Written by: Yosr Gado, Team Leader
In Egypt, where nearly 60 per cent of the population is under the age of 29, young people sit at the centre of the country’s future, yet many face economic pressure, social exclusion, and limited opportunities to meaningfully influence decisions that affect their lives. For young women and persons with disabilities, these barriers are often compounded by deeply rooted social norms and structural inequalities.
The Inclusive Youth Empowerment (IYE) programme was designed to respond to this reality. Funded by GIZ through the Equal Opportunities and Social Development (EOSD) Project and implemented by the British Council in partnership with Ministry of Youth and Sports in Egypt, the programme set out to strengthen inclusive youth leadership by moving beyond participation towards long-term, youth-led change embedded within communities and institutions.
Rather than focusing on short-term activities, the programme was built as a sustained learning journey – that placed trust in young people’s capacity to analyse their own contexts, mobilise their communities, and lead solutions that respond to local priorities. At the heart of IYE was a clear shift in how youth engagement was approached. Instead of offering predefined solutions, the programme supported young people to begin with community dialogue. This meant listening to residents, identifying shared challenges, and understanding how change happens within real social systems. Each programme cycle ran for approximately nine months, allowing participants time to reflect, learn, test ideas, and adapt. This long-term approach enabled young people to build practical skills in leadership, advocacy, research, debate, and community mobilisation while remaining rooted in the realities of their local contexts.
Recognising that young people engage with change in different ways, the programme introduced two complementary pathways: Voicing Issues and Taking Action. Some participants focused on research, policy dialogue, and advocacy, producing policy papers and leading public debates. Others concentrated on designing and implementing community initiatives that addressed local challenges directly. Both pathways were underpinned by the same values of inclusion, collaboration, and civic responsibility.
While gender equality was a core pillar from the outset, one of the programme’s most significant developments was its deliberate expansion to meaningfully include persons with disabilities, not as a separate target group, but as equal participants and leaders within mixed community spaces. This approach marked a departure from more traditional models, where people with disabilities are often engaged in parallel or isolated programming. Inclusion was embedded across all stages of the programme. Training content and toolkits were reviewed, partners and facilitators undertook dedicated capacity-building, and financial resources were allocated to ensure accessibility – including interpretation, captioning, adapted venues, and transport support.
The impact of this approach was reflected in participation data. At the start of the programme, youth with disabilities made up just three per cent of participants. By the end of the final phase, this figure had increased to 13 per cent. More importantly, partner organisations reported increased confidence and capability in embedding disability inclusion within their own work, with several appointing dedicated focal points for gender and disability inclusion. Across 16 governorates, IYE supported young people to translate learning into action through 87 youth-led community initiatives and 52 advocacy clubs, reaching more than 25,000 community beneficiaries.
These initiatives addressed a wide range of priorities, including women’s economic empowerment, inclusive livelihoods for persons with disabilities, digital safety, environmental sustainability, and access to public services. Many were shaped directly by participants’ lived experiences, allowing young leaders to turn personal challenges into collective action. In Alexandria, youth with visual disabilities developed inclusive livelihood models that challenged assumptions about employability. In Beni Suef, young women supported flood-affected households to rebuild economic stability through locally rooted production initiatives. In Gharbia, youth advocacy led to concrete infrastructure improvements that revitalised local livelihoods and strengthened cooperation between communities and authorities.
What connected these diverse initiatives was a shared emphasis on community dialogue. Before implementation, young leaders facilitated structured conversations with local stakeholders – families, civil society organisations, local businesses, and public officials – ensuring that initiatives were co-created rather than imposed. This approach strengthened community ownership and increased the likelihood that initiatives would continue beyond the programme’s direct support.
Alongside community-level action, IYE placed strong emphasis on improving cooperation between youth, civil society, and government institutions. Through dialogue sessions, joint activities, and targeted capacity-building, the programme supported a shift from transactional engagement towards more collaborative relationships. More than 160 policymakers and influencers engaged with youth-led initiatives, while staff from the Ministry of Youth and Sports participated in training on inclusive programme design, monitoring and evaluation, and youth participation. For many, this marked a change in how youth engagement was understood – from delivering programmes for young people to working with them as partners in problem-solving. This systems-level engagement helped ensure that youth perspectives were not only heard, but integrated into decision-making processes, reinforcing more responsive and inclusive public systems.
As the programme concludes its formal cycle in early 2026, its impact continues through multiple sustainability pathways. Alumni networks, mentorship opportunities, and social enterprise training have supported youth initiatives to continue independently. Advocacy clubs remain active, partnerships with civil society and government persist, and programme learnings have informed new British Council programming – particularly around disability inclusion and youth co-design.
Nationally, the programme’s reach was amplified through media and digital platforms, engaging more than 850,000 people and contributing to broader shifts in public narratives around inclusive youth leadership.
Inclusive Youth Empowerment demonstrates the value of long-term, inclusive approaches that trust young people as leaders of change. By combining youth leadership, community dialogue, and institutional collaboration, the programme has strengthened local ecosystems and supported the emergence of a new generation of socially responsible leaders in Egypt. By placing inclusion at the centre – not as an add-on, but as a guiding principle – IYE offers a scalable, evidence-based model for partners and funders seeking to support youth-led, inclusive development in complex contexts.