Driving Results Through Continuous Learning and External Collaborations: A spot-light on Supporting the under-served talented youth in Egypt through scholarship opportunities

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers (UEP) Activity aims to strengthen Egypt's human capacity in priority sectors aligned with Egypt's Vision 2030 via providing training opportunities to mid-career professionals in government (GoE) and non-GOE entities and quality undergraduate scholarships to under-served youth. In 2023, the program’s inaugural year, and despite receiving 4,708 applications from prospective undergraduate scholars interested to join its first Cohort, there was inadequate representation of some of Egypt’s governorates in addition to an unequal gender representation (52% males versus 48% females). Through conducting Pause and Reflect (PR) sessions, following the selection process, with the team, external stakeholders, and some of Cohort 1 scholars, the Activity realized that the lack of collaboration with some key government entities, limited engagements with local non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and USAID sister projects affected the final outcome. Additionally, the PR sessions revealed that insufficient physical outreach activities negatively impacted the number of received applications. Such interactions help build “trust” and address any doubts regarding scholarships funded by foreign donors, To address these issues, the Activity sought external collaborations, identifies through a comprehensive mapping exercise, and holding physical outreach sessions, thus achieving remarkable results in the number of applications received for Cohort 2; which is 10,203 applications. This number is unprecedented in the history of fully-funded scholarships in Egypt. Moreover, out of the received applications, 5,622 (55%) are female candidates, 155 (2%) are Persons with Disabilities, and 1,078 (11%) are candidates from underrepresented governorates.