Egypt’s Ministry of International Cooperation hosted the second virtual Multi-Stakeholder platform on ‘Global Partnerships for Effective Development Cooperation’.
The first meeting was held on April 2nd, 2020 with more than 120 representatives from 45 international institutions and foreign courts to discuss the Government of Egypt’s Response and Rebuild strategy, immediate requests by the Ministry of Health and Population to combat Covid-19 and the Ministry’s Global Partnerships Narrative, People at the core, Projects in action and Purpose as the driver.
The second multi-stakeholder platform acknowledged cooperation to combat Covid-19 and highlighted the active ongoing partnerships portfolio and the wide array of projects and initiatives that are under negotiation and implementation covering various sectors. They include: health, electricity, transportation, housing, community development, education and women empowerment with an emphasis on partnerships that support the private sector directly and also through financing by domestic banks.
It included the participation of several multilateral and bilateral development partners, such as the UN and its agencies, World Bank Group, International Finance Corporation, Islamic Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the African Development Bank, JICA and several foreign courts including the UK, Spain, Canada, France, Germany and the European Union, amongst others.
“Increased coordinated action is key to boosting confidence and providing stability to the global, regional and local economy. The Ministry of International Cooperation through pillars of Economic Diplomacy that were identified early on, aims to ensure that Covid-19 does not derail us from pushing forward with the SDG agenda”, said Minister Al Mashat.
Shifting Mindsets Through Economic Diplomacy
The Ministry of International Cooperation aims to push the frontiers of collaboration through Economic Diplomacy, since the launching in April 2020, aimed to strengthen partnerships to achieve value-centric results through the set up of Multi-Stakeholder Platforms, activating the Global Partnerships Narrative and creating the framework for Official Development Assistance (ODA) mapping to the sustainable development goals.
The 3 pillars of ‘Economy Diplomacy’ actively involves a wide range of stakeholders to enhance a sense of ownership, developed knowledge, creating a linkage between different governance levels and most significantly improved policy formulation.
Since the launch in April 2020, the Ministry of International Cooperation organized a number of participatory Multi-Stakeholder platforms in various sectors since the COVID-19 crisis, focusing on discussing different areas such as the health sector, public enterprises, transportation, rural and agricultural development and gender quality, and monitor progress in the implementation of projects.
Dr. Rania Al Mashat, Minister of International Cooperation, noted that the second element of Economic Diplomacy is to have a strong, consistent and consolidated narrative that helps document stories of development creating awareness, mobilizing audiences and easing the narrative on the SDGs with the overall goal to not just to engage with development-minded people, but to also include members of the international community in the process, allowing them to contribute to and advocate Egypt's development story.
“With only a few percentage of people aware of the SDGs, effective communication on development stories is essential to produce future agents of change that can accelerate progress in development and impact more human lives. This is how we build back better.” the minister said.
In its effort to promote effective development cooperation and ensure the optimal contribution of development cooperation projects to the UN SDFS, the Ministry of International Cooperation also conducted a comprehensive ODA mapping exercise of all current effective projects to identify their alignment with the SDGs.
The Platform in Action:
A Green Recovery
Putting emphasis on Goal 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy), Minister Al Mashat highlighted exemplar multi-stakeholder signed agreements by the AfD, AfDB and EBRD for projects allocated to the Energy Sector through its Budgetary Support Program and Electricity and Green Growth Support Program, both seeking to promote a sustainable competitive and persified electricity sector that ensures secure supply and support climate change mitigation and green growth.
Empowering Communities
Reaching larger segments of society cannot be achieved without the help of civil society, and this is why the recently launched USAID initiative to support the Egyptian Red Crescent’s (ERC) network of 30,000 Egyptian youth volunteers and health care professionals in conducting community outreach and building ERC’s capacity to respond to future crises, was also highlighted.
The initiative brought together multiple stakeholders; including the Ministry of International Cooperation, Ministry of Social Solidarity, and ride hailing company Uber.
In light of fears of the COVID-19 crisis to pull back the gender agenda, women were at the heart of many development stories, most notably in the example of the ‘Kemama’ campaign. It saw a collaboration between UNDP Egypt and El Nidaa Foundation, a community based initiative launched to accelerate a socially-inclusive sustainable future for Egypt, to engage Egyptian women from Upper Egypt to produce medical face masks, a shift from previous ready-made garment production.
The initiative was in partnership with AltFind Labs and Neya Foundation embraces agility and flexibility creating value during challenging times.
Effective Engagement and Constructive Multilateralism
“We are very happy with the Ministry’s initiative to create a Multi-Stakeholder Platform which is helping increasing coordinated efforts and work among international institutions. This second meeting showed already an increased dialogue to set up the country’s priorities and is key for the development of various sectors based on the expertise of each institution, putting the impact on people’s lives at the heart of our efforts.
This will help avoiding work duplication and achieving quicker results and impact in developing the Egyptian economy”, said Heike Harmgart, Managing Director for the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
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