The Minister of Communications and Information Technology Amr Talaat has witnessed the signing of a cooperation protocol between the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) and Decent Life Foundation, concerning the implementation of the Digital Decent Life initiative within the framework of Decent Life: the national project for the development of the Egyptian countryside.

The cooperation is aimed at eradicating the digital illiteracy of people in the targeted villages and developing their digital capacities to achieve digital economic empowerment and transform the community in those villages into a safe and productive interactive digital community.

The Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development Ghada Labib and the Chair of the Board of Trustees of Decent Life Foundation Aya Omar Al-Qamari signed the cooperation protocol.

The ICT Minister emphasized that building the digital capacities of citizens is one of the most significant pillars of the Digital Egypt strategy, since human development is the mainstay of development. He pointed out the significance of the protocol as it is aimed at digitally upskilling citizens and supporting the digital economic empowerment of the targeted villages within the framework of Decent Life.

The ICT Minister also emphasized that the great achievements of the project will bear fruit, achieving real development by focusing on honing the digital skills of people in the targeted villages.

The protocol lasts three years. Its scope includes all families of all groups in Decent Life’s targeted villages. The protocol targets the neediest families in rural communities, including female breadwinners, housewives, students, graduates, able-bodied youth, and Persons with Disabilities (PWDs). This is in addition to craftsmen, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), knowledge leaders, and volunteers.

The protocol is aimed at raising the level of knowledge of families in poor villages and keeping pace with technological advancement to enhance digital inclusion, through promoting digital literacy, digital culture, and digital awareness. This is in addition to honing digital skills, which contributes to improving the quality education for school and university students through promoting the use of computers, the safe use of IT, and e-learning.

Moreover, the protocol is aimed at maximizing the families’ capacities to carry out productive work that contributes to maintaining a decent life, through supporting digital economic empowerment, and developing capabilities using ICT to help join the labor market, work on freelancing platforms and transformational training, and hone e-marketing skills for all groups.

The protocol projects include achieving financial and digital inclusion through holding awareness sessions in areas related to the role of women and girls as knowledge leaders, the role of IT, digital transformation and its applications, and raising awareness of the safe use of the Internet as well as e-payment. In addition, a project is implemented to develop digital capabilities using ICT tools and applications to achieve economic empowerment, through carrying out training courses in using computer programs, online security and safety, e-marketing and freelancing platforms.

Furthermore, the protocol involves projects to raise the efficiency of learning by training students of various stages, developing their digital skills, and equipping youth with modern technological skills that meet the needs of the freelancing labor market, especially those with technical, intermediate and above-average qualifications and those with higher qualifications. This is along with training trainers from different partner agencies on the fundamentals of IT and digital skills, in addition to increasing women’s digital awareness and adopting new pragmatic approaches that can help and enhance the learning process for the target groups, especially women.

For her part, the Deputy ICT Minister for Institutional Development said she was pleased to cooperate with Decent Life Foundation in implementing the pillar of capacity-building and digital literacy, as part of MCIT efforts in the Decent Life presidential initiative, helping bridge the digital divide between rural and urban areas by disseminating digital culture, building digital skills and supporting digital economic empowerment.

The Chair of the Board of Trustees of Decent Life Foundation praised the year-long fruitful cooperation between MCIT and Decent Life Foundation in fulfilling the objectives of Decent Life. The cooperation will help build Digital Egypt. She pointed to the significance of the protocol in implementing human development projects and changing the mental picture in the targeted villages.

It is worth mentioning that MCIT participation in Decent Life, the national project for the development of the Egyptian countryside, stands on several pillars, including upgrading the infrastructure in the villages through installing fiber optic cables to boost internet connection for one million homes, developing post offices, and improving telecommunication services through establishing new cell towers. In addition, MCIT is promoting digital literacy and economic empowerment through implementing digital literacy programs and developing the digital capabilities of citizens in the villages.