabled young Egyptians to develop new solutions and present their ideas to policy makers and development partners. Making use of their resourcefulness and resilience allows young people to effectively strengthen voice and agency, while enabling the Bank to engage directly with the youth community. The approach was highly effective as engagement instrument and it has been rapidly replicated by other development partners such as UNIDO. b. Entrepreneurship The Youth Engagement TA partnered with international and local key actors to organize, support and leverage multiple entrepreneurship and social innovation events. The main purpose behind the events was to promote youth entrepreneurship, strengthen the growing entrepreneurship ecosystem; expose young Egyptian’s to high-level experiences, and to help emphasize the importance of social change. These activities included (i) the RiseUp Innovation Summit in Cairo (the largest start-up event in the Middle East) and study tour; (ii) support to the Gesr Social Entrepreneurship Summit (a leading social innovation and incubation event in Egypt); (iii) support to the YouThinkGreen incubator in Egypt (a new hub for entrepreneurs with environmental and eco-friendly solutions); and (iv) the launch of the Arab Creativity Bank (the first crowdfunding platform in the Middle East for youth-led initiatives financing innovation, arts and culture, and social impact).  RiseUp Innovation Summit (December 2016) and Study Tour (April 2017) The Youth Engagement TA, together with the IFC, leveraged the RiseUp Innovation Summit, one of the largest entrepreneurship event in the MENA region in 2016, which was attended by more than 7,000 participants. The annual summit which is implemented by the RiseUp startup offers a unique entrepreneurship ecosystem serving young entrepreneurs and startups effectively, and allowing investors and other service providers to offer their support. The Youth Engagement TA supported a strategic activity to turn the event into an in-depth learning and training opportunity through a Study Tour. Six winning startups were competitively selected to exploire first hand global startup ecosystems (i.e. events, conferences, and summits taking place there in a entrepreneurship hub). The TA supported this year’s study tour to San Francisco in April 2017. In total 6 startups were able to participate in the study tour which included technical workshops, sightseeing events and the visit of several tech companies (i.e. Google, AirBnB, etc.) and a pitch training and competition at the end. Overall the study tour was very well received and the entrepreneurs were able to benefit from the unique program and high quality of learning events.  GESR Social Innovation Summit (May 2017) 21 The summit is the first of its kind enabling social entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into reality and build their socially oriented startups. Such projects tend to have substantial impacts on development outcomes and communities, while operating on business models. The Youth Engagement TA supported a critical element of the summit by ensuring all preparations were led by an experienced event manager. Overall, the Social Innovation Summit was a successful event attended by more than 1,400 aspiring social entrepreneurs seeking networking opportunities, and benefiting from high-profile speakers, sharing experiences, holding critical discussions and developing new ideas, methods and business models.  YouThinkGreen incubator, Egypt (May-June 2017) The Sustainability and Entrepreneurship incubator program offered by YouThinkGreen Egypt supports youth in developing eco-friendly innovative solutions to local sustainability challenges. The incubator offers an extended program to a competitively selected group of finalists to igniting their entrepreneurial skills and introducing them to the sustainability science. The 2017 theme is “Industrial Waste Management� which will enable winners to identify key problems and challenges using modern design thinking methodologies and techniques. The program will guide participants through the development of their business and financial models to be ready for a tailored incubation before entering the Egyptian market. The Youth Engagement TA supported the technical support for the incubation program during May and June 2017, to deepen the impact of the incubator for a more sustained impact.  Arab Creativity Bank (June 2017) To close critical gaps to financing for young entrepreneurs, social innovators and artists, this philanthropic crowdfunding platform will be launched for youth in the Middle East. The platform, will offer financing to a number of young participants who will be selected competitively based on technical proposals for crowdfunding under three separate funding windows: (i) technical innovations, (ii) arts and culture, and (iii) social entrepreneurship initiatives. The platform is intended to ignite the entrepreneurial skills of young participants while enhancing a comprehensive development model that includes social values, arts and culture. The program will guide the participants through the development of their business and financial models, in preparation for entering the market. In addition, the platform will offer existing market stakeholders promising opportunities to collaborate with young innovators, in order to collectively improve the local economy. The Youth Engagement TA is supporting the launch of the Arab Creativity Bank during Ramadan 2017.  Arab Youth Forum, Alexandria (February 2016) To build partnerships with youth organizations and development partners, the Youth Engagement TA participated in the Arab Youth Forum, which was supported by UNIDO 22 and other donors, and focused on the green growth. The event use critical in supporting a mapping of stakeholders and potential partners. Analytics: NEET Analysis and Education Note To foster knowledge exchange and promote youth inclusion policies, the Task Team published several policy briefs. First the Youth Engagement Initiative produced a note on Youth Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs). The analysis found that the three main risk factors for inactivity in Egypt are (i) low education, (ii) gender and (iii) location (see Figure 1). 70% of NEET youth have a vocational high school degree or below, 87% of NEET youth are women and 83% are found in rural areas. Among younger cohorts the largest proportion of inactive youth is found among those who have achieved less in terms of education and even more so for women. Overall the risk factors reflect a combination of lack of adequate employment opportunities corresponding with social norms and expectations. Another policy brief prepared by the Youth Engagement Initiative was entitled “Youth Engagement in Education� and this summarized relevant guidelines for policy makers on how to engage young people in education planning, drawing on global best practices and successful implementation mechanisms. The brief highlighted the benefit of increased youth engagement in the education sector. 4.4. Key Factors Affecting Implementation and Outcomes Factors contributing positively to Project implementation and outcomes included the PDO and funding mechanisms, which provided sufficient flexibility for innovating and testing new approaches for youth engagement in the largest post-Arab Spring country. The Project design through pillars allowed a focused implementation while supporting necessary course corrections and provided adaptability throughout. Overall, the Project results reveal that the design of activities was pertinent to the direct beneficiaries and contributed positively to Project outcomes. The quality of the activities received very positive feedback and was reported as satisfactory by participants. Activities under all three pillars allowed to strengthen youth inclusion and engaged with youth from nearly all governorates through events, essay and entrepreneurship competitions, and an active dialog with young people. Importantly, the Project helped the Bank to engage constructively and meaningfully with young people through a multiplicity of channels by showcasing positive examples and supporting youth leaders. Factors contributing negatively to implementation and outcomes included the rapidly deteriorating political environment, which prevented the project from engaging with advocacy groups and youth NGOs due to fear of reprisal for youth activists, and also made it legally 23 impossible to directly leverage civil society organizations, as initially planned. The Government’s commitment to youth inclusion is being challenged by security concerns, despite a number of high-level efforts to reduce youth unemployment and foster youth-led entrepreneurship. In particular, the trust relationship between young people and public authorities deteriorated significantly following the arrest of thousands of Egyptian youth without due process or legitimate charges during the Project period. In this context, the Project innovated in a very sensitive context in close coordination with the CMU and relevant authorities. It is due to the commitment and support of the CMU that the Project was able to charter new waters and innovate with youth. 5. Conclusion 5.1. Progress Progress of the Project in promoting and mainstreaming youth inclusion in Egypt through the World Bank portfolio has been very effective. The Egypt Youth Engagement Project developed and applied a “youth filter� to promote and mainstream youth inclusion in Egypt through the World Bank portfolio. In addition, it helped to leverage entrepreneurial skills and creativity of youth, and their drive for creating a better future through a variety of activities and event formats. Overall, this work has been different and path breaking for Egypt, and helped to support agency, voice and participation of young people in Egypt. The Youth Engagement Initiative aimed to foster youth inclusion by supporting and enabling agency, voice and participation through a number of small activities in a challenging country context. In particular, the youth mainstreaming and youth-led monitoring and evaluation activities aimed to enable youth to take on a role as agents of positive change and create opportunities to strengthen the role of youth in development policies. Even though several activities were affected by the changing security environment and could not be fully implemented, the Project managed to develop templates for effective engagement, and was able to text a number of new instruments and approaches. The solutions and tools developed by this TA have generated new demand across MNA and are being currently being prepared for application in in other countries, notably Jordan and Tunisia. The main achievements and takeaways from each Pillar can be summarized as follows:  Pillar 1: Mainstreaming Youth Inclusion: The Youth Engagement Initiative elaborated a preliminary categorization of instruments for mainstreaming youth in World Bank operations, which was subsequently applied in a selection of ongoing operations. A youth-based country portfolio review was also conducted.  Pillar 2: Youth-Led Monitoring & Evaluation: The Youth Engagement Initiative collaborated with MoIC to establish critical capacity for applying participatory M&E systems. While multiple trainings took place and overall technical skills improved sharply, the security restrictions in the country made it difficult to apply the new lessons 24 to specific operations. However, the methods and tools developed are currently being applied in other countries in the region.  Pillar 3: Outreach, Communication & Entrepreneurship: Overall, the activities by the TA were effectively implemented and generated substantial outreach and visibility. The Youth Engagement Initiative was able to increase knowledge exchange and promote youth inclusion activities within and outside the World Bank in Egypt. Firstly, through its analytical work, the TA was able to shed light on youth related risk factors (e.g. Unemployment Brief), and inform policy makers (e.g. through a complimentary note on Education, which draws on global practices whilst highlighting successful implementation mechanisms). Secondly, the Youth Engagement Initiative was also able to exchange knowledge with a variety of stakeholders and promote the World Bank’s youth inclusion agenda by leveraging selected high-level youth events, in particular the Arab Youth Forum 2016, the RiseUp Innovation Summit 2016, Gesr Social Innovation Summit 2017, YouThinkGreen incubator for Waste Management in 2017; and the Arab Creativity Bank philanthropic crowdfunding platform in 2017. 5.2. Lessons and Recommendations Lessons Learnt Lessons for mainstreaming youth in World Bank operations. Drawing on the experience of Pillar 1 and 2, the TA concludes that the effectiveness of youth mainstreaming increases when the following conditions are fulfilled:  Mainstreaming is applied during early stage of project cycle (design or early implementation)  Continuous support to projects is provided  It is possible to collect data and openly engage with youth on monitoring and evaluation. Lessons for external youth engagement. Based on the experience on pillar 3, comprehensive youth engagement would require supporting youth as well as government authorities, in an effort to establish and nourish a culture of dialog and trust. Without public figures and implementing agencies directly engaging youth and establishing meaningful two-way communication, ongoing efforts will have limited impact, since effective inclusion requires joint participation. In this context, similar youth initiatives should consider providing technical assistance to help the governments experiment with tools and approaches for incorporating youth considerations in national strategies and policy formulation and supporting the establishment of spaces to allow for more active youth, including participatory needs assessments. Consultation with Youth Groups will be another critical element to be more inclusive, where they are feasible and permitted by the government. In the absence of such dialog, support to entrepreneurship activities, especially social 25 entrepreneurship and startups with linkages to Bank operations (by sector or location) can be effective ways to support youth inclusion while establishing strong linkages to development priorities. Lessons on Social-Entrepreneurship. The leading trend for youth engagement, which can be observed in other MENA countries, is a dramatic shift from traditional civil society groups (often supporting charity work and advocacy), towards a new generation of change-making organizations through (Social) Entrepreneurship initiatives. The new venues allow young people to develop concrete meaningful solutions to the challenges faced by their communities, while avoiding the restrictions and government control directed at traditional civil society groups by organizing themselves as private sector firms. Social Entrepreneurship in particular is not just a new trend aiming to fill a niche on the social development sector, but instead a structural transformation of how the young generation combines results-based methods with entrepreneurial market-based principles. Recommendations On the internal side, it is recommended to replicate the youth mainstreaming approach in other countries by drawing on the tested instruments and methods. Mainstreaming requires a multi-stage approach, beginning with (i) a systematic portfolio analysis of the country or Global Practice to identify feasible projects and programs. The portfolio review yields (ii) a shortlist of Bank operations which are likely to yield the highest impact regarding youth inclusion and participation. Next, (iii) the selected projects and programs will require at least 18-24 months of ongoing support to ensure the youth mainstreaming instruments can be agreed with all project stakeholders on the client side and with the World Bank, followed by a testing and fine-tuning of the approach, and providing regular operational support during the implementation. In addition, youth mainstreaming activities should be based on effective consultations with youth, and build on an evidence base regarding the youth sector and existing needs and barriers. On the external side, it is recommended that the Bank approach youth in selected countries with a systematic support program to social entrepreneurship and other activities that are increasingly taking the place of traditional civil society organizations. In selected cases, it may also be possible to support Youth Advisory Councils which work with Country Offices, and which can help the Bank to better understand how ongoing and pipeline operations address the needs and challenges of young people. Such councils have been implemented previously by the Bank, and evidence has been aggregated. While it was not possible to implement such council in Egypt, it would yield higher level youth mainstreaming, as it would be located at an intersection of the internal and external track. 5.3. Next steps On the internal side, the mainstreaming methodology developed under this TA is already being applied to other countries and projects in MNA. Mainstreaming of pipeline operations requires 26 sustained engagement, and these activities will be merged into the recently launched MENA Regional Youth Platform, which is a RVP initiative with support from all GPs. On the external side, encouraging youth participation will be the start of an empowering process, which begins with informing and involving young people in consultation processes, and leads on to their inputs being taken into account in the decision-making process in the longer term. In order to engage young Egyptians, it would be recommended to transition towards a programmatic approach, which leverages specific topics and activities in a more sustainable manner. An example of this would be to focus on social entrepreneurship, as it combines economic and social inclusion opportunities. Overall, it is recommended to scale up the youth mainstreaming approach across the Bank’s MNA portfolio in an effort to support the strategic priorities of the region. These include the Social Contract and also relate to more inclusive societies and better services, which would be directly strengthened through a scaled-up youth mainstreaming approach. Finding and recommendations of the Egypt Youth Engagement TA are being shared both internally and externally. Project outputs under all pillars have already been shared externally, in particular MoIC has been regularly briefed on the progress under the Youth Mainstreaming activities (Pillar 1) and directly participating in the Youth M&E activities and capacity building (Pillar 2), whereas all relevant outputs under Pillar 3 such as the results of the Essay Competition, support to the various entrepreneurship events and youth related online communications has been shared externally. On the internal side, elements the project report will be distilled into a youth mainstreaming toolkit, which will be shared with the MNA CMUs to ensure the recommendations can be applied to a variety of operations. The toolkit will be drafted as part of the MENA regional youth platform. 27 Annex: Activity Overview Full annex and documentation is attached as ZIP File. 28