13 research outputs found
Challenges for private sector job matching in rural Egypt: Results from a survey of forsa employers
No full textIncreasing formal employment for youth and women is a key goal of the Forsa pilot graduation intervention and Egyptian government policy in general. As detailed in Forsa evaluation reports, matching Takaful beneficiaries with jobs in the private sector is a major challenge from the perspective of households. In this policy note, we examine the challenges from the perspective of potential employers. We review literature of the market failures that may contribute to difficulties with job matching in rural Egypt and present results from a small telephone survey of Forsa employers.Non-PRIFPRI1; EgyptSSP; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and GovernanceDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
Egypt’s Haya Karima Initiative: An assessment of its rural and economywide impacts
No full textEgypt’s Haya Karima (HK) Initiative aims at improving the quality of life in the country’s rural communities through interventions related to human development, infrastructure, and economic sectors. This presidential initiative, whose name translates to “Decent Life” in English, has four strategic goals, all targeting Egypt’s rural population: building human capital, improving quality of life, improving the standard of living for the most vulnerable, and providing decent and productive job opportunities. The initiative is aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the objectives of Egypt Vision 2030.
HK aims to not only curb material poverty but also multidimensional poverty by expanding the umbrella of comprehensive social protection, with a focus on education, health, infrastructure, and employment. It also focuses on achieving the goal of geographical equity by addressing regional disparities that affect rural areas such as Upper Egypt. Here, we describe a recently completed study that assesses the economywide effects of the first phase of HK. The analysis was done by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), in collaboration with Egypt’s Ministry of Economic Planning and Development (MPED) under the project Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).Non-PRIFPRI1; DCA; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); EgyptSSPDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategie
Impact evaluation report of Egypt’s Forsa Graduation Program
No full text1. Forsa, which means “Opportunity” in Arabic, is a new economic inclusion program of the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS), one major goal of the program is to graduate beneficiaries of Takaful to economic self reliance by enabling them to engage in wage employment or small-scale productive enterprises.
2. The Forsa program began in 2023, after significant delays. Obstacles to implementation in cluded the Covid-19 pandemic, nationwide inflation subsequent to the Ukraine-Russia war result ing in funding challenges for asset purchases, and administrative challenges with procurement approvals by the Ministry of Finance. Forsa implementation was conducted under MoSS super vision by local non-governmental organizations (NGOs). While a few NGOs received their first payments in the first quarter of 2022, most NGOs received their first payments in October 2022, delaying program implementation to February 2023. According to the MoSS, in the second half of 2023, households receiving assets through the program increased from around 3,000 (9%) to 10,302 (29%) out of a target of 35,000 households through 49 contracted NGOs and two private hiring firms, and the number of participants receiving a job has increased from 3,324 (23%) in August to 5,392 (38%) by end of November of 2023 out of a target of 14,314 households through 22 NGOs and two private firms.Non-PRIFPRI1; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; EgyptSSPDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategies; Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Food and Nutrition Polic
Forsa pilot evaluation baseline survey results
No full textThe Forsa program, launched in 2021 by the Egyptian Ministry of Social Solidarity has been designed as a graduation program targeted to current beneficiaries of the Takaful cash transfer program. To understand how well Forsa supports household income generation and to better understand the beneficiary household characteristics which may relate to program success, the International Food Policy Research Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Solidarity is running a randomized control trial of the pilot Forsa program (see IFPRI MENA Regional Program Policy Note 21 for more details on the program and evaluation design).
A baseline household survey collected in January-February 2022 provides a detailed picture of the eligible households in the targeted communities, including the employment situation and work-related skills of the household members intending to participate in Forsa. The household survey data was collected in the eight governorates of the pilot: Beni-Suef, Sharqia, Qalyoubia, Luxor, Fayoum, Menia, Souhag, and Assuit. 24 households Forsa-eligible households were surveyed in each of 323 communities: 16 households from the pool of current Takaful beneficiaries and 8 from the pool of Takaful rejected applicants. The final sample size was 7,752 households. Each household was asked whether they were willing to enroll in Forsa and, if so, which household member would participate in the trainings. 83% of sampled eligible households indicated willingness to enroll in Forsa. The large majority of these (77%) indicated a preference for the self-employment track.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Cross-cutting gender themeDSG
Key findings from midline evaluation of Egypt’s forsa graduation program
No full textForsa is a pilot economic inclusion program implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) in Egypt. The goal of the program is to graduate beneficiaries of Takaful to economic self-reliance by enabling them to engage in wage employment or small-scale productive enterprises. The Forsa program began in 2023 after significant delays. Obstacles to implementation included the Covid-19 pandemic, Egypt’s economic crisis following the Ukraine-Russia war, and administrative challenges with procurement approvals.Non-PRIFPRI1; EgyptSSP; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC); 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and GovernanceDevelopment Strategies and Governance (DSG); Transformation Strategies; Poverty, Gender, and Inclusion (PGI); Food and Nutrition Polic
Impact evaluation report: Egypt’s forsa graduation program
No full textForsa, which means “Opportunity” in Arabic, is a new economic inclusion program of the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the program aims to graduate beneficiaries of the national cash transfer program, the Takaful & Karama Program (TKP), to economic self-reliance by enabling them to engage in wage employment or sustainable economic enterprises. The 2021 World Bank Economic Inclusion report (Andrews et al. 2021) highlights a recent increase globally in such graduation or economic inclusion programs, which now reaches around 92 million beneficiaries from 20 million households across more than 75 countries. This rapid growth has necessitated an increasing demand for evidence on best practices in graduation program implementation. The newly designed Forsa program is based on the graduation approach, but with innovations drawing from theories of behavioral economics as well as creating a network of active youth volunteers for economic empowerment to reduce costs compared to the standard BRAC-inspired model. Forsa also expands the graduation model to include the option of wage-employment, rather than only focusing on self-employment. Evidence on the impact of job training programs linked to wage employment on both job retention and future earnings is mixed (McKenzie 2017), although most such programs do not include cash assistance.
This impact evaluation of the Forsa program in Egypt is intended to contribute to the global evidence on effective graduation program design as well as provide immediate policy-relevant guidance for the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The impact evaluation will measure the degree to which Forsa is successful at increasing household consumption and will investigate which participant groups and program features demonstrate the greatest improvements in household welfare and economic activity.Non-PRIFPRI1; 2 Promoting Healthy Diets and Nutrition for all; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural Economies; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Cross-cutting gender themeDSG
Forsa pilot program and evaluation plan
No full textForsa, which means “Opportunity” in Arabic, is a new economic inclusion program of the government of the Arab Republic of Egypt. Implemented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the program aims to graduate beneficiaries of the national cash transfer program, the Takaful & Karama Program (TKP), from being dependent on transfers from TKP to economic self-reliance by enabling them to engage in wage employment or sustainable economic enterprises. The most recent World Bank Economic Inclusion report (Andrews et al. 2021) highlights a recent increase globally in such graduation or economic inclusion programs, which now reach around 92 million beneficiaries from 20 million households across more than 75 countries. This rapid growth is raising demand for evidence on best practices in graduation program implementation. Egypt’s experience with Forsa can contribute to such guidance.Non-PRIFPRI1; EgyptSSP; CRP2; 5 Strengthening Institutions and Governance; Evaluating Impact and Building Capacity (EIBC)DSGD; PHND; PIMCGIAR Research Program on Policies, Institutions, and Markets (PIM
تايدحت ةمءاوم صاخلا عاطقلا فئاظو ب يف ةيفيرلا قطانملا راطإ يف لمعلا بابرأب ةينعملا ةيئاصقتسلاا ةساردلا جئاتن :رصم ةصرف جمانرب
No full textIncreasing formal employment for youth and women is a key goal of the Forsa pilot graduation intervention and Egyptian government policy in general. As detailed in Forsa evaluation reports, matching Takaful beneficiaries with jobs in the private sector is a major challenge from the perspective of households. In this policy note, we examine the challenges from the perspective of potential employers. We review literature of the market failures that may contribute to difficulties with job matching in rural Egypt and present results from a small telephone survey of Forsa employers.ءاسنلاو بابشلا طاسوأ نيب يمسرلا فيظوتلا لدعم ةدايز ةيسيئرلا فادهلأا دحأ لثمي نم جمانرب رقفلا نم جرختلا ناونع لمحي يذلا ةصرف و نم ماع لكشب ةيرصملا ةموكحلا نم ةدمتعملا تاسايسلا . وحنلا ىلعو دراولا لكشب ليصفت ي يف مييقت ريراقت ةصرف جمانرب ، تايدحتلا دحأ لثمتي قيفوت يف ةيشيعملا رسلأا روظنم نم ةيسيئرلا جمانرب نم تاديفتسملاو نيديفتسملا لفاكت عم ةحاتملا فئاظولا يف .صاخلا عاطقلا ةركذم راطإ يفو تاسايسلا هذه دق يتلاو قوسلا تاقافخإ ىلإ قرطتت يتلا تايبدلأا ضرعتسنو .نيلمتحملا لمعلا بابرأ روظنم نم تايدحتلا لوانتن ، اهببسب رذعتي رصم فير يف ةحاتملا فئاظولا ةمءاوم حرطنو نم ةدمتسملا جئاتنلا ةيئاصقتسا ةسارد اهئارجإ مت ةيفتاه يف عم قيض قاطن يف لمعلا بابرأ راطإ ةصرف جمانر
Egypt’s experience bridging cash transfers and an economic inclusion program for sustainable social protection
No full textIn 186 countries worldwide, cash transfer programs are the cornerstone of social protection, outnumbering social security or pension plans. These offer critical financial lifelines to vulnerable households, aiming to alleviate poverty by providing steady cash support. However, these programs can become long-term fiscal burdens for governments due to limited turnover of recipients, particularly when the programs do not lead to lasting reductions in poverty.
To address this problem, economic inclusion programs (including so-called “poverty graduation” programs) are increasingly being introduced as complementary or alternative approaches. Economic inclusion programs aim to provide a cohesive set of mutually reinforcing interventions to help individuals sustainably move out of poverty. Governments are also increasingly interested in seeing if these programs can “graduate” households from relying on cash transfers
Would you rather? Household choice between cash transfers or an economic inclusion program
No full textWe study households’ choice between continued cash transfers and a new economic inclusion program—two global prevalent social protection programs—offered by the Egyptian government. Lower-than-expected early adoption of the new program is correlated with differing perceptions on its design. We randomize official messaging to households describing the new program’s (i) consumption support duration and (ii) income-earning potential. Both treatments increase respondents’ likelihood of recommending the new program. A theoretical model estimated using households’ perceptions of program design predicts interest in the new program, and how it diminishes with increasing effort costs, asset loss probability, risk aversion and loss aversion
