The initiative, launched in 2019, is overseen by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in coordination with relevant national authorities, with a focus on community awareness and providing safe and positive alternatives to irregular migration.
The initiative combined field activities, awareness campaigns, vocational training, entrepreneurship support, and medical convoys, targeting youth, families, children at risk, persons with disabilities, and community actors, including preachers and church volunteers, as part of its prevention-focused approach.
As part of its field activities, the initiative reached 4,172 beneficiaries, including 2,318 men and 1,854 women, across six governorates through 15 field events in six centres and 15 villages. Target groups included youth aged 18–45, families, and children at risk.
In the area of awareness and cadre preparation, 425 participants were trained across 11 governorates through 18 training courses, delivered at 27 centres and 81 villages.
Beneficiaries included church volunteers, preachers, preparatory school principals, and staff of youth directorates, with 255 male and 170 female participants.
Efforts to raise awareness of the risks of irregular migration reached 10,524 beneficiaries, 7,016 men, and 3,508 women, across 15 governorates, through 475 awareness sessions held in 30 centres and 150 villages.
The activities targeted youth and families in communities most exposed to migration risks.
The initiative also delivered vocational training and labour-market qualification programmes to 2,492 beneficiaries, including 1,388 persons with disabilities, across 14 governorates.
A total of 116 training courses were implemented in 28 centres and 84 villages, with women accounting for the majority of participants.
In parallel, entrepreneurship and freelance work support programmes were rolled out in 10 governorates, benefiting 564 people through 36 entrepreneurship programmes, 500 job opportunities, and small-enterprise support for rural youth in 28 villages.
On the health front, 15 medical convoys were dispatched to nine governorates, providing services to 2,005 beneficiaries, including 1,435 women, in 27 villages, according to the foreign ministry statement.
The initiative is part of Egypt’s broader efforts to address the root causes of irregular migration through community awareness, skills development, employment creation, and social protection, it added.
Egypt has sought to curb irregular migration since launching a national strategy in 2016, aimed at preventing departures from its coastline and reducing the use of the country as a transit route to Europe.
Egyptian authorities say no migrant boats have departed from Egyptian shores since the strategy was implemented, despite the country hosting millions of foreigners, including refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants.
The strategy has been expanded through a 2024–2026 national action plan led by the National Committee for Combating and Preventing Illegal Migration and Trafficking in Persons.
Related initiatives include the Life Saving Boats Initiative, which focuses on job creation in communities considered most vulnerable to irregular migration.
Egypt’s migration control efforts have received international backing, including financial support from the European Union (EU) aimed at border management, search-and-rescue operations, and counter-smuggling measures.
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