YEP Final Evaluation 20 _Oct. 2013

Final Evaluation of the
Youth Empowerment Project
Ayman Badr, Team Leader for the Evaluation
[Cairo, September 2013]
This publication was produced by Takween
Integrated Community Development for RELIEF
International.

CONTENTS
Contents......................................................................................................................................................... 2
Acronyms....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Executive Summary.......................................................................................................................................4
Evaluation Purpose, Methods, Questions and Limitations........................................................................8
Project Background.....................................................................................................................................15
Evaluation Findings.....................................................................................................................................20
Success Stories and Case Studies.............................................................................................................48
Annexes........................................................................................................................................................ 55
2

ACRONYMS
AID-ME Academy for International Development - Middle East
IDSC International Development Support and Consulting
NAYR National Association Youth Rights
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
PRA Participatory Rapid Appraisal
RI Relief International
TOT Training of Trainers
USAID United States Agency for International Development
YEP Youth Empowerment Project
YWB Youth without Borders Foundation
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
EVALUATION PURPOSE
The evaluation aims to determine the extent to which the project accomplished the results it was planned
to achieve, present the evidence of these accomplishments, and provide a record of how these results
were obtained. The evaluation also focuses on demonstrating how this project contributes to global
learning about community based youth programming, and ensuring that all relevant stakeholders involved
were able to fully participate in the final evaluation. To this effect, the evaluation includes sections on
program highlights, learning, and success stories.
EVALUATION METHODS, QUESTIONS AND LIMITATIONS
In order to conduct the project evaluation, the team has used a variety of methods and tools, such as
literature review, to review the project related documents, including DIP, Grant Agreement, annual
reports, quarterly reports, log-frame, in addition to the updated USAID guidelines for final evaluations
activities in developing countries. Also, focus group discussions were used to rapidly collect information
and points of view of different stakeholders. Interviews and meetings were conducted to explore the
views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of individuals involved in the project. The interviews and
meetings were conducted with project partners, project staff, and consultants. Notes taken by the
evaluation team during direct observation of verbal and nonverbal behaviors also informed this evaluation.
The selected sample included project direct and indirect beneficiaries from all regions covered by project
to ensure comprehensive coverage of the project. . The sampling criteria were based on gender equality,
age diversity, the representation of both students and post graduates, and diversity of receiving the project
services.
The evaluation phases included: I) initial consultations and the kick-off meetings; II) implementation of
field evaluation; III) data entry, data analysis, and report drafting; and IV) debriefing and writing the final
report.
The evaluation team was confronted with a number of challenges, such as, the eruption of violent
incidents and demonstrations throughout Egypt during the time of the evaluation. This resulted in the
reluctance of youth from the selected sample to participate in the focus group meetings due to security
reasons. was Additionally, the evaluation and the fieldwork took place in the holy month of Ramadan,
which affected normal working hours.
PROJECT BACKGROUND
From August 2011 to August 2013, with support from USAID under the Youth Empowerment Project (YEP),
the RI consortium has provided youth with the skills necessary to effectively communicate with and
contribute to their communities, as well as the ability to assume leadership at a local level.
While Egypt has made great strides in achieving the millennium development goals (MDG) of universal
basic education enrollment, 27 percent of youth aged 18-29 have not completed basic education (17
percent have dropped out of school before completing basic education and 10 percent have never enrolled
in school). Egyptian youth need support to lobby and advocate for positive change as well as the ability to
participate in a healthy democratic environment. In addition to youth, Egyptian women's political
participation—and in particular community engagement—is limited to a grassroots level. There is a dire
need in Egypt to provide youth with the skills necessary for their continued engagement in rebuilding their
country using techniques and tools beyond demonstrations, protests, and activities of civil disobedience.
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This project aims at providing 6,000 women and men with the skills, knowledge, and tools to reach their
potential as leaders, communicators, and social entrepreneurs, and to support a culture of acceptance of
youth by their communities by highlighting their work in communities and disseminating their ideas for
political and social change, as well as supporting youth in maximizing their efforts through mass
communication and social media tools.
YEP covers six geographic regions: Greater Cairo Region, the Nile Delta, Suez Canal, Upper Egypt – North,
Upper Egypt – South, Lower Egypt. The operations of the RI Consortium are based in Cairo. The project
includes three major areas of intervention: i) capacity building program for youth, ii) establishing youth
empowerment centers, and iii) establishing of a political academy.
FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS
After the project concept note was approved by USAID, the project management took a number of
corrective actions to overcome the lack of details in this document. The corrective actions included:
developing a revised log-frame; preparing concept notes addressing different project components and
action plan; developing M&E tools; and modifying the training approach to rely on local NGOs.
The program trained 6,410 youth in the first phase of training, 107% of participants planned. Phase 1
addressed topics of political awareness and leadership skills, critical thinking, and needs assessment
methodologies (PRA). Phase 2 trained 1,532 youth, 102% of participants planned for this stage. The
training curriculum in phase 2 focused on: policy analysis, strategic planning, and advocacy campaigns. In
phase 3 of the training, 356 youth were trained on social dialogue, 101.7% of participants planned.
The evaluation team found that the actual percentage of increase of knowledge and concepts of young
trainees achieved in phase 1 is 50.6% (3,040 trainees have acquired 20% of knowledge). Also, a number of
907 community studies based on PRA methodology have been presented by the trainees. These studies
included community issues and solutions from the community point of view.
For the political leadership practices, the project succeeded in empowering a number of youth – even if a
limited number. Young participants were able to engage in some elections, such as student unions in
universities or joining political parties. The project has also contributed to the establishment and equipping
of six Tamkeen Centers for youth in the six targeted regions, covering 22 governorates in Egypt. In March
2012, the general assemblies of the six Tamkeen Centers, which consist of 6,410 trainees who participated
in phase 1, were invited for elections to select members of the Boards of Directors of these centers.
At the time of the evaluation, Tamkeen Centers established 13 local watchdog or “Whistle Blowing”
committees to monitor their communities, covering 11 governorates with 67 youth members, who were
trained in Phase 1 or 2.These committees produced six reports and contributed to skill development of
their youth members.
Trainees, with the assistance and participation of other youth, were able to design and implement 119
community initiatives that deal with social and political issues in their communities. The activities of the
community initiatives represent a positive model that can be duplicated in other projects. It should be
noted that initiatives came with their challenges, the first being that for many youth the concept of
initiatives was new to them and they had a hard time distinguishing between what is an initiative and what
an activity or a project is. It took some time for the youth to grasp that they would not submit a literacy
activity for women as this is a long term activity not necessarily an initiative. The second challenge was in
absence of innovative thinking among youth - for example to find new ways to fund their initiatives - was
evident despite the project management orientation and training efforts.
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Initially the plan for the YEP project was to have a television program where there would be a series of
episodes and debates where youth could showcase the leadership and political skills acquired through the
project. Due to the high budget of such a program, the fact that TV programs requested a script be produced
and tested, before making any commitment to the idea and lack of interest from any major TV channel to work with
the project, the televised TV program was substituted by six documentary films based on the best six papers
covering issues of education, political participation, health, environment, security, and unemployment and
training youth in the production of short films. These documentaries are currently under production by a
professional firm. A plan was developed for the promotion of these documentaries through several TV
channels.
Due to its lack of effectiveness, the initially designed project website was replaced by a new one in March
2013 (www.belady.me). The new website is better in terms of user experience, graphics, and content. The
project website is to be administrated by the Academy to promote its activities. According to project
reports, the project’s online presence (the old and current websites, as well as all social media pages
created by the project and Tamkeen Centers) have received 17,546 visitors since their inception.
Belady Academy was established as a limited liability company (LLC) with the General Authority for
Investment (GAFI). The shareholders structure consists of two of the four local partners of YEP (AID-ME
and IDSC), and this is because under Egyptian Law NGO’s are not allowed to be part of a company. The
Academy is designed as a key component of the Youth Empowerment Program that contributes to the
organizational and financial sustainability of the program as well as its sustainability of impact. At the time
of evaluation one curriculum was complete, but there were ten other curricula being put together through
a team of academics and politicians and 28 people received the pilot training in Ismailia and Qena.
The project’s first intervention was implemented in May 2012 with a delay of more than eight months. The
reasons behind the delay came from the political environment, capacity of local partners to start the
project and according to the four local partners as a result of delays from RI headquarters. In May so RI
interfered to include consultants to support the local partners in supervising the project. The delay
negatively impacted the quality of the interventions and project outcomes as a whole because it cut
project implementation time by eight months, causing many activities to be hurried and not enough time
was spent on proper outreach. Also, the time lags between the three training phases resulted in the
withdrawal of a significant number of participants. In addition, the monthly funds RI transferred to the
local partners, often faced delays, which subsequently caused delays in the implementation of many
activities.
The project outputs, such as the training manual, the website, the local NGOs and beneficiaries database,
and the Academy, are considered valuable resources that can be utilized to politically empower the youth.
The project contributed to the strong presence of the local partners in many governorates and built a
positive relationship among local partners, local NGOs, and the youth in the different geographic regions.
Sub-agreements established all project stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities. However, overlapping of
roles occurred among partners during the implementation of tasks. In addition, the continuous
intervention of RI consultants (project management) in activities implementation details caused a sense of
confusion for all involved partners. On the other hand, the limited capacity and resources of those partners
were the main reasons behind the intervention of RI project management.
In summary the evaluation team concludes that the Youth Empowerment has met its objectives and
exceeded planned activities in the life time of the project, yet would like to highlight certain
recommendations and lessons learned.
1. The Tamkeen Centers should have been established earlier so that the centers could be more
qualified and effective in attracting youth and serving as a host to the management and
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implementation of the training programs. It is from the partners and the evaluation team’s point of
view that the RI partners could have established the centers and equipped them with the required
equipment and staff in the very beginning of the project, before forming the general assembly and
electing boards.
2. The selection of the administrative coordinators should have considered a higher level of technical
and managerial expertise to ensure successful mobilization of the youth, as well as performing the
technical, financial, and administrative management tasks in the centers.
3. The project could have benefited from an information management system and a clear
communication strategy between project stakeholders on all functional levels.
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EVALUATION PURPOSE, METHODS, QUESTIONS AND LIMITATIONS
EVALUATION PURPOSE
Under this consultancy mission, the final evaluation (FE) activities focused on the process of project
implementation and achievements as described in the project’s proposal, log-frame, and other project
work plans. The FE used data and information from the project's monitoring system and other sources to:
• Determine to what extent the project has accomplished the results outlined in the log-frame; and
to present the evidence of these accomplishments.
• Provide a record of how these results were obtained, so that USAID can share these results with
others outside the YEP - including the U.S. Congress; and so that Egyptian partners comprehend
what needs to be done in order for them to replicate such results.
• Demonstrate how the YEP contributes to global learning about community based youth programs.
• Ensure that all relevant stakeholders are involved, and that they are able to fully participate in the
final evaluation in a participatory manner.
• Include a section on program highlights and lessons learned with particular reference to program
research activities that have been undertaken.
• Facilitate writing of success stories.
EVALUATION APPROACH
The evaluation approach offers a systematic and objective assessment of the design, implementation
process, and results of the completed project. The main purpose here is to: i) determine whether the
project has contributed to the change that it was aiming to achieve, ii) examine the aspects that
contributed to hampering the project activities, and iii) determine whether project failures – if any – where
due to the design or implementation process. In addition, the project evaluation approach provides
credible and useful information to identify lessons learned from this experience and help incorporating
them into future decision-making processes.
In this regard, the evaluation approach addresses the following aspects:
• Relevance – Was the project well-conceived given the situation? Is the project still relevant to the
original problem it was intended to address? To what extent is the project contributing to the
strategic direction of RI’s Program framework, members, and partners? Is the project appropriate
in the context of its environment?
• Efficiency - Is the project delivered in a timely and cost-effective manner? Have resources been
used effectively? Do the results (quantitative and qualitative) justify the resources employed?
• Effectiveness – To what extent have the planned results been achieved? What are the reasons for
the state of achievement? What are the supporting elements or obstacles that have affected the
project achievements?
• Impact - To what extent has the project contributed to the long-term goals of RI? Are there
unanticipated positive or negative outcomes? Why did they arise?
• Sustainability – Is there an enabling environment that supports the ongoing positive impact? Can
the outcomes be sustained beyond the life of the project? Will impact continue to be realized?
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The main approach of the evaluation process is based on participation. The evaluation process focuses on
qualitative methods to ensure that the perspectives and insights of all stakeholders, beneficiaries, and
project implementers, are taken into consideration.
In addition, the evaluation team was keen on the participation of all parties involved in order to ensure
their ownership of the process and evaluate their understanding of the project, and to what extend it has
achieved its goals and objectives.
The evaluation process adopted the following methodologies:
1. The applied methodology: through which the project results and outcomes were documented and
assessed in relation to the project objectives.
2. The descriptive analytical methodology: reviewing and analyzing the current status of the project
implementation through gathering field information and data.
3. Adopt a qualitative method to help capitalize on project strengths and reduce weaknesses. This
qualitative methodology aims at addressing the ‘how’ and ‘why’ and tends to use unstructured
methods of data collection to fully explore the addressed topics. Quantitative analysis was
possible where quantitative data was made available by the project management.
In this context, the evaluation process went through the following steps:
1. Assessing the project inputs: reviewing and analyzing all the resources made available for the
project implementation as inputs such as (financial, human, or physical resources), and how these
resources were used.
2. Assessing the implementation activities and process: including all the interventions and activities
carried out to implement the project on various levels including: implementation of activities and
management of different resources, and their relation to the project action plan.
3. Assessing the project outcomes and outputs: this includes all the short and long term results
achieved and to what extent the project succeeded to solve the community problems addressed.
4. Assessing the quality of the project activities and outcomes: assess the beneficiaries' satisfaction in
regards to the services provided by the project.
EVALUATION METHOD AND TOOLS
In order to conduct the project evaluation, the team employed a variety of methods and tools including:
• Literature Review: to review the project related documents including DIP, Grant Agreement,
annual reports, quarterly reports, log frame, etc., in addition to updated USAID guidelines for final
evaluations activities in developing countries in order to collect data required to develop the
evaluation plan.
• Focus Group Discussion: for rapid collection of information and points of view of different
stakeholders. Involving stakeholders with different viewpoints enriches the discussions, reveals
discrepancies within these viewpoints, and enables in-depth understanding of these different
views.
The Focus Group Discussions took place as follows:
- 11 focus group discussions with 82 youth selected from the final group of 360 youth who
participated in all three levels of training
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- 11 focus group discussions with104 youth selected from 1,500 youth who participated in phase
1 and phase 2 only and did not participate in phase 3. 1,500 youth from phase 2 training who
participated in level 1 and level 2 only and did not participate in level 3: 11 group discussions.
Total number targeted was 104 youth.
- Five focus group discussions with 45 youth selected from the 6,000 youth who participated
only in phase 1 of the training.
- Six focus group discussion with 37 Board Members of the Tamkeen Centers: One focus group
discussion took place with board of each Tamkeen Centers.
- Four focus group discussions with 23 members of the11 Whistle Blowing Committee
- Four focus group discussions with 24 youth who developed and implemented initiatives in the
six regions.
- Four focus group discussions with 22 indirect beneficiaries who participated in the initiatives of
the youth.
• Interviews and meetings: to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of the
individuals involved. Interviews and meetings represent a ‘qualitative’ method that provides a
deeper understanding of the issues addressed. The interviews and meetings involved:
- Project Partners (management and project implementation staff)
- RI Project staff and Consultants
• Observation: Notes were taken during direct observation of different behaviors during meetings,
focus group discussions and interviews.
EVALUATION SAMPLE
The sample population selected included stakeholders from all the geographic areas targeted by the
project in order to ensure a compressive coverage of the project direct and indirect beneficiaries.
The selection was done following a Stratified Random Sampling1
approach and considered the following
criteria:
- Gender equality
- Age diversity
- The representation of both students and post graduates
- Diversity of project services received
The Evaluation Team was not able to achieve the planned number of the sample due to the obstacles the
mission met during the evaluation period (please see Evaluation Limitations in this section). The following
table reflects the planned and actual categories and numbers of the sample:
1
http://www.investopedia.com/terms/stratified_random_sampling.asp
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NO. Sample
Sample
Number
(Planned)
Sample
Number
(Actual)
1 Youth from the final 360 who have arrived at the third phase of training 120 82
2 1,500 youths from phase 2 training who participated in phase 1 and
phase 2 only and did not participate in phase 3
120 104
3 Youth from the initial 6,000 who were trained in phase one of the
training and did not proceed to other levels
120 45
4 Board Members of the Tamkeen Centers 42 37
5 Members of the Whistle Blowing Committee 60 23
6 Youth who developed and implemented initiatives 120 24
7 Indirect beneficiaries who participated in the initiatives of the youth 60 22
8 RI project staff and Consultants (Head office and Tamkeen Centers) 8 16
9 Project Partners (Management and project implementation staff) 16 9
PHASES OF THE EVALUATION
Preliminary Step: Initial Consultation/Kick-off Meeting and Background Review
Objectives
- Ensure full understanding of the project scope by the evaluation team.
- Collect data on the project achievements.
- Ensure full understanding of USAID regulations for project evaluations in the developing countries.
Activities
During this phase, literature review took place to:
- Review updated USAID guidelines for final evaluations activities in developing countries.
- Consult with Rl/HQ and field level staff, and obtain the required documentation.
- Review all the project documents including DIP, Grant Agreement, annual reports, quarterly
reports, log frame, progress reports, etc. that facilitated the planning for the evaluation activities.
Outputs
- The evaluation team has become fully aware of the project and its achievements on both the
qualitative and quantitative levels.
- The evaluation team has become fully aware of the updated USAID regulations in regard to project
evaluations in the developing countries.
- Secondary data about the project and its achievements has been collected.
Phase I: Preparation and Field Planning Phase
Objective
- To develop and organize all activities required to implement the project evaluation in the field on a
participatory basis.
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Activities
- A preparation workshop including the evaluation team leader, 6 field researchers, and the data
entry/analyst was carried out. The purpose of the workshop was to design and develop a draft
qualitative questionnaire that has been revised and validated by the evaluation team during the
planning and orientation sessions. The workshop also aimed at developing the evaluation tools and
action plan.
- Identify the roles and responsibilities of the different evaluation team members to carry out final
evaluation activities in the all the geographic areas targeted by the project.
Outputs
- Design of data collection tools including guidelines for the interviews, meetings, and focus group
discussion.
- Development of the final evaluation action plan.
Phase II: Implementation of the Field Evaluation
Objectives
- Applying the proposed data collection methods to systematically collect – according to the plan -,
the information required to support the formulation of conclusions, i.e. answers to the evaluation
main questions.
- Cover all the project targeted areas and samples of the project target groups.
- Together with the team leader, six researchers were involved in this phase and were responsible
on collecting data from the field (a researcher in each region).
- The field work included five days: four days inside the field, one day meeting with the project
partners and with the project staff and consultant.
Activities
- Select youth to review project activities, achievements, constraints, project sustainability, and
lessons learned;
- Conduct interviews and/or focus groups with project staff and partners' staff.
- Conduct 11 focus group discussions with youth from the final 360 who have arrived at the third
phase of training (having participated in all three phases of training): (Planned 120, actual 82).
- Conduct 11 focus group discussions with the 1,500 youths from phase 2 training who participated
in phase 1 and phase 2 only and did not participate in phase 3. (Planned 120, actual 104).
- Conduct 12 focus group discussions with youth from the initial 6,000 who were trained in phase 1
of the training and did not proceed to other levels. (Planned 120, actual 45).
- Conduct six focus group discussions with the Board Members of the Tamkeen Centers: One focus
group discussion took place with the Board Members of each Tamkeen Center. (Planned 42, actual
37).
- Conduct four focus group discussions with the members of the Whistle Blowing Committee.
(Planned 60, actual 23).
- Conduct four focus group discussions with youth who developed and implemented initiatives.
(Planned 120, actual 24).
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- Conduct four focus group discussions with indirect beneficiaries who participated in the initiatives
of the youth. (Planned 60, actual 22).
- Organize Interviews and meetings: to explore the views, experiences, beliefs and/or motivations of
individuals involved including:
a. Project Partners (management and project implementation staff)
b. Project staff and Consultants
Phase III: Data Entry, Data Analysis, and Production of the Draft Report
Objective
- The purpose of analysis is to transform data into credible evidence on the development
intervention and its performance.
Activities
Typically, the analytical process involves three steps:
- Organizing data for analysis, i.e. data preparation.
- Describing the data, e.g. generating findings of fact.
- Interpreting the data, e.g. assessing the findings against criteria.
This process was followed by:
- Development of an outline for the Draft ‘Final Evaluation Report’ , and sharing this outline with the
Activity Managers (Country Director, Sr. Program Officer, and Program Director for the Middle
East) for comments before the first Draft FE report is produced;
- Benefiting from the feedback of key project staff for the development of some key sections of the
report;
- Writing the first draft of the FE report and include the feedback provided by RI/Egypt and RI/HQ in
the final version of the report.
Outputs
- The evaluation findings are clearly identified.
- The first draft of the FE report is produced.
Phase IV: Debriefing and Production of the Final Report
Objectives
- Developing the FE report taking into consideration the comments received from RI and
resubmitting the final report.
- Reflecting the evaluation results in the final report and demonstrating to what extent the project
succeeded to achieve its planned results and objectives. The report also sheds light on the
challenges that the project faced and how they were addressed. The report also identifies the
lessons learned and provides recommendations to help develop similar projects in the future.
- Ensure that the Evaluation ToR is fully met and covered by the evaluation team.
Activities
- Closely coordinate with the RI contact persons in Egypt and RI/HQ to ensure timely completion and
submission of the FE report.
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Outputs:
- The evaluation process is finalized and the final report produced and submitted.
- The final evaluation report will include:
a. Name of project country, project implementation dates, and evaluation date.
b. Names and contact information of evaluation team members.
c. Executive Summary.
d. Main findings, including lessons learned that could be useful for RI, recommendations for
RI future programmers/projects, success stories if any, best practices if any, and challenges
met during the project implementation.
- Annexes will include:
a. Terms of Reference and evaluation methodology.
b. Data presentation and analysis.
c. Names and contact information of stakeholders met/interviewed.
d. Copy of the data collection tools.
EVALUATION LIMITATIONS
In fulfilling this evaluation mission, the evaluation team faced a number of challenges. During the
evaluation period, a series of violent events and massive demonstrations throughout Egypt erupted. As a
result, one of the challenges met was the reluctance of youth identified in the evaluation sample to
participate in the evaluation activities – reducing the number of participants in the focus groups meetings,
hence affecting the number of the planned sample. However, to overcome such challenge, the evaluation
team conducted 2 focus group meetings with approximately 50 trainees from the third phase areas in
Cairo, Alexandria and the Nile Delta. Another challenge was carrying out the evaluation activities during
the holy month of Ramadan, which limits the normal working hours. Based on the aforementioned
obstacles and challenges, the evaluation team approached the project management several times to
postpone some of the evaluation activities
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PROJECT BACKGROUND
With support from USAID under the YEP (August 2011 – August 2013), the RI consortium is providing youth
with the skills necessary to effectively communicate with and contribute to their communities, as well as
the ability to assume leadership at a local level. In addition, the YEP program provides youth with problem-
solving, critical thinking, and leadership skills necessary to take the lead in addressing challenges hindering
the democratic process in their specific localities. Finally, the program provides technical assistance to six
youth centers to serve as political awareness academies and create an on-line portal in which interactive
training curricula pertaining to issues tackled during the project are shared.
THE NEED FOR THE PROJECT
The toppled regime in Egypt systematically left a considerable vacuum in political alternatives. Post-
revolution Egypt found itself with approximately 20 million young men and women possessing limited skills
to constructively deploy their increased sense of civic responsibility. Furthermore, the quality of education
in Egypt has been steadily declining. While Egypt has made great strides in achieving the MDG goal of
universal basic education enrollment, 27 percent of youth aged 18-29 have not completed basic education
(17 percent have dropped out of school before completing basic education and 10 percent have never
enrolled in school).
For more than 30 years, the regime in Egypt hindered political, economic, and social development
throughout the country. Although this has affected all segments of Egyptian society, it has particularly
suppressed the awareness, knowledge, and desire among youth for political participation and civic
engagement. Egyptian youth need support to lobby and advocate for positive change as well as the ability
to participate in a healthy democratic environment.
Political participation is based on the interaction and engagement of individuals and institutions in society.
However, these interactions are not present in the Egyptian society – within private associations, political
parties, universities, or youth centers. These institutions must also be supported in order to flourish within
the community and foster the positive and constructive engagement of Egyptian youth. Thus far, the only
form of political participation Egyptian youth have been deploying is civil disobedience. While this is an
important form of expression, many lack the skills and knowledge to take their causes beyond that level
and into an active democratic political sphere.
In addition to youth, Egyptian women's political participation—and in particular community engagement—
is limited to a grassroots level. The 2011 Revolution in Egypt witnessed an unprecedented collaboration
between young women and men that fostered the sense of civic engagement which this project aims to
translate into active political participation. Young female leaders are becoming more visible and a need to
invest in enhancing their skills is paramount for the participation of all women in the society due to cultural
norms that make it easier for female representatives to address females. This project will shed a specific
light on the role of young women in leading change in Egypt with their male counterparts.
There is a dire need in Egypt to provide youth with the skills necessary for their continued engagement in
rebuilding their country using techniques and tools beyond demonstrations, protests, and activities of civil
disobedience. This project aims at providing 6,000 women and men with the skills, knowledge, and tools to
reach their potential as leaders, communicators, and social entrepreneurs.
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MAIN OBJECTIVES
1. To provide 6,000 youth (60 percent men and 40 percent women) with the political and leadership
skills necessary to effectively deal with local problems and map community challenges on the
political and social levels.
2. To support a culture of acceptance of youth by their communities by highlighting their work in
communities and disseminating their ideas for political and social change.
3. To support youth in maximizing their efforts through mass communication and social media tools.
PROJECT BENEFICIARIES
• 6,000 young men (60 percent) and women (40 percent) with the political skills necessary to
effectively communicate with and contribute to their communities;
• 30,000 youth with political knowledge and effective civic participation through the portal website;
• 6 Egyptian regional civil society organizations (CSOs) with the necessary skills to empower regional
youth.
PROJECT INTERVENTIONS
YEP covers six regions:
1. Greater Cairo Region (Cairo, Giza, and Qaliubiyya Governorates)
2. The Nile Delta (Gharbiyya, Daqahliyya, Kafer El-Sheikh, and Menofiyya Governorates)
3. Suez Canal (Ismailia, Port Said, Suez, South Sinai, and North Sinai Governorates)
4. Upper Egypt – North (Fayoum, Bani Sueif, Minya, and Red Sea Governorates)
5. Upper Egypt – South (Assiut, Sohag, Qena, Aswan, Luxor, and New Valley Governorates)
6. Lower Egypt (Alexandria, Marsa Matrouh, Damietta, and Al-Beheirah Governorates)
The operations of the RI Consortium are based in Cairo.
The project includes three major areas of intervention outlined as follows:
Capacity Building Program for Youth
The program design focuses on interactive and participatory training, with the goal of enriching the
capacity of youth throughout Egypt with the basic skills to become active at local levels and in their
communities. Topics cover: creative thinking skills, community needs assessment, how to study and
analyze the electoral system and process of the social institutions (students’ unions, syndicates, local
councils, NGOs, the parliament… etc.), how to define the gaps between these institutions and the
international electoral processes and systems, how to conduct a community research on issues like
education, health, gender… etc., and how to facilitate a community dialogue.
Establishing Youth Empowerment Centers
These centers are the foundation of the branches of a political Academy which will continue to run services
and provide training opportunities to youth and any person seeking to build or enhance their skills in
leadership roles after the end of the project. During the duration of this project the Tamkeen Centers are a
location where youth can meet to carry out activities, hold political discussions; basically a safe space
where they can just meet and apply what they have learned with a wide range of resources made available
to them in the centers (computers, video equipment, cameras, technical support, books, space, etc.).
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Additionally, the aim is to encourage their social participation within their communities; and provide them
with the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned as well as work on local led initiatives that
tackle local needs. These centers ultimately provide a unique opportunity for youth to enhance their
leadership skills, citizenship, and political participation under activities such as the library, capacity building
workshops, youth initiatives, and the whistle blowing committees lead by youth.
Establishing of a Political Academy
The Tamkeen Centers will feed into the Academy – an independent specialized political academy with the
mandate to build the capacity of youth political leaders. The Academy will partner with international
political institutes working on the ground in Egypt. The Political Academy will provide training, taught by
academics. Much like the Tamkeen Centers, the Political Academy will serve as a resource center – but on a
national level. The Academy will provide studies for local government as well as the parliament (for a fee),
which will over time help to defray the cost of the center and serve to make it sustainable.
17

PROJECR OBJECTIVES AND RESULTS
Objective 1: To provide 6,000 youth (60 percent men and
40 percent women) with the political and leadership skills
necessary to effectively deal with local problems and map
community challenges on the political and social levels.
Result 1.1: 6,000 socio-political
challenges are explored and addressed
with innovative and techniques
developed by the target youth group.
Result 1.2: The creation of six Tamkeen
empowerment centers that support the
political and social development of
youth.
Objective 2: To support a culture of acceptance of youth
by their communities by highlighting their work in
communities and disseminating their ideas for political
and social change.
Result 2.1: Active engagement of
qualified trained cadres in the political
environment in various target
communities.
Result 2.2: The development of working
papers/comprehensive profiles of
strategic plans to solve current/urgent
political issues.
Objective 3: To support youth in maximizing their efforts
through mass communication and social media tools.
Result 3.1: A series of six short
documentary/ drama films aired in local
communities, on both regional and
national levels, that will allow audiences
to assess issues that have been explored
by youth, how important these issues are
for the country and lastly assess whether
the youth been able to communicate a
real problem that affects the nation
Result 3.2: The creation of an
independent specialized political
academy with the mandate to build the
capacity of youth political leaders.
Result 3.3: A functioning Political
Academy provides high quality training
courses.
Result 3.4: A specialized website for
dissemination that includes all the
experience of the project such as, the
research studies, the field work, the
training curriculum, and the field
experiences.
Result 3.5: Media provides youth with
18

the means to gain political knowledge.
19

EVALUATION FINDINGS
EVALUATION OF THE PROJECT DESIGN
In order to meet the original submission deadline, RI delivered a concept note for the Youth Empowerment
Project in lieu of a full proposal to USAID. Subsequently, significant tools/elements of the project design
needed to be developed after the project was approved by USAID. Accordingly, RI project management
took a number of corrective actions to develop and include the omitted elements. These actions included:
Development and approval of a revised version of the log-frame;
Preparation of Concept Notes that address different project components (capacity building
program, Tamkeen Centers, the Political Academy, and media activities);
Action plan
Development of M&E Concept Note, matrix, and tools;
Modification of the training approach to rely on the NGOs in mobilization.
RI sought USAID's formal approval of these components and approval was obtained.
FINDINGS ON THE PROJECT RESULTS
Based on the fieldwork, these are the results perceived by the evaluation team compared to those
indicated in the project log-frame:
Planned Results Result compilation as planned Actual Results
Result 1.1:
6,000 socio-political
challenges are explored and
addressed with innovative
and techniques developed
by the target youth group.
Selection of the targeted youth
according to identified curricula and
training 6,000 youth using the
developed training toolkit. The trained
youth have identified 6,000 socio-
political challenges and conducted
studies to address these challenges
and possible solutions utilizing
innovative ideas and community-
based approach.
6,410 youth have been selected and
trained (107% of the target, out of
them 52% women and 48% men). The
trained youth have identified the
socio-economic challenges and
conducted 907 studies to identify
possible community-based solutions
for these challenges utilizing PRA
techniques.
Result 1.2:
The creation of six Tamkeen
empowerment centers that
support the political and
social development of youth.
Establishment and equipping of 6
Tamkeen Centers managed by elected
boards comprised of the beneficiaries,
build their capacity to have action
plans for the activities, sustainability
plan, and to form local watchdog
committees from the trained youth
Six Tamkeen Centers were
established, equipped, and had
management boards (5 elected boards
and 1 appointed). Capacity building
activities were conducted for the
boards to enable them to plan and
execute the center’ activities utilizing
the TC. Standards Operating
Procedures manuals, bylaws and
20

execution plans were developed. A
detailed action plan for the
sustainability of the YEP project is
developed in coordination with the
Academy and Tamkeen Centers.
13 local watchdog committees were
formed from the trained youth in 5
centers and presented reports of their
work.
Result 2.1:
Active engagement of
qualified trained cadres in
the political environment in
various target communities.
Preparing youth to be change leaders
in their communities and having them
carry out 25 socio-political initiatives.
Innovative socio-economic initiatives
were announced and 67 initiatives
were carried out and led by 67 of the
trained youth in association with
other trainees. Tamkeen Centers’
Boards, the project consultant, and
administrative coordinator
participated in the selection process
of the executed initiatives.
Result 2.2:
The development of working
papers/comprehensive
profiles of strategic plans to
solve current/urgent political
issues.
Youth becoming capable of preparing
working papers that studies and
provides innovative solutions to 6
socio-political issues and discussing
these ideas within round tables.
132 groups of youth were formed with
a total number of 1335 members
participated in preparing 132 working
papers that were discussed in round
tables and the best 6 papers were
selected to be documented.
Result 3.1:
A series of six short
documentary/ drama films
aired in local communities,
on both regional and
national levels, that will
allow audiences to assess
issues that have been
explored by youth, how
important these issues are
for the country, and, lastly,
360 youth trained in the production of
short video. Working groups from the
final 350 youth will have the
opportunity to present their
knowledge and skills.
54 youth trained in all of the regions
in the production of short video of
one-two minutes leading to the
production of audio video
documentation of program coverage
and youth activities and initiatives.
The 54 graduates produced 31
documentary films, which were
showcased in a documentary film
21

assess whether the youth
been able to communicate a
real problem that affects the
nation.
festival and some received awards. 6
research papers that examined social
issues were selected, one from each
Tamkeen Center, and documentary
films were produced on the issues
discussed in each paper.
Result 3.2:
The creation of an
independent specialized
political academy with the
mandate to build the
capacity of youth political
leaders.
Establishing and equipping a political
academy within a legal framework
with the participation of the project
partners. The academy will have
operational manual, training toolkit,
by-laws, and resources to guarantee
its sustainability.
The political academy was established
under the name “Belady Academy”
under the investment law as a Limited
Liability Company by two out of the
five partners.
The academy has a by-law, an
operational manual, some training
tool-kits, and a sustainability plan. The
academy conducted a pilot training
for first syllabus of the training toolkit.
Result 3.3:
A functioning Political
Academy provides high
quality training courses.
Developing comprehensive training
curricula that cover the topics of
social engagement, democracy, and
political engagement; and an
executive plan to carry out these
trainings.
At the time of evaluation only 1
curriculum was complete but there
were another 10 curriculums being
put together through a team of
academia’s and politicians.
28 people who received the pilot
training in Ismailia and Qena.
Result 3.4:
A specialized website for
dissemination that includes
all the experience of the
project such as, the research
studies, the field work, the
training curriculum, and the
field experiences.
Developing and publishing a
website/portal that is accessed by
beneficiaries for registration for
participation in project activities and
also for publishing and enabling
access to political and social
knowledge and awareness. By the end
of the project the number of youth
who have registered on the website
should reach 9000 youth
A web site was published in the
beginning of the project but was
cancelled and a new portal was
established and published in May
2013. The website of the project has
been re-designed to accommodate
the needs of the academy
(www.belady.me) and will be handed
over to the Academy so that it can use
as its official website.
Only 1,800 online applicants reached
the website.
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Result 3.5:
Media provides youth with
the means to gain political
knowledge.
30,000 youth shared their comments
and opinions on the website and the
Facebook pages of the project as well
as through documented episodes.
At the time of the evaluation (end of
July 2013), the project’s online
presence (the old and current
websites, as well as all social media
pages created by the project and
Tamkeen Centers) had 17,546 visitors.
FINDINGS ON THE PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND COMPONENTS
1. Capacity Building Program for Youth
YEP Outreach Mechanisms and Methods
Initially the planned mechanism for the youth to know about the YEP training program was through the
creation of a website by YWB at the onset of the project. It was also planned that NAYR would utilize the
website in promoting, advertising, and marketing the project activities and training programs. Interested
youth would fill an online application on the website to join the training program, and 9,000 online
applicants were anticipated. In June of 2012, the project realized that on-line applications would not reach
the target and this is clearly indicated in the fact that throughout the project only 1,800 applications were
filled on-line and only 500 of the applicants directly filled the applications by themselves, while the other
1,300 paper applications were filled and entered on the website by the project team. The project at that
time made a decision to re-evaluate the process of targeting youth and informing them of the project
because: i) most of the youth targeted by the project do not have adequate access to the internet, and ii)
the interviews revealed that youth prefer social media tools (such as Facebook) over formal websites since
social media tools are easy to use and are highly customizable. Accordingly, the project management
changed its strategy working with local NGOs, the Ministry of Youth through its affiliated centers (Youth of
Tomorrow offices) and youth who had completed phase 1 of the training to spread and promote the
project and its objectives.
Focus group discussions with youth who participated in the training of the three different phases
confirmed that they consider direct communication through word of mouth as the most effective means
for them to know about the project. This was evident especially for graduates of the training program who
recommended the program to their acquaintances and friends.
Initially, the plan was for the project to sign a cooperation protocol with the Ministry of Youth, but this was
never actualized as a result of the unstable political situation. Under these circumstances, project
management embarked in a third strategy, which opted to work with local NGOs who already had
established relations with youth through their own activities to inform them of the project and training
opportunities. The NGO’s through a cooperation agreement were responsible to attract enrollees, and
assist in administering the logistical component of the training programs in the targeted governorates.
In addition to the methods mentioned above (social media and the Youth of Tomorrow offices, Tamkeen
Centers) project coordinators, staff and consultants played an effective role in disseminating information
on the project among the youth.
23

Youth’s Personal Motivations to Enroll in the Training
Results of the focus group discussion and post-training interviews with program participants yielded
different motivations and reasons behind enrolling in the program; the results are summarized below:
Almost half of the youth participating in the focus group discussions indicated they had initially
been motivated to join the training program as they had been told by the project that there would
be a TV show for the youth who made it to the final and third round of training. This provided them
with a real aspiration and desire to participate the training program in hope that they would be
chosen for the live television program.
The desire of some of the youth to be community leaders, and practice a political leadership role
through participatory channels available in society.
Other motivations for participants to join the training program were as follows:
Gaining political education especially after the 2011 revolution and the subsequent active political
and social movements around the country.
Acquiring a set of skills, particularly group work, leadership skills and volunteerism.
A number of participants were interested in human development training programs (which show
that the objectives and philosophy of the YEP training were not made clear to all participants).
Networking and creating relationships with other youth with similar interests.
Investing leisure time in learning new skills.
Training Programs Implementation
The mission and objectives of the three phases of the training program are based on developing the
political awareness and knowledge of youth and acquire the knowledge and skill sets that can create a
positive change in the youth’s political directions, concepts, and culture. And subsequently, they would be
equipped to partake political and leadership positions in society.
The program trained 6,410 youth in the first phase of training, 107% of participants planned (47.7% male,
52.3% female). Phase 1 addressed the following topics: political awareness and leadership skills, critical
thinking, and needs assessment methodologies PRA.
24

In Phase 2, 1,532 youth were trained representing 102% of the targeted participants in this stage (46%
male, 54% female). The training curriculum in phase 2 focused on: policy analysis, strategic planning, and
advocacy campaigns.
25

1,335 youth in phase 2 conducted 132 working groups (round tables) to produce working papers
highlighting economic, social, cultural, political, or civic issues coming from their communities. The youth
presented solutions from the community perspective.
26

In order to progress from phase 2 to phase 3 of the training program the criteria for selection was modified
to focus on the application of what youth from the training. The youth selected to participate in phase 3
was based on the working papers they developed and the presentation of these papers in round table
discussions. The round table discussions consisted of each group of youth presenting their working papers
for 30 minutes, focusing on the findings and their conclusions, to a committee of 4 – 5 persons (the round
table committee) who conducted in-depth discussions with the trainees to select the best 60 working
papers. Based on the selection of the 60 best working papers, 485 youth who were responsible for the
best 60 working papers were nominated for phase 3 of the training program. Additionally the project
choose the top six best working papers of the 60 based on the evaluations provided by the round table
committee for the development of the six medial films intended to be shared with the Egyptian public.
In Phase 3 of the training, 356 youth were trained on social dialogue, 101.7% of the targeted participants
(52% male, 48% female).
27

According to focus group discussions, youth acquired the following concepts, knowledge, and skills
throughout the three phases, which are consistent with the project objectives:
- Citizenship
- Political participation and participation mechanisms
- Types of leadership and related concepts
- Electoral systems and the nomination process in Local Popular Councils and Parliament
- What is the constitution and how does it differ from laws?
- Leadership skills
- Critical thinking skills and abandoning traditional thinking
- Community needs assessment
- Planning advocacy campaigns
- Planning skills
28

- Analysis skills
- Communication and constructive dialogue skills
The evaluation team has concluded that the knowledge and skills that the youth acquired are largely
compatible with the concepts the project aimed to disseminate during the training stages.
Increasing knowledge and concepts for young trainees was one of the three indicators the project has set
as criteria for evaluating trainees after the first training phase. According to the project log-frame: “80% of
the participating youth in the training program have increased their political knowledge and awareness
measured by a post test that verifies at least 20% success rate among 95% of the target group."The
evaluation team found that the actual percentage achieved in phase 1 is 47% (a number of trainees of
3,040 has acquired 20% of knowledge.) Thus, the percentage of achievement for this indicator is 63%,
while in phase 2 the percentage of achievement has increased to 67%.
The evaluation team found that 3,040 of 6,410 phase 1 trainees (47% of the actual number of trainees)
increased their political knowledge by at least 20%. The project was also aiming at increasing political
knowledge of 1,200 youth of the 1,500 youth targeted during phase 2 (80%). However, the project
managed to increase the knowledge of only 1,023 youth of an actual number of 1,527 youth achieved
during phase 2 (67%).
In the middle of phase 1, the project management began to rely on a group of34 of local NGOs from the
targeted governorates to support greater outreach and facilitate expanded implementation, which was not
originally part of YEP methodology.. The project management initiated this corrective action as well as
other procedures, such as, reducing the number of trainees in one classroom from 75 to only 25 - 30
trainees. The project also conducted a training of trainers during phases 1 and 2, which prepared trainers
to conduct the training programs in various areas. A training package was produced in phase 1 by IDSC and
AID-ME with the support of the project management, including the participant manual, the trainer manual,
a PowerPoint presentation, as well as, exercises and working papers, while the phases 1 and 2 training
manuals were developed through the TOTs.
Effective participation in the process of producing these community studies was one of the three indicators
the project has set as criteria for evaluating trainees after phase 1. According to the project log-frame: “At
the end of one month from the phase 1 training, 2000 graduates present 2100 community studies (in
29

accordance with the written standards presented to them in the training) illustrating at least three
community issues and their solutions from the point of view of the communities in the six governorates.”
At the time of the evaluation, 907 community studies based on PRA methodology had been presented by
the trainees, which corresponds to 45% of the target. These studies included community issues and
solutions from the community point of view.
Under this training component, within phase 1 training program, youth were trained for two days on PRA
methodology in order to develop their research skills and how they study the needs of their communities.
At the end of the two days, youth from the same area formed groups of –four to six , where they applied
the research on their area up to four weeks). A report was then written and presented and in a one day
session with the other groups and their trainer.
The total number of participants who received the training programs is 6,410 trainees; those are
considered the representatives of the general assemblies of the six centers. 53 of these trainees were
elected as members of the Board of Directors of these centers. Meanwhile, others have become members
of the Whistle Blowing Committees (numbering 50 at the time of the evaluation). 119 youth were involved
in the creation and implementation of youth initiatives, as 132 research papers/round tables have been
submitted during the training program.
When young participants were asked during the focus groups about the political leadership practices they
were able to engage in, their answers referred only to some limited elections, such as, student unions in
30

the universities or joining political parties. This may be due to the limited channels that youth can go
through to express themselves, as well as, the need for more time so they can utilize the skills they have
learned in the training program to address leading political roles that lead to political empowerment.
However, the project succeeded in politically empowering a number of youth – even if a limited number –
who now have the knowledge and skills that equip them to play political and leadership roles in society.
2. Youth Empowerment Centers (Tamkeen Centers)
Establishing of Tamkeen Centers
The project has contributed to the establishment and equipping of six Tamkeen Centers for youth in the six
geographic regions targeted by the project, covering 22 governorates in Egypt. The objective to empower
the youth to have a place where they can carry out activities, meet, and support political leadership. The
management and oversight of the Tamkeen Centers seem to have been complicated, and the youth
represented in the boards felt that because management went through several hands. This has created an
environment of confusion and contradictions at times. At the beginning of the project, Tamkeen Centers
fell under the management of NAYR, but after February, during the time of the extension of the project,
the centers became financially administered through IDSC and technically supervised by the RI consultants
who were based in Cairo.
Given the importance of Tamkeen Centers, component in the project, and as one of the mechanisms for
the continuity of its sustainability under the Academy, the project focused on three main components:
1. Leasing of properties, which includes sufficient space for youth to meet, hold meetings, carry
out activities, and hold training workshops.
2. Provide equipment and furnishing for the premises of the six Tamkeen Centers. Each center is
equipped with furniture, laptops, Apple computer for editing, cameras both still and video,
libraries, projectors etc.
3. Build the capacity of the youth boards to run and manage the activities of the center by
providing each Tamkeen Center with a Capacity Building consultant who has worked to build
their capacities over a period of eight months through on-job training.
In addition to the board and capacity building consultant, each center was managed by an administrative
coordinator. The terms of reference of the coordinators was not always clear, in the sense that in many
cases they were asked to take on many technical tasks outside their scope of administrative work, and
provide youth in carrying out the roles assigned to them whether from the capacity building consultants,
partners, or other technical consultants in order to achieve the objectives of the centers. Four of the five
coordinators expressed the need for capacity building in the areas of communication especially when
communicating with the communities, identifying partnerships, and mobilization. Additionally
coordinators felt that they should have been provided with more specific capacity building other then the
on job training they received from some of the capacity building consultants and attending the board
training sessions. In conclusion, there was no specific capacity building plan for the administrative
coordinators in place during the YEP.
Board of Directors
In March 2012, the general assemblies of the six Tamkeen Centers, that consist of 6,410 trainees who
participated in phase 1, were invited for elections to select members of the Boards of Directors of these
centers through a direct and secret voting; a measure that was intended to support democratic practices
that the project seeks to spread its culture among youth.2
2
Except Tamkeen Center in Ismailia, whose members have been assigned, by the project management, from the
young beneficiaries, as it was difficult to hold elections among youth in this geographical region due to disagreements
31

The total number of members of the Boards of Directors of the six Tamkeen Centers is 53 members
represented by 62.3% males and 37.7% females.
It was originally planned to hold three-four trainings for members of Boards of Directors of the centers.
However, once the elections were completed the project realized that three-four training activities would
not be sufficient enough to empower these youth to take ownership and carry out activities in these
centers. Hence, a new approach was decided upon by the project management. The new approach was to
focus efforts through on-job training and provide continued support to the boards for the duration of the
project.
A technical consultant with expertise in capacity building was hired for each center on a part-time basis
(minimum three days a week) to develop packages of intervention for capacity building of members of the
Boards of Directors to acquire capacity and skills to positively manage the activities of Tamkeen Centers.
Each month the capacity building consultant would develop a plan with the board and project
management. The plan includes the formal training sessions to be carried out in addition to on-job training
activity, such as, carrying out an event or organizing a meeting, etc. The end result is that the board
members have received a varied and extensive training opportunity which far exceeds the three-four
planed training sessions.
This being said, the evaluation team concludes that the boards are still very weak, and rely heavily on the
consultants for planning and communication. The project’s limited time span does not avail enough
space/time for a complete application of the knowledge and skills acquired through those programs.
Despite the importance and effectiveness of training programs that have been offered to the Board of
Directors, the evaluation team clearly identified a lack of a clear training or capacity building plan of the
staff of the centers as indicated in the log frame. Due to the nature of the revised approach, the
consultants did not carry out a specific assessment or develop measurement tools to identify needs,
capabilities, and institutional needs for the members of Boards of Directors or for staff. At the time of the
evaluation, there were no reports or tools developed to measure or evaluate the capacity of board
members, which is something the final evaluation mission would strongly recommend.
among youth of the governorates of Port Said and Ismailia.
32

Most of the members of the Boards of Directors of Tamkeen Centers have a clear understanding of the
objectives of the project, its philosophy and mission of the centers towards youth empowerment. Also,
they are aware of their roles and responsibilities, with one exception that was found in Tamkeen Center in
Ismailia. The Ismailia board members informed the evaluation team, as did other boards in other
governorates, of the efforts of the project to have a unified vision and to ensure that everyone is on the
same page. To this effect, the project held a two-day workshop with all the project consultants, Boards of
Directors, administrative coordinator’s and staff from all the six Tamkeen Centers (including center
Ismailia)to clarify and discuss the different roles and responsibilities. However, this seemed to have no
affect on how the members of the Board of Directors of Ismailia Tamkeen Center felt.
The Ismailia board felt that their roles were undermined by the project and that they were not given the
freedom to expand. This being said, Ismailia however is the only center that was clearly lagging behind in
carrying out activities and implementing their sustainability activities. There is an obvious challenge of
working with youth that are volunteers, also this holds true for dynamics of relations between staff and
youth, which results in misunderstanding and conflicts.
The evaluation was able to meet with five of the six boards in the different regions. The majority of the
board members are active which is assessed from their minutes of meetings log books, attendance sheets,
from the capacity building workshops, and attendance sheets of events. All the boards visited have
completed - with the assistance of the capacity building consultants - operational manual, by laws,
sustainability plan for activities, and a mission statement.
For the majority of members, this was the first time for them to develop such documents and it has been a
learning process. In all locations, they have gone back to the operational manual at least twice to make
appropriate changes. The biggest challenge for some has been the concept of volunteering in this position
and the time being much more then they had anticipated. Some members have left the boards because of
personal disputes and were “unhappy” with the way the Tamkeen Center was managed. All resigned
members have been replaced by appointed members through a process that is agreed upon and
documented to the general assembly before appointments are made. This process has varied from center
to center.
The evaluation team here must raise one concern, when asked about the future of the centers and
their role under the Academy; the majority of the Board Members did not have a clear vision. Their
vision about the future of the Tamkeen Center is blurred in terms of the sustainability of these
centers after the project end. Also, they are unaware of the financial and institutional plan. This is
not necessarily because the project has not met with them to discuss it but more because the
picture for them of how the plan will work is not clear. This being said, the evaluation team can see
that there is a great potential for continuity which is addressed in the business plan and
sustainability plan drafted by the Academy component.
Whistle Blowing Committees (Watchdog Committees)
The logic behind creating committees to monitor and document corruption (Whistle Blowing Committee) is
for the project to create a positive model for monitoring and documenting the violations and corruption in
society. Another goal is for this model to help the youth better understand concepts and acquire skills and
practices related to accountability and transparency through a real and practical practice of many roles and
responsibilities that contribute to building youth leadership skills. This empowering of youth and newly
acquired leadership skills can play a prominent role in monitoring corruption and violation issues in society.
It was planned that each of the six Tamkeen Centers will have established a local whistle blowing
committee formed by the youth who were at least trained in Phase 1 of the training program with the skill
33

set to monitor their community. At the time of implementation, the interest of youth to join this training
was very high. The project realized that forming committees only in the Tamkeen Centers would mean a lot
of youth from the surrounding governorates would not benefit. Whistle blowing must be a localized effort
and so the project decided to expand the opportunity to form committees beyond the 6 Tamkeen Centers.
At the time of the evaluation, 13 Whistle Blowing Committees were created in five Tamkeen Centers
covering 11 governorates, and two more committees were underway in the Ismailia Tamkeen Center
(participants identified and training is underway). The YEP will have a total number of 15 committees
established with 67 youth members at the end of this project.
The Whistle Blowing Committees were established through a process where youth had to apply by
submitting a one page document of why he/she wished to join. The second step was for the consultant in
charge to meet with the youth and explain to them the job of the committee and what they could expect.
The process did not succeed due to time constraints, and the consultant ended up not meeting all the
applicants. Each committee was trained for a period of two phases of classroom training accompanied
with field work in between. The youth felt that the training was very interesting and that it represented a
potential for these committees to work extensively. However, the training was conducted at a late period
of the project’s timeline (till this moment, the Ismailia committees are still receiving their trainings). Most
of the interviewed members of the Whistle Blowing Committee were playing an active role in their
committees and expressed less interest in attending the committees regularly.
34

The fact the Whistle Blowing Committees were not established till towards the end of project, and the
continued unrest of the governorates have not given the committees the appropriate time and support to
become established. At the moment, the committees are supported by the Boards of Directors and the
administrative coordinators of the Tamkeen Centers. However, the committees feel that the Tamkeen
Centers cannot solve their issues directly because of the centralized nature of decisions, which had to be
taken by the project management in Cairo.
This being said, Alexandria and Assiut both have very active Whistle Blowing Committees who have taken
up their own initiatives in documenting violations, corruption issues, mobilizing the community, and
getting the press involvement.
Significance and Outcome:
• YEP has developed an outstanding ‘How To’ Manual which is easy to use and helps anyone who is
interested in identifying corruption at any level. It takes you through all the steps from
identification, to assessing whether you have a strong case, to reporting and to whom.
• The 13 established committees have used social media to disseminate and share information.
• Those who were part of the Whistle Blowing Committee saw personal added value in their
participation, such as, gaining community dialogue skills and techniques, report writing skills,
leadership, communication, documentary filming and photography, and skills related to interacting
with the community. This is in addition to them feeling that they are offering their society
something tangible and valuable related to dealing with violations and corruption.
Challenges
• It is not expected for these committees to continue after the conclusion of the project, as there is
no legal framework for them to work under. Also, no clear vision or sustainable plan was found in
place for these committees under the Academy.
• These committees are young and new, they should have been created at the beginning of the
project to ensure that they receive appropriate support.
• Lack of legal structure of the committee to obtain information.
Libraries Component
In the initial design of the program the concept of establishing libraries in Tamkeen Centers was not
established (except for the budget which specified purchasing of books for each Tamkeen Center). It was
during the development of the concept papers that the PMU decided to enrich Tamkeen Centers with a
new major activity which is the libraries component. The purpose and vision was to create a cultural
domain where youth at Tamkeen Centers would be able to gain and exchange knowledge through cultural
activities, and be a way for youth to continue to express their thoughts and display their talents to
colleagues.
Everything carried out in this component was based on adopting the golden rule that says From Youth to
Youth according to the youth feedback. The evaluation team found that when speaking with the different
focus groups that there was a lot of reference to the activities under this component; cultural evenings
such as ‘Editor and Book’ evenings, choir evenings, ‘Hot and Silent’ issues debates, art competitions, in
addition to political seminars. Even though these activities were organized and implemented through
youth themselves there was not always a clear distinction between library activities and Tamkeen
activities.
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Basically for the youth of the general assembly, there are no clear distinctions between components and
for them they are just Tamkeen activities irrespective of components. The team feels that this is not a real
issue as fact remains that the activities under the Library supported other efforts in building ownership
among the youth and provided other hands-on expertise to enhance their planning and implementation
skills. These activities provide a great contribution to attracting youth from the general assembly to
participate in activities and visit the Tamkeen Centers. At the time of the evaluation, 4 of the 6 Tamkeen
Centers had held opening ceremonies for the opening of their libraries which attracted leading guest
speakers from the country and gave an opportunity for youth to share their vision and activities of the
Tamkeen Centers.
Community Youth Initiatives
The YEP had the opportunity to provide youth with small funds to carry out local initiatives in their
communities. This was based on the idea of giving youth the ability to get into their communities and
taking an active role. By carrying out such initiatives, it gives youth an opportunity to demonstrate their
skills and potential as future leaders. The initiatives are means to demonstrate that a small idea can have
big impact and that carrying out activities is not always about huge sums of money.
Initiatives are inexpensive, based on volunteer efforts of individuals, and simple in a way that solves or
deals with issues faced in the local community. Secondly, the initiative attempted to contribute to the skill
development of youth through a means whereby they could bring out their own creativity in design and
implementation of activities.
During the life time of the project, 231 initiatives were submitted of which 119 were implemented
(initiatives covered different geographic areas: 9 initiatives in Tamkeen Greater Cairo, 12 in Tamkeen Delta,
20 in Tamkeen Luxor, 8 in Tamkeen Alexandria, 19 in Tamkeen Ismailia, and 51 in Tamkeen al-Minya). Each
initiative was submitted to a committee comprised of 3 members tasked with reviewing the initiatives and
ensuring that requirements and criteria were met.
• The participation of the Boards of Directors of the Tamkeen Centers in the selection process of the
community initiatives was a good opportunity for gaining practical experience as Boards of
Directors and developing their leadership and decision-making skills. Noting that the Tamkeen
administrative coordinator and the technical advisor for the Board of Directors participated in the
selection process as well. The activities of the community initiatives are a positive model that can
be duplicated with youth empowerment projects. YEP has developed clear tools that can be shared
36

in the future including: training sessions on how to write an initiative, written guidelines, a contract
agreement, and a reporting format.
• Even though the community initiatives were designed and implemented by youth, they targeted
other sections of society, such as children, farmers, women, etc.
• Overall, these initiatives contributed in instilling motivation in the youth to take initiatives towards
positive social change and its compatibility with the post-revolution spirit in society. This
significantly contributed to supporting youth empowerment in the project.
• Some of the community initiatives were effective, which is a positive indicator that some of the
youth are gaining leadership, creative thinking, and planning skills and that the project contributed
to creating an outlet for them to create these initiatives. For instance, the youth managed to
implement 119 initiatives that were accepted by the project, which is far above the originally
targeted number of initiatives (25 initiatives). In addition, many of the interviewed youth
expressed the positive impact of the initiatives on their self esteem and confidence.
Challenges:
• The average cost of one initiative was 2,000 LE, with the execution time ranging between two
weeks and two months. The youth saw that the budget was insufficient to tackle the severe social
problems and issues they wanted to address. The youth’s belief that the budget was insufficient
subsequently resulted in the low effectiveness and lack of efficiency of these initiatives. The
challenge for the project was to really get youth to understand the concept behind the initiatives
was not the budget, but their ability to volunteer and mobilize resources within their communities.
• Due to multiple reasons, such as the education system and lack of creative opportunities. One of
the biggest challenges was the absence of innovative thinking among young people. For example,
finding new ways to fund their initiatives and increasing community contributions.
4. Media Activities
The YEP main goal is to demonstrate that youth are able to identify and understand the needs of their
communities, communicate, conduct research, hold dialogue, and come up with solutions to a wider
audience of the adult population and the community as a whole. Hence, adults might begin to see that
"youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but also the partners of today,”
As scholars have stated, "Time is not evaluated by what has been harvested, but what has been planted."
How can this be achieved? The media is a great tool. It has played and continues to play a large role in
mobilizing youth in Egypt, but also has been proven to affect not only today's youth around the world, but
the majority of the world's population.
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With television, radio, advertising, movies, the internet, newspapers, magazines, and social
networking sites, such as, Facebook and Twitter, the media affects youth and adults of all ages in in
numerous ways. By choosing media as ‘the tool,’ the project is able to draw youth to participate and adults
to stop and listen. This would be achieved through the development of a website, promotional material,
and the production of a series of short videos that will cover a thematic area (education, health,
presidential electoral system, environment, water and the Nile basin states, etc.) that will be shared with
the public in a number of different ways and could ultimately be used by television programs in debate.
The evaluation team concludes that the promotional activities and promotional materials for the project
were limiting. It might have been a good idea to carry out introductory workshops for the youth to
familiarize them with the project, orientation conferences for the targeted communities, as well as ,related
entities and organizations, and use more promotional material than just the one brochure and banner to
promote the activities.
The second main activity of the media component was the establishing of a website. The project has
actually developed two websites during its implementation period. The reason for that was the failure of
the first website to attract youth to the project. The second website (www.belady.me) completed in June
2013, was a great improvement and the youth found it more attractive. However, the site is not as
frequently visited as one would hope.
Youth have continued to be attracted to other social media sites, such as, Facebook, because it gave them
more freedom and control of what they can do. As an indirect result of this project, over 15 Facebook
pages have become active and are used on a regular basis to share updates, information, and hold
discussions. These pages have been developed by youth to represent each Tamkeen Center, as well as, the
team who took video production and the Whistle Blowing Committees. Youth generally prefer to use social
media websites because they are easier to use and customize, where user feels he/she has control over
the environment. Conversely, the official website cannot be customized by external users.
In the first year of the project a change was made in regards to airing a televised program where youth
would participate. This change came about as a direct result from the lack of interest demonstrated by
numerous Television channels in airing live sessions of youth debates, and also the prices to air such a
show on private channels far exceeded what had been initially budgeted.
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This change however happened after a large number of youth who had already entered phase 1 of the
program were told that the training could ultimately lead to a spot in the program where episodes and
debates of youth would be aired to showcase their leadership and political skills acquired through the
project. The change in this component of the program has had a very strong impact on many of the youth,
and there was not a group that the evaluation team met who did not complain of this change.
This obviously resulted in a loss of confidence in the project management and created a negative view
towards the project and the local partners. According to the partners and board members of the Tamkeen
Centers, a lot of effort and time was put into informing the general assembly of the need to make these
changes without much success. Evidently, participation in the television program was a significant
motivator to many to be part of the project.
As a substitute for the initially intended television program, six documentary films based on best six papers
covering the round tables issues (education, political participation, health, environment, security, and
unemployment) are currently under production by a professional company. Also, a plan was developed by
the project management for the promotion of these films after their completion. These films will be aired
in each of the six Tamkeen Centers to different audiences for discussion and feedback. In addition, the
production company will try to arrange viewing these movies with several TV channels.
In the revised Log frame, the YEP proposed to train youth on the production of short films in addition to
the development of six larger films to be shared with the public covering sixissues that had been identified
by youth from the end of phase three and their working papers. The project contributed to the training of
only 54 youth in documentary filmmaking and photography in 6 the targeted areas (compared to a
targeted number of 360 participants as per the log-frame).
The training was conducted in partnership with Media House Video Production Company, with the goal to
equip a number of youth with the skills and tools necessary to document activities as well as social issues
and problems. The training period was 1 month, 12 in-class sessions and the remainder was hands-on
experience. The training focused on the four aspects of filmmaking: script writing, filming, editing, and
directing. The 54 graduates produced 31 documentary films, which were showcased in a documentary film
festival and some received awards.
39

• Each Tamkeen Center is equipped with all the necessary equipment for youth to produce short
films or any documentation requiring filming activities. Each center is not only equipped with the
material and equipment but with youth from each of the governorates who have the knowhow to
continue reporting and using media for communicating. Today the youth who took the video
training continue to work with the boards to document events and develop local promotional
materials.
• In response to the youth’s demands, the project organized a photography training program for 60
participants over four days. An exhibition followed to showcase their work.
• The YEP project leaves behind a training manual for photography and production of short films.
5. The Political Academy
The “Academy” is designed as a key component of the Youth Empowerment Program that contributes to
the organizational and financial sustainability of the program, as well as, its sustainability of impact. The
main vision of establishing Belady Academy as a specialized autonomous institution is to contribute to
creating a new generation of political leaders that are equipped with knowledge and skills as leaders,
influencing organizations and communities and actively participating in reshaping the future of their
country.
The Academy will achieve its objectives through providing the following services:
1) Training services that ranges from simplified training for local leaders who have primary education
to certified political education diplomas. These services include availing the opportunities for
advanced education. This would be the first time in Egypt and Arab World to provide such training
to the 50% parliament members with primary level of education from workers and farmers who
have been partners in decision making within elected bodies in Egypt, contributing to local and
national policies.
2) Free space for youth who benefited from the Youth Empowerment Training and beyond to
participate and do initiatives in their communities including whistle blowing committees, social
entrepreneurship, and more.
3) Project management of projects that contribute that combine 1 and 2 above, empowering youth
as political leaders and providing them with free space to participate and practice that leadership.
Results
Belady Academy was established as a limited liability company (LLC) with the General Authority for
Investment (GAFI). This had many advantages and disadvantages, among the advantages were the
efficiency of establishing the academy as an LLC with a capital of EGP 20,000 and the opportunity to
partner with national and international universities and higher education institutions to make available
certified training and education for educated community leaders without having to go through the
bureaucratic processes of the Ministry of Higher Education.
Although preparations for the Academy and its business plan and curricula started early enough in the
project, Belady Academy was officially established in May 2013, which is considered a vast delay in the
schedule. Nevertheless, this has not hindered Belady Academy from piloting its basic training program as
planned in the YEP logical framework. This delay has not given a real opportunity to widely implement
40

interventions and training activities for young people who need access to services and education except
the 28 people who received the pilot training in Ismailia and Qena.
Reasons of delay in establishing Belady Academy as an LLC included an eight months delay in the YEP
implementation start-up, instability in the external environment, research around alternatives of
establishing the Academy as a high-education institution, and RI’s delay in replying about their status about
being a partner in the Academy’s shareholders’ structure. Such delays reduced the opportunity of YEP
Program management to adequately identify the effectiveness of the Academy’s services and training
programs.
Although the business plan has clear mechanisms and specific innovative and attractive activities for
advertising and promotion of the Academy and its programs, the delay in establishing the Academy made
it difficult for the project management to implement those activities in the targeted geographical areas.
According to YEP logical framework, the Academy’s operational guidelines and business plan, the
Academy’s main center is in Cairo, in addition to five branches in YEP target regions, in which YEP has
established Tamkeen Centers: Luxor, Minya, Ismailia, Dakahlia, and Alexandria. The Evaluation Team feels
that there could be a risk of discontinuity in the Academy’s branches. The risk of discontinuity might result
from the costs of branches which are expected to be a financial burden on the Academy, especially that
the project, at the beginning, had suffered from the limited capacity to mobilize youth to participate in
training programs, although it was free, which means that it is valid to have doubts about the continuity of
the five regional centers at the beginning of the Academy.
The project has clearly identified and developed a range of sustainability factors and mechanisms during
the implementation of the YEP program, which ensures the continuity of this academy, including:
Organizational Sustainability
Registering the Academy at the General Authority for Investment as a private consultant of limited
liability, thus ensuring its sustainability by becoming an institutional and legal entity.
An organizational structure for the management of the Academy, consisting of a Board of Directors
– made up of the Academy’s partners – responsible for technical activities, training, and curriculum
development. The management shall also consist of a Committee for the Executive management
of the Academy (not from the Academy Partners) will be responsible for managing the governance
of the Academy and its work, which shall be managed through a number of personnel responsible
for managing the affairs of the Academy, technically and administratively.
A strategic plan for the Academy that includes a clear vision and specific strategies for the
Academy’s work, an operational plan for the Academy’s work during its first year, and a Business
Plan – a continuity plan that has been designed with the aid of a specialized consultant.
Regulations and administrative foundations on which the Academy is managed – technically,
financially, and administratively – as the operational manual and the regulatory guidelines for
Belady Academy have been designed and produced.
Expertise of the Academy cofounders (IDSC and AID-ME), as they are originally consulting firms, is
incredibly high. And their founders and owners have good experiences in the management of
private consulting firms.
Curricula and training manuals that have been designed and produced during the period of the
project –the preparatory curriculum for the program or curriculum of specialized programs – are
considered one of the most important mechanisms that can contribute greatly to the institutional
41

sustainability of the Academy. At the time of evaluation only 1 curriculum was complete but there
were another 10 curriculums being put together through a team of academies and politicians.
The website of the project has been re-designed to accommodate the needs of the academy and
will be handed over to the Academy so that it can use as its official website.
Financial Sustainability
Allocation of a financial sustainability grant from RI to the Academy with the amount of $ 24,000 in
addition to the financial capital of EGP 20,000 to cover Belady Academy’s promotional activities for
Belady during its first two years.
The expenses of the training programs implemented by the Academy is paid by the applicants who
apply for training and education services under the preliminary program, other specialized
programs in development, or programs tailored to trainees needs.
The Tamkeen Centers’ boards have planned and piloted sustainability of their centers through
renting the centers’ facility and equipment, and doing extra youth activities for fees. Limited
financial amounts were raised during the life of YEP, which are forecasted to partially contribute to
these branches’ costs in the future as part of Belady Academy.
Sustainability of Impact
The Academy’s business plan provides an assumption for sustainability of impact, which is the alumni
network of Belady’s trainees and graduates and the “Political Leadership Club” membership, however, due
to the delay in establishing the Academy officially and only implementing one pilot training in two
governorates, Ismailia and Qena, the evaluation team was not able to measure the Academy’s relevance,
efficiency, effectiveness, nor sustainability of its impact on trained political leaders.
The evaluation team believes that if the design of the project had been to establish the Academy at the
beginning of the project as an umbrella for all program activities, it could have provided a better
opportunity to measure the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability, which could not be
determined at this time.
DISCUSSION
STRENGHTHS AND IMPACT
1. The project succeeded in empowering participants and to equip them to play political and
leadership roles in society through democratic practices, such as, university student union
elections and joining political parties. The number of youth who can utilize the skills they have
learned in the training program can be increased if more time was available and more political
practices were offered for them to engage in.
2. The project developed a range of skills to 6,145 youth to be able to assess social needs, prepare
policy analysis and research papers dealing with a number of social issues, plan and implement
community initiatives, as well as, the skill set to monitor corruption and human rights violations.
3. The project created six Tamkeen Centers for the youth in six geographic regions and provided each
center with an administratively independent structure, despite the limited quality and
comprehensiveness of skills. These centers were equipped with materials and tools that can be
utilized in carrying out a number of political and community activities to empower the youth. This
was one of the mechanisms used by the project to ensure its continuity, granted the financial,
technical, and organizational support is available.
42

YEP Final Evaluation 20 _Oct. 2013

YEP Final Evaluation 20 _Oct. 2013

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