NIGSD Executive Director discusses OECD key recommendations of Public Governance Review

Dr. Sherifa Sherif, Executive Director of the National Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development (NIGSD) who is also acting as delegate to the General Governance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) held recently a meeting with a team of a project that seeks to improve administrative and public economic governance.

The project is being funded by the European Union and implemented by the OECD to discuss the main recommendations of the organization's public management review, as well as recommendations related to gender aspects and youth in Egypt.

During the meeting, Dr. Sherifa Sherif highlighted the tasks of NIGSD.

She pointed out that NIGSD 's vision is to generalize and disseminate governance and sustainable development principles and culture in all institutions.

 NIGSD also provides training and consultations and follows up on Egypt’s performance in international governance and sustainable development indicators.

Sherif added that NIGSD's training programs were designed to support priority areas such as women's empowerment, career development, capacity building, awareness raising, leadership skills development, and supporting people with special needs.

Sherif stressed that NIGSD is keen to ensure that its programs are balanced between genders, as the percentage of women participating in training programs is 52% compared to about 48% of males.

She further pointed out that the total training programs at the Institute reach about 80 training programs including approximately 50,000 trainees.

NIGSD executive director explained that considering gender mainstreaming and youth is an essential part of achieving sustainable development.

She noted noting that NIGSD  has launched many initiatives for youth development and women’s empowerment in Egypt and Africa.

Sherif referred to the Women's Leadership Program in Egypt with the participation of 4,370 women from 12 governorates, and in Africa with the participation of 450 women from 45 different African countries.

Moreover, she spoke about the "She for a Digital Future" initiative, this initiative aims to bridge the digital gap between the genders, through which 8,000 women were trained in cooperation with Cisco Networking Academy.

Through a partnership with the German Hanns Seidel Foundation, Egyptian and African employees of both sexes working in local administrative units were trained to carry out projects in sustainable development.

  The third batch was also launched to empower people of determination by supporting them to advance sustainable development projects at the local level, following up on the leadership program for women between 30-45 years old, in cooperation with the National Council for Women (NCW).

Sherif also referred to the (Be an Ambassador) initiative to spread the idea of sustainable development among young people, where about 3,600 trainees graduated from 27 governorates.

She also highlighted the Governance Ambassadors initiative to spread the idea of governance and promote the fight against corruption, and the Green Minds initiative to educate children about the importance of sustainability and climate change.

Sherif referred to Egypt’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, which aims to support Egyptian youth to transform their innovative ideas into emerging companies that integrate into the global value chain, by providing an enabling environment for entrepreneurship that works to accelerate Egyptian economic growth.

  Sherif explained that, as of 2023, the center has provided training to 136 young people on how to turn their ideas into startup companies.

  She also pointed to the "Policy Makers" program in cooperation with the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to train young people to start social work projects in their communities and promote SDGs.