USAID Egyptian Pioneers: Inclusive Workforce & Economic Growth

USAID Egyptian Pioneers: Inclusive Workforce & Economic Growth is sponsored by U.S. Mission to Egypt (USAID). This opportunity supports mission-aligned projects and measurable outcomes.

# (NOFO) NO. 72026322RFA00005 NOFO Title: USAID Egyptian Pioneers NOFO Issuance Date: June 20, 2022 NOFO Amendment 01 Date: July 14, 2022 Closing Date and Time: August 8, 2022, 5:00 p. m. (Eastern Daylight Time) The purpose of this amendment is to: 1.

Provide answers to all questions received in response to subject Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO). 2. Provide an updated conformed version of NOFO # 72026322RFA00005 with the revisions/additions highlighted in yellow.

Issue Date: June 20, 2022 Deadline for Question: July 6, 2022, 5:00 p. m. (Eastern Daylight Time) Closing Date and Time: August 8, 2022, 5:00 p.

m. (Eastern Daylight Time) Subject: Notice of Funding Opportunity Number 72026322RFA00005 Program Title: USAID Egyptian Pioneers The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is seeking applications for a cooperative agreement from qualified entities to implement the USAID Egyptian Pioneers Activity. Eligibility for this award is not restricted.

USAID intends to make an award to the applicant(s) who best meets the objectives of this funding opportunity based on the merit review criteria described in this NOFO subject to a risk assessment. Eligible parties interested in submitting an application are encouraged to read this NOFO thoroughly to understand the type of program sought, application submission requirements and selection process.

To be eligible for award, the applicant must provide all information as required in this NOFO and meet eligibility standards in Section C of this NOFO. This funding opportunity is posted on www. grants.

gov , and may be amended. It is the responsibility of the applicant to regularly check the website to ensure they have the latest information pertaining to this notice of funding opportunity and to ensure that the NOFO has been received from the internet in its entirety. USAID bears no responsibility for data errors resulting from transmission or conversion process.

If you have difficulty registering on www. grants. gov or accessing the NOFO, please contact the Grants.

gov Helpdesk at 1-800-518-4726 or via email at support@grants. gov for technical USAID may not award to an applicant unless the applicant has complied with all applicable unique entity identifier (UEI) and System for Award Management (SAM) requirements detailed in Section D. 6.

f. The registration process may take many weeks to complete. Therefore, applicants are encouraged to begin registration early in the process.

2 Please send any questions to the point(s) of contact identified in Section D. The deadline for questions is shown above. Responses to questions received prior to the deadline will be furnished to all potential applicants through an amendment to this notice posted to www.

grants. gov. Issuance of this notice of funding opportunity does not constitute an award commitment on the part of the Government nor does it commit the Government to pay for any costs incurred in preparation or submission of comments/suggestions or an application. Applications are submitted at the risk of the applicant.

All preparation and submission costs are at the applicant’s expense. Thank you for your interest in USAID/Egypt programs.

Section A – Program Description 4 Section B – Federal Award Information 16 Section C – Eligibility Information 18 Section D – Application and Submission Information 19 Section E – Application Review Information 41 Section F – Federal Award Administration Information 44 Section G – Federal Awarding Agency Contacts 54 Section H – Other Information 55 ANNEX 1: BUDGET INFORMATION 56 ANNEX 2: PAST PERFORMANCE INFORMATION (PPI) 58 ANNEX 3: STANDARD PROVISIONS 59 ANNEX 4: REFERENCE MATERIAL 64 ANNEX 5: OPTIONAL BRANDING STRATEGY AND MARKING PLAN (BSMP) TEMPLATE 68 4 SECTION A: PROGRAM DESCRIPTION This funding opportunity is authorized under the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) of 1961, as amended.

The resulting award will be subject to 2 CFR 200 – Uniform Administrative Requirements, Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards, and USAID’s supplement, 2 CFR 700, as well as the additional requirements found in Section F. Set forth below is a description of the proposed program, covering: 4.

Operation Priorities and Policy Guidance; and The purpose of the USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity is to build a more inclusive and capable workforce that elevates sectors critical to Egypt's economic growth.

The activity will achieve this purpose through the following three results: (1) GOE ministries and other government institutions at the forefront of Egypt’s strategic development have greater leadership and technical capacity to develop and implement policies and practices to advance national priorities; (2) Emerging leaders in non-GOE entities modernize their knowledge, skills, and practice in priority sectors to tackle Egypt’s evolving public and private sector challenges and advance Egypt’s regional and international competitiveness; and (3) Young Egyptians of high financial need gain market-relevant knowledge and skills in fields that situate them to effectively fuel Egypt’s long-term inclusive economic growth.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ implementation, particularly in terms of targeted sectors and degree programs, will be guided by USG and Government of Egypt (GOE) priorities, with a special emphasis on sectors that directly contribute to Egypt’s public health and climate change goals. The Egypt Human Development Report 2021 identifies several challenges related to investing in human capital in Egypt.

With a growing population, the government’s capacity to deliver public services equitably and inclusively is important for Egypt to preserve stability and accelerate its development. However, Egypt scores relatively low in terms of Government Capacity, Civil Society Capacity, and has mixed results in Citizen Capacity.

5 In respect to higher education in Egypt, despite increased access to higher education among youth, skillsets of graduates have not kept pace with labor market needs. Young Egyptian degree-holders face substantial challenges and delays entering the labor market, largely due to gaps between the skills they possess and those in demand by the labor market.

In 2019, the ILO estimated that the youth unemployment rate in Egypt was 27 percent. In March 2022, President Sisi spoke critically of the lack of relevant job opportunities for the thousands of university graduates. He stressed the need to improve the quality of education in the country to better prepare young graduates.

Gender equity in the labor market has been a persistent problem in Egypt. In 2020, Egypt ranked 134th out of 153 countries in the Global Gender Gap Index and 140th out of 153 countries in women’s economic participation and opportunity. Only 18% of working-age women are participating in the economy, compared to 65% of men.

Egypt has a young population, an expanding labor force, and an opportunity to bring more women into the labor force, all of which could be important drivers of economic growth over the long term. Climate change presents increasing threats to Egypt’s sustained growth, as the country is expected to experience significant direct negative impacts in the coming decades.

The most significant effects will be rising temperatures and sea level rise in the Nile Delta and coastal areas, but other climatic impacts will be felt in the areas of rainfall, Nile River basin water flows, and dust storms. Egypt Human Development Report 2021 highlights the need to increase climate change education at all levels from decision makers down to the primary schools.

Decision makers in Egypt are introducing a number of policies to target these challenges. The policies seek to bridge the growing gap between a wide range of education outcomes and the demand in the labor market, as well as to update the institutional structures of the health, education and housing sectors in order to reduce overlap or conflict in their mandates.

These efforts draw on commitments in Egypt’s 2014 Constitution and on the three themes of the national sustainable development strategy, Egypt’s Vision 2030. Investment in human capital relates to two themes under the strategy’s social dimension – health, and education and training – as well as one theme under the economic dimension – knowledge, innovation and scientific research.

Egypt launched the Higher Education and Scientific Research Strategy 2030 and the National Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy 2030 to elaborate the contributions that higher education can realize against the broader development strategy.

These higher education strategies have increased the number of public and non-public universities, with a diversification of educational programs and paths, including a presence in most geographical areas. Nonetheless, the highest unemployment rates are still found among graduates of higher education. USAID/Egypt’s Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (2020-2025; https://www.

usaid. gov/egypt/cdcs ) defines USAID’s intended support to strengthen and advance priority Government of Egypt (GOE) reforms.

6 USAID is providing technical capacity building to improve the effectiveness and accountability of its public sector (Development Objective 1, or DO1); promoting social equity by improving access to and quality of essential basic services to ensure that underrepresented and marginalized individuals and communities are able to be healthy, educated, empowered, and contribute to Egypt’s economy (Development Objective 2, or DO2); and, supporting economic development and linking individuals, particularly women and youth, to improved economic opportunities (Development Objective 3, or DO3).

The nine-year USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will employ numerous strategies to holistically strengthen Egypt’s human capacity in priority sectors. The activity will provide strategic post-graduate education and training opportunities for mid-career professionals in targeted GOE ministries and other governmental institutions.

This will be complemented with high quality training for emerging leaders in non-GOE entities, empowering women and strengthening linkages between the public and private sectors. USAID Egyptian Pioneers will also attract a new generation of Egyptian youth into undergraduate degree programs uniquely tailored to better meet current and future public and private sector needs through merit- and needs-based undergraduate scholarships.

Undergraduate scholarships will include comprehensive student support and workforce readiness services to improve employment outcomes. Collectively, these efforts will create a cadre of leaders in both governmental and private sectors to support Egypt’s reform efforts and USAID’s developmental goals. b.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ Relationship to Other USAID Activities USAID/Egypt has provided significant support to higher education and capacity building efforts in Egypt in the areas of scholarships, cultural exchanges, degree programs, institutional capacity building and university partnerships.

USAID/Egypt’s scholarship activities over the last 14 years have aimed to address education imbalances and build future leaders who can contribute to the achievement of Egypt’s developmental goals. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will build on lessons learned and best practices of previous and current scholarships and institutional capacity building activities.

The activity will harmonize its effort with current USAID activities to benefit from the knowledge gained and lessons learned. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will collaborate closely with a planned complementary activity, USAID Partnerships for Educational Progress. The USAID Partnerships for Educational Progress activity will strengthen the higher education system to more effectively address Egypt’s development priorities.

These two activities were jointly designed to concentrate higher education resources in common sectors and achieve mutual benefits through shared GOE partners and other synergies.

For example, USAID Egyptian Pioneers scholarships may attract more students into degree programs being strengthened through Partnerships for Educational Progress or Pioneers may provide post-graduate training and scholarships to mid-career professionals from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research to complement Partnerships’ broader support to the sector.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers is also intended to complement other existing or future Mission activities across technical sectors with human capacity development investments, particularly 7 through the selection of sectors, degree programs, and other educational opportunities in line with evolving USG and GOE priorities and needs.

The activity will actively explore and act on opportunities to collaborate with other USAID activities and complement their efforts with training and scholarships as appropriate and in consultation with USAID.

For example, it is expected that USAID Egyptian Pioneers will reinforce efforts under USAID’s planned Red Sea Initiative, which has a goal to conserve natural resources in the Red Sea through the institutionalization and expansion of sustainable tourism.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers assistance may include targeted human capacity building to associated GOE ministries and/or scholarships in prioritized fields related to climate change, such as energy, water, and/or marine biology. Two current USAID/Egypt activities that provide undergraduate scholarships, Local Scholarship Program (LSP, 2015-2024) and USAID Scholars (2020-2030), will operate in tandem with the USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity.

Collaboration between the USAID Egyptian Pioneers and USAID Scholars activities will be particularly crucial, as both activities will be recruiting scholarship cohorts in 2023 and 2024 and will need to ensure complementary rather than duplication or competition.

Current undergraduate scholarship activities also maintain close communication and coordination to share lessons learned and synchronize approaches when unexpected challenges arise, including with shared public university partners.

USAID/Egypt’s current activity that provides mid-career scholarships, Graduate Scholarships for Professionals (GSP, 2017-2023) will have completed selection of all scholarship recipients prior to award of USAID Egyptian Pioneers, but will nonetheless be able to share lessons learned and best practices for identifying prospective scholarship students, connecting them to meaningful education and training opportunities, and ensuring their continued service and employment in their sectors.

The Center of Excellence for Water (COE/W, 2019-2024) and Center of Excellence for Energy (COE/E, 2021-2026) activities are strengthening the capacity of Egyptian public universities to respond to changing public and private sector needs for applied research and skilled graduates in their respective sectors.

Strengthened degree programs in COE/W and COE/E partner universities could be good destinations for USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ undergraduate and master’s degree students, while the faculties of these universities may be considered for other mid-career opportunities.

The University Career Development Centers (UCCD, 2017-2026) activity is providing public university students with career mentoring, employability skills, English language training, private sector networking, internships and, ultimately, job linkages. USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ undergraduate scholars who will join public universities will benefit from the services provided by the UCCDs.

In addition, the USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity can build on the existing partnerships between the current UCCDs and the private sector. The Local Scholarship for Public Universities (LSP-Public, 2015-2024) activity has established disability centers at five public universities and will expand to 15 additional public universities.

These centers advocate for the rights of people with disabilities (PwDs) and promote policies and processes that remove barriers to active participation in all university activities and academic 8 success. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will link their undergraduate scholars with disabilities to these centers so they can benefit from the comprehensive services.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers will also participate in education exchange group meetings organized by the Public Affairs section of the State Department. These meetings provide opportunities for a wide range of USG education partners to share progress and best practices and improve collaboration and coordination.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will also ensure that its graduates are introduced to alumni networks for USG scholarship recipients. c. USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ Relationship to USAID Country Development Strategy (CDCS) The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity directly supports USAID/Egypt’s Country Development and Cooperation Strategy (2020-2025).

Its results will advance USAID/Egypt’s Development Objective (DO) 1: Effectiveness of reforms of key GOE entities strengthened, and Intermediate Result (IR1): “Effectiveness of Key entities increased”.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will improve the efficiency and technical capacity of GOE ministries and governmental institutions by providing necessary knowledge, training and higher education opportunities to GOE professionals to better equip them to deliver on their individual developmental goals. It will support these entities to achieve the planned reforms in the Egypt Vision 2030 strategy.

This activity will empower women to take leadership and decision-making positions, establish private sector partnerships, and build a cadre of leaders across all sectors.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will support CDCS DO 2: Enabling Conditions Promoting Social Equity Improved” and its IR1: “Quality of Education Improved Through Providing High Quality Tertiary Education Opportunities for Egyptian Youth”, to fill in the gap between the skills required by the Egyptian labor market and the outcome of the Egyptian higher education system.

The activity will provide undergraduate scholarships to talented Egyptian students from underserved communities to enable them to become future leaders who participate in achieving Egypt’s developmental goals. Conferences and network events will be held to improve public-private sector partnerships to support education reform efforts.

Digital platforms will be created to support young Egyptian entrepreneurs, especially female entrepreneurs. The activity will support CDCS DO3 “Inclusive Economic Development Increased” and its IR3. 3: “Economic Empowerment Opportunities for Women and Youth expanded”.

The activity will attract Egyptian youth into degree programs uniquely tailored to better meet current and future public and private sector needs through merit- and needs-based undergraduate scholarships. Recipients will receive comprehensive services to promote educational success and obtainment of meaningful employment in their selected fields. 4.

OPERATING PRIORITIES AND POLICY GUIDANCE The following operational guidance will be crucial for the successful and sustainable implementation of this activity and must be applied to all aspects of implementation. 9 a. Private Sector Engagement Egypt has a vibrant private sector, yet improvements to the business enabling environment are needed to achieve inclusive economic growth over the long term.

Accordingly, the USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will cooperate and collaborate with both the GOE and the private sector to ensure that Egypt's economy serves all Egyptians and also benefits from their contributions. In accordance with USAID’s Private Sector Engagement (PSE) strategy, the award recipient will seek opportunities to incorporate PSE from the beginning and consistently throughout the activity.

Strategies should specifically consider and address prevalent gender imbalances in Egyptian work environments, opportunities for digitization and digital skills building, and Egypt’s needs for innovations that advance development priorities. Linkages between the public and private sectors will be strengthened through networking events and digital platforms that support knowledge transfer and experiences exchanges. b.

Gender, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion As described above, gender equity has been a persistent problem in the Egyptian labor market. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will build the capacity of female public- and private-sector professionals with a special emphasis on equipping them with the skills and technical training that will position them to assume decision-making and leadership positions.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will employ nationwide outreach and communications campaigns to ensure that scholarships are awarded to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, with particular emphasis on geographic representation and inclusion of women and people with disabilities in currently under-represented fields.

In line with USAID’s global commitment to disability inclusion, the activity will incorporate principles of Universal Design for Learning to identify and reduce barriers to access and success. Scholarship recipients with disabilities will be linked to USAID-supported Disability Service Centers, soon to be available at 20 public universities throughout the country. c.

Target Population and Geographic Location The USAID Egyptian Pioneers Activity will work nationwide. For the undergraduate scholarships, the activity will target Egyptian students from underserved and marginalized communities to obtain degrees in Egypt. Each selected student will be eligible to study at either a non-public university or in a reputable fee-based/credit-hours program at a public university.

For the postgraduate scholarships and training opportunities for GOE key entities, partner ministries will be selected based on sector priorities mutually agreed with USAID/Egypt on an annual basis. For the training opportunities for non-GOE entities, the selection of organizations, companies, and individuals to receive scholarships and training will be driven by sector assessments and human capacity development plans.

Selected individuals will pursue post-graduate opportunities either in the U.S. or Egypt. The Egypt Human Development Report 2021 highlights the need to increase climate change education at all levels from decision makers down to the primary schools.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will prioritize climate change and make investments in different aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation, targeting cross-sectoral challenges such as water, energy and agriculture. At a minimum, USAID Egyptian Pioneers will explore and act on opportunities to collaborate with activities under USAID/Egypt’s planned Red Sea Initiative.

Within and outside of that initiative, USAID Egyptian Pioneers will explicitly contribute to climate mitigation, climate adaptation, and other climate priorities for Egypt by targeting scholarship and other human capacity development investments to fields that explicitly link to Egypt’s climate goals.

Mid-career scholarships and professional training will provide immediate expertise to Egypt’s public and private sector to address immediate needs and achieve short-term goals. Undergraduate scholarships will attract larger numbers of promising Egyptian youth into fields critical to Egypt’s long-term climate goals.

Topics of capacity building related to climate change might include, but are not limited to, emissions reduction, resilience, and disaster risk management. e. Collaborating, Learning and Adapting Collaborating, Learning, and Adapting (CLA) principles support responsiveness to changing context, evidence, and opportunities.

The recipient will continuously review progress and challenges, integrate and document lessons learned, and adapt interventions according to CLA concepts, as specified in ADS 201. 3. 4.

10 and ADS 201. 3. 7.

CLA objectives include: ● Generate Knowledge. The recipient should generate new knowledge and evidence through a learning agenda developed in collaboration with USAID and other stakeholders. In filling knowledge and evidence gaps, the recipient should provide reporting, data, and analysis, and gather partners for inclusive reviews of the activity purpose and results.

In addition to education sector learning priorities, the learning agenda could address some of the learning priorities of USAID’s Country Development and Cooperation Strategy, which include: understanding how women’s empowerment and inclusion affect outcomes; understanding the private sector’s role in improving results; and understanding how technology affects development programming. ● Share Knowledge.

The recipient is expected to increase knowledge sharing with stakeholders, local organizations, the GOE, experts, private sector, donors, regional and international organizations, and others to encourage learning. ● Incorporate Agile and Adaptive Processes. The recipient is expected to develop adaptive management and implementation processes.

In coordination with USAID, the recipient’s activity work plan, quarterly reports, and periodic progress review meetings should provide a forum for adaptation based on lessons learned and the evolving country context. The annual work plans must include an adaptive management plan to allow course corrections to respond to unintended effects, changing and emerging realities, and priorities.

If circumstances arise that require programmatic changes, the recipient may and should alter activity designs with the AOR’s approval, as long as the reprogramming (i) falls within the scope of work of the agreement, and (ii) does not hold the US Government to incur additional costs, in each case unless otherwise directed by the Agreement Officer.

11 The COVID-19 global pandemic has demonstrated how quickly development progress can be undermined and inequalities exacerbated when infectious diseases are not managed sufficiently.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers will explicitly contribute to mitigating COVID-19 and future pandemic and/or public health impacts in Egypt by targeting scholarship and other human capacity development investments to fields that explicitly link to Egypt’s response readiness and resilience.

Mid-career scholarships and professional training will provide immediate expertise to Egypt’s public and private sector to address immediate needs and achieve short-term goals. Undergraduate scholarships will attract larger numbers of promising Egyptian youth into fields critical to Egypt’s long-term public health goals, such as nursing and public health, and as feasible within the activity parameters. g.

Target Sectors and Degree Programs USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ implementation, particularly in terms of targeted sectors and degree programs, will be guided by USG and GOE priorities, with a special emphasis on sectors that directly contribute to Egypt’s public health and climate change goals. Priority sectors will be considered across multiple USAID activities so that different types of complementary investments can amplify outcomes.

On an annual basis, USAID will lead a participatory process with USAID Egyptian Pioneers, other USAID activities, and the GOE to review and update priority sectors and sub-sectors. This process will inform parameters for the following cycle of scholarships under USAID Egyptian Pioneers.

USAID anticipates that the first cycle of undergraduate scholarships will primarily support climate- and health-related degrees, with specific programs to be identified in partnership with USAID.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity design was informed by comprehensive consultations with a wide range of higher education stakeholders, including the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MOHESR), public and non-public universities, non-governmental organizations, private sector representatives, and USAID/Egypt’s full complement of technical teams.

It also draws on more than 14 years of scholarship programming experience through multiple implementation modalities and contributing to diverse outcomes. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will be implemented over nine years. It will consist of domestic and international scholarships, training activities, and support services to build individual knowledge and skills to improve organizational capacity and performance of GOE entities.

Training and scholarship opportunities will be provided to mid-career Egyptians to achieve activity goals in defined priority sectors. USAID Egyptian Pioneers will also provide undergraduate scholarships to young Egyptians from underserved and marginalized populations to study to obtain degrees and meaningful employment in the same priority sectors.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ recipient is expected to adopt a systematic, strategic approach to identifying and analyzing needs in key sectors and organizations, then addressing them through 12 appropriate and effective training and scholarships.

The recipient must work closely with USAID, GOE ministries and institutions, private sector entities, public and non-public universities to ensure the activity addresses needs and capitalizes on opportunities that directly relate to USAID efforts to support the achievement of the GOE’s development objectives. Key focal areas include, but are not limited to, climate change, women’s empowerment, health and digitization.

Result 1: GOE ministries and other government institutions at the forefront of Egypt’s strategic development have greater leadership and technical capacity to develop and implement policies and practices to advance national priorities. USAID Egyptian Pioneers will partner with selected GOE ministries to comprehensively strengthen their human institutional capacity to deliver on priorities.

It will improve the performance and leadership skills of GOE professionals, particularly women, so that key GOE institutions and individuals can better develop and implement policies to achieve Vision 2030 and evolving development priorities, including through improvements in public services. Partner ministries will be selected based on sector priorities mutually agreed with USAID/Egypt on an annual basis.

For example, support for climate change may motivate partnerships with the Ministries of Water Resources and Irrigation, Environment, and/or Utilities and Urban Communities. The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity and its ministry partners will develop comprehensive human capacity development plans, informed by priority sector needs assessments, that guide the numbers, categories, and eligible individuals for scholarships.

Plans can include scholarships for domestic or US-based master’s degree programs, US-based post-doctoral research and studies, and domestic or US-based short-term training and certification programs. Three months of English language training may be provided on an as-needed basis to participants who receive masters and post-doctoral scholarships, before they start their studies.

Where appropriate, USAID Egyptian Pioneers will also consider the provision of short-term training to be delivered to teams, divisions, or other groups of GOE officials to address broad capacity gaps.

Training topics may include, but are not limited to, leadership, management and administration, innovation, information technology transfer, promoting safe work environments for women, and building successful partnerships with stakeholders.

Selection of individuals to benefit from scholarships will be driven by the needs of the ministries, but should also advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, with particular emphasis on supporting women to assume higher levels of leadership.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will also develop clear eligibility criteria in order to reduce the risks of nepotism and ensure that recipients have the necessary foundational skills, in some cases including English language, to benefit from available opportunities.

Retention strategies and clear career progression plans should be developed and agreed by all stakeholders to reinforce retention of scholarship recipients in the public service. Final lists of beneficiaries, with associated scholarship details, should be approved by USAID/Egypt. 13 Alumni of these scholarships will participate in alumni events that connect them with alumni of other USAID- and State-funded scholarship activities.

Alumni will be expected to continue to practice and apply their newly gained technical and leadership skills in their organizations and communities. All alumni names and contact information must be shared with the American Embassy’s Public Affairs Alumni Office.

● At least 60 scholarships for mid-career GOE professionals to obtain master’s degrees, evenly split between degree programs in Egypt and in the U.S. ● At least 50 3-6 month scholarships for mid-career GOE professionals to pursue post-doctoral studies at U.S. universities. ● Short-term technical training delivered through U.S. university programs or visiting scholars to at least 250 mid-career GOE professionals.

Result 2 - Emerging leaders at non-GOE entities modernize their knowledge, skills, and practice in priority sectors to tackle Egypt’s evolving public and private sector challenges and advance Egypt’s regional and international competitiveness.

USAID Egyptian Pioneers will build leadership and technical skills for mid-career Egyptian professionals, especially women, who work in non-public entities to empower them to become leaders and change agents. Result 2 is designed to be complementary to Result 1, providing for private sector advancements that support overall GOE development priorities.

The selection of organizations, companies, and individuals to receive scholarships and training will be driven by the sector assessments and human capacity development plans described under Result 1. These selections will also be informed by the formation of public-private partnerships that can complement efforts across the USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity.

For example, private companies may be required to offer internship and other workplace experiences to USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ undergraduate students if their staff are to benefit from USAID Egyptian Pioneers’ mid-career scholarships.

Selection of individuals to benefit from scholarships should advance diversity, equity, and inclusion, with particular emphasis on supporting women to assume higher levels of influence and leadership in under-represented fields.

The USAID Egyptian Pioneers activity will also develop clear eligibility criteria in order to ensure transparency, reduce the risk of nepotism and confirm that recipients have the necessary foundational skills, in some cases including English language, to benefit from available opportunities.

Career plans should be developed for these participants and a stakeholder’s agreement should be signed to ensure that they are able to apply their learning and experiences to future managerial and leadership positions. Final lists of beneficiaries, with associated scholarship details, should be approved by USAID. Alumni of these scholarships will participate in the alumni events described in Result 1.

Alumni will be expected to continue to practice and apply their leadership skills in their organizations and communities. All alumni names and contact information must be shared with the American Embassy’s Public Affairs Alumni Office. 14 ● Short-term technical training delivered through U.S. university programs or visiting scholars to