EHUB sectoral Meetings Host Stakeholders for a wider discussion on Migration issues.
Under the framework of the EHUB project, CMRS hosted four sectoral meetings between August and December 2022. Each meeting revolved around a specific topic derived from the main themes discussed in the project’s official launch in June 2022. Topics Discussed were Migration Data, Protection of Smuggled Migrants and Victims of Trafficking in Egypt, Skills Matching of Egyptian Migrant Workers in the International Labor Market, and Examining the Socio-economic Conditions of Migrants and Refugees in Egypt: Policies, Partnerships, and Practices.
All meetings were attended by a wide range of audiences from different stakeholders representing the government, United Nations (UN), International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), local Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), the private sector and experts working on the subject. Each meeting concluded with recommendations regarding the topics and issues discussed.
The first meeting took place in July 2022, and discussed Migration Data. Moderated by Ayman Zohry, a demographer and expert on migration and included an intervention by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS). The meeting concluded with recommendations that included cooperation enhancement on data production and provision of access to information.
The second meeting tackled the Protection of Smuggled Migrants and Victims of Trafficking in Egypt and was held on September 2022. Moderated by Counselor Mohamed Ezzat, a legal expert on human smuggling and trafficking in persons. It hosted Ambassador Naela Gabr, Chairperson and Head of Technical Secretariat of The National Coordinating Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons (NCCPIMTIP). The meeting concluded by suggesting key areas for consideration: protection mechanisms, stakeholders’ coordination, knowledge advancement and law enforcement.
The third meeting covered the topic of Skills Matching of Egyptian Migrant Workers in the International Labor Market and was hosted in October 2022. Dina Abdelfattah, Chair of the Department of Economics and Assistant Professor at AUC, moderated it. The meeting hosted three different panels and concluded with recommendations on strengthening coordination between stakeholders, promoting knowledge on skills matching, enhancing skills matching of Egyptian migrant workers and facilitating procedural and institutional steps in the recruitment.
The fourth and last meeting was about, Examining the Socio-economic Conditions of Migrants and Refugees in Egypt: Policies, Partnerships, and Practices and was hosted in December 2022. The meeting was moderated by Sara Sadek, EHUB Technical Advisor and CMRS Adjunct Professor and Elena Habersky, EHUB Project Manager. Three panels were hosted, discussing different areas of cooperation and enhancement regarding the conditions of migrants and refugees in Egypt. The meeting concluded with recommendations on enhancing coordination between partners working in the sector, improving awareness-raising, ensuring the adequacy of self-reliance projects and enhancing prospects for migrants and refugees.
The recommendations discussed in the four sectoral meetings will be further discussed in February 2023 through a General Forum Meeting in which the key discussions and recommendations from the sectoral meetings will be presented. This will be followed by interventions from the key national entities to highlight the current and upcoming national priorities related to the themes discussed at the sectoral meetings.