During his visit to Aswan to inaugurate and inspect ICT and post projects, the Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat, along with the Governor of Aswan Ashraf Attia, has witnessed the signing of two protocols of cooperation and a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to build people’s digital capacities, support entrepreneurship and develop the information infrastructure in Haya Karima (Decent Life) initiative villages in Aswan.
At the beginning of the meeting, Talaat commended the efforts and technology-powered projects that Aswan Governorate undertakes to achieve digital transformation in cooperation with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and other government agencies. He said that MCIT is providing technological and technical support to facilitate the access of people in Aswan to more than 80 services through mobile applications.
Talaat said that there has been productive cooperation between MCIT and Aswan Governorate, resulting in implementing ICT-enabled projects to develop the Governorate at large. He added that Aswan was one of the first governorates to host a Creativa Innovation Hub, at a cost exceeding EGP 80 million. Scheduled to open soon, the Hub will offer ICT-related training courses and initiatives for young people in Aswan, as well as programs to promote technology-driven innovation to encourage university students and entrepreneurs to start their ICT-enabled projects.
MCIT will implement projects to develop the information infrastructure in the villages in Aswan targeted within the first phase of Haya Karima initiative. Talaat reviewed the activities that MCIT undertook nationwide within the initiative, including installing fiber-optic cables in one million homes in the target villages, developing and equipping 900 post offices with ATMs by the end of the year, and building 1,000 cell towers to improve telecommunication and Internet services.
MCIT will carry out other projects in those villages, including building 81 cell towers to support the telecommunications service, installing fiber-optic cables to 110,000 more homes, and develop 44 more post offices, 13 of which are under development, revealed the ICT Minister.
For his part, Attia praised the constructive and developmental role of the Ministries of Local Development, Communications, and Planning and Economic Development, and their unlimited support to make great strides in digital and technological transformation, and implement President Sisi's directives to bring about Digital Egypt and Egypt's Vision 2030.
He underlined that the digital technology applied in Aswan helped deliver different services without direct contact between customers and service providers, thus maintaining transparency and eliminating administrative and financial corruption.
Talaat and Attia witnessed the signing of a protocol of cooperation to carry out MCIT activities in Haya Karima initiative villages in Aswan, in areas including Edfu, Nasr Al-Nuba, and Kom Ombo. MCIT contributes to the initiative through four main pillars: providing telecommunications infrastructure through establishing fixed telephone networks with the latest fiber-optic technology, delivering advanced and comprehensive postal services, creating the necessary infrastructure for providing mobile communication services at high quality, in addition to organizing training programs to build capacity and digital literacy.
The signatories to the protocol were the Deputy ICT Minister for Infrastructure Raafat Hindy, and the Deputy Governor of Aswan Ghada Yehia Abu Zeid.
The ICT Minister and Aswan Governor also witnessed the signing of an MOU between MCIT and Aswan Governorate with the aim to develop young people’s capabilities capitalizing on ICT, building on the cooperation between MCIT and the Governorate. The new phase of cooperation targets several pillars; the first is to equip 1,000 young graduates with the ICT skills that help them fill in-demand jobs.
The second pillar is promoting and supporting the e-learning industry to create job opportunities in this field through upskilling employees at the eLearning Center at Aswan University; supervising the creation of the University’s educational platform; training employees at the University’s e-course production department, and building the capacities of Aswan University students, graduates and faculty to design e-content and create e-courses for 300 trainees specializing in e-content production. This is in addition to holding 10 seminars to promote e-learning; using educational content services and applications for 1,000 beneficiaries; training 100 teachers in Aswan schools to use IT tools in online teaching; increasing learners’ trust in e-learning through adopting 20 new e-learning centers from Cisco Networking Academy courses, from government agencies and civil society organizations; accrediting 100 trainers and administrators; and building the capacity of 1,500 trainees from those centers.
The third pillar, however, is supporting entrepreneurship and training 900 women on digital marketing skills through Qodwa-Tech initiative activities.
The MOU was signed by Abu Zeid and the Head of the Central Department for Digital Community Development at MCIT Hoda Dahroug.
Furthermore, the ICT Minister and Aswan Governor witnessed the signing of a protocol between Aswan Governorate and the National Telecommunication Institute (NTI) for cooperation in qualifying young people to become specialists in ICT, and training them in related fields, including fiber optics. This is in addition to qualifying fresh graduates to fill ICT jobs, through Digital Egypt Youth (DEY) initiative; qualifying recruits in Aswan for the ICT labor market; upskilling and qualifying employees at the state’s administrative apparatus to keep pace with the requirements of the digital transformation; and providing in-depth training courses with 50% off fees. The protocol was signed by Abu Zeid and NTI Director Iman Ashour.
The meeting included an open dialogue between the ICT Minister, Aswan Governor, and young people from Aswan, graduates of the Skills Bank, implemented by NTI in collaboration with IT companies. Top graduates of the training programs organized by MCIT and its affiliated bodies in Aswan, and members of the team, who contributed to the success of the cooperation projects between MCIT and the Governorate, were honored.
The ICT Minister listened to a presentation by a high school student, a graduate of an MCIT training program, who discussed the impact of the program in developing his capabilities and helping him obtain a decent freelance job. The Minister commended these efforts, and directed towards providing a scholarship to the student within Digital Egypt program, and studying the possibility of incubating his startup within the entrepreneurship programs provided by the Technology Innovation and Entrepreneurship Center (TIEC).
Moreover, Talaat listened to a detailed presentation by a female entrepreneur, who received training within Qodwa-Tech initiative that aims to upskill craftswomen in digital marketing and e-commerce through direct and online training and awareness programs. The entrepreneur reviewed the role of the initiative in upscaling her entrepreneurial project and expanding her business.
For his part, Telecom Egypt CEO and Managing Director Adel Hamed introduced three models of young people who were granted free fixed Internet for life.
The meeting was attended by the CEO of the Information Technology Industry Development Agency (ITIDA) Amr Mahfouz, NTI Director Iman Ashour, the Chairwoman of the Information Technology Institute (ITI) Heba Saleh, and the Chairman of the National Academy of Information Technology for Persons with Disabilities (NAID) AbdEl-Monem El-Sharkawy.
