Ghaith Foundation for Community Development holds its annual conference on empowering youth with disabilities 2025

Project : National Network for Services for Persons with Disabilities

Under the patronage of the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Ministry of Communications and Informations Technology (MCIT), Ghaith Foundation for Community Development held its annual conference "Empowering Youth with Disabilities 2025", under the theme "Towards Inclusive and Sustainable Community Development", in the presence of Mr. Nasser Al-Qahtani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Ghaith Foundation for Social Development, Eng. Hoda Dahroug, Advisor to the MCIT Minister for Digital Community Development and Director of the Digital Transformation for Sustainable Development Project in Egypt, and Mr. Anas Rashad, General Manager of Ghaith Foundation for Community Development, and representatives of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, civil society organizations and the National Alliance for Civil Development Action.
Through a distinguished dialogue platform to discuss ways to empower persons with disabilities and achieve sustainable community inclusion, the Minister's Advisor delivered a speech in which she addressed the importance of unifying efforts to meet the requirements of the disabled persons sector, and investing their exceptional capabilities in achieving economic and social development in Egypt, by creating an inclusive environment that provides them with distinguished opportunities for training and qualification for the labor market.
In this context, it was noted that MCIT is interested in cooperating with partners from all concerned authorities to enable the use of technology in education, training, preparation, technical rehabilitation and employment programs for persons with disabilities, and to take the necessary measures to do so through a strategic vision to expand the digital services provided to them to improve and facilitate their quality of life.
In a related context, the Minister's Advisor stressed the importance of launching the National Network for Rehabilitation Services for Persons with Disabilities in 
partnership between the Ministry of Communications and Informations Technology (MCIT), the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the Egyptian Ministry of Labor, as one of the national community initiatives to serve as a one-stop gate that contributes to enabling persons with disabilities to obtain their services in training, rehabilitation and employment in a more accessible manner and with the least possible steps.
The Minister's Advisor also praised the cooperation that took place during the last phase between the National Network for Services for Persons with Disabilities, and the Irtiqaa grant provided by Ghaith Foundation for Community Development, where the network provided all promotion and guidance services to spread out the training services of the grant on a large scale over the Republic, and enable young people with disabilities to join it to develop their skills in the field of digital marketing, looking forward to the continuation of this cooperation in order to enhance the digital capabilities of young people with disabilities and rehabilitate them according to the latest global technologies to deal and integrate into the digital transformation system, and to benefit from their potential and exceptional capabilities in achieving the objectives of economic and social development in Egypt.
During the conference activities, a dialogue session was held under the title: "Integration between the vision of the state and civil society institutions to empower youth with disabilities", in which Eng. Walaa Salem, Director of the National Network for Rehabilitation Services for Persons with Disabilities, spoke about the platform's role in supporting the employment system for persons with disabilities and helping them present themselves to the labor market in Egypt professionally, and how the platform provides employers with a database to view the skills and experiences of young candidates and determine the most suitable for the available jobs, which represents a great opportunity for business owners, companies and institutions to reach talents, creatives and cadres required of young people with disabilities and enhance competitiveness in the markets.
A dialogue session was also held under the title "Journey of Upgrading in Empowering People with Disabilities", where Dr. Shahira Ahmed, Head of the Employment Unit at the General Management of Rehabilitation at the Ministry of Social Solidarity, addressed the role of the government sector in providing support for the Irtiqaa grant, by highlighting the role of the Ministry of Social Solidarity in achieving the integration of persons with disabilities in the labor market, in 
addition to many other services it provides to secure the rights of persons with disabilities and develop their capabilities, foremost of which is the issuance of the integrated service card for more than 1.5 million citizens, enabling people with disabilities to obtain all the services guaranteed to them, including health care, rehabilitation, customs exemptions on prosthetic devices, educational integration, in addition to the spread of comprehensive rehabilitation centers nationwide, and support for 167 institutions for the care and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities, whose services benefit nearly 6,000 children annually in the fields of skills and capacity development, self-care, social interaction, and social skills.

A group of experts and volunteers in development work in support of persons with disabilities participated in the conference, as this conference comes from the Egyptian state's strategy towards supporting and empowering youth with disabilities, and aimed to discuss the most prominent challenges and opportunities available in the path of rehabilitation and professional and community integration, while reviewing a number of successful experiences of graduates of the Irtiqaa 2024 scholarship, in addition to highlighting the role of social responsibility in supporting persons with disabilities, with the aim of coming up with practical recommendations that contribute to achieving inclusive development community.

Cairo, April 19, 2025