Integrated Technical Assistance to the Ministry of Labour under Labour Market Access Project II (LMAP II)

The Labour Market Access Project (LMAP II) aims to improve young Egyptians" access to decent employment. The project is implemented through five key outputs: Output 1 strengthens the strategic and technical capacity of the Ministry of Labour"s Employment Unit to design and implement a future-oriented employment policy. In cooperation with the ILO, the project supports the development and implementation of the National Employment Strategy (NES). It enhances the skills of specialists and managers to promote decent employment, including increasing women"s participation, while addressing labour market changes. It also strengthens cooperation with relevant ministries, private sector actors, and civil society, and promotes dialogue platforms to support evidence-based policy development. Output 2 focuses on strengthening the capacity of the Gender Equality Committee (GEC) to improve women"s access to the labour market. This includes supporting the implementation of the national gender equality action plan, enhancing gender-responsive services, and developing an evidence-based database on women"s employment. It also promotes coordination within the Ministry and with external stakeholders. Output 3 introduces user-oriented digital solutions within the Employment Department to improve services and administrative processes supporting youth employment. It strengthens staff capacities in digital transformation and builds on lessons learned from previous digital governance initiatives. Output 4 expands vocational preparation services for young Egyptians in a gender-responsive and target-group-oriented manner. This includes adapting existing tools, developing new materials, and strengthening the capacities of trainers and training institutions to deliver relevant and effective programmes. Output 5 focuses on expanding services offered by selected providers to support companies in promoting decent employment. This includes strengthening providers" capacity to develop and scale services, particularly coaching for managers and supervisors. The project also promotes awareness of the economic benefits of decent employment and supports innovative approaches to improve job quality, especially for women. Lessons learned are fed into policy development and institutional strengthening efforts. Egypt continues to face significant labour-market challenges driven by slow economic growth, high inflation, currency devaluations between 2016 and 2024, and structural pressures on job creation. Although the official unemployment rate stood at 7.4% in 2021, these figures mask deep labour-market vulnerabilities: an estimated 60-70% of economic activity occurs in the informal sector, decent work standards are inconsistently applied, and vocational and university graduates remain disproportionately unemployed. Young people aged 15-29 are particularly affected, with an unemployment rate of 17.2% and only 17% holding formal jobs. Gender disparities remain a central challenge. The female employment rate is only 15%, compared to 67% for men, and young women face unemployment rates above 42%. Despite ongoing reforms-including the National Employment Strategy (NES), the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030, and the Digital Egypt agenda-youth employability, quality of employment, and women"s labour-market participation remain limited. Addressing these gaps requires strengthened institutions, improved employment services, and closer alignment between state structures and labour-market needs. The Labour Market Access Project II (LMAP II), commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), aims to improve young Egyptians' access to decent employment through a multi-level approach targeting employment policy, gender equality, digital solutions, job preparation, and decent employment services. The project cooperates closely with the Ministry of Labour (MoL) as the political partner and engages a broad set of intermediaries including MoL departments at central and governorate levels, instructors at MoL training centres, public and private service providers, the Federation of Egyptian Industries (FEI), companies, and civil-society organisations. The module objective, "Young Egyptians' access to decent employment has improved," is measured through indicators on employability outcomes, improvements in decent work standards, and gender-responsive interventions. The contractor will directly contribute to several indicators, including improving the quality of employment for approximately 800 workers, implementing four gender-equality measures under MoL"s Gender Action Plan, strengthening employment-policy capacities, and supporting the delivery of job-preparation and decent-employment services. Description of the Procurement The contractor will support the Ministry of Labour in developing employment policies, enhancing gender-responsive institutional capacities, creating job-preparation tools, strengthening communication systems, and expanding decent-employment services delivered to companies. The assignment consists of five main work packages that collectively contribute to Outputs 1, 2, 4, and 5 of LMAP II. Work Package 1 - Strategic Communication and Visibility Support This work package strengthens MoL"s public image, stakeholder engagement, and visibility of employment-related reforms. It includes designing a results-driven communication strategy, modernising MoL"s visual identity, conducting perception assessments, managing media relations, producing multi-channel communication content, and building MoL"s internal communication capacities. Work Package 2 - Policy Support, Future-Oriented Employment Planning, and NES Implementation The contractor will support MoL in developing evidence-based employment policies, strengthening its internal policymaking functions, and operationalising the NES once launched. Tasks include institutional assessments, strengthening policy-formulation processes, developing operational manuals, facilitating stakeholder consultations, and improving coordination mechanisms. Work Package 3 - Capacity Development and Implementation of the National Plan for Gender Equality This work package strengthens the capacities of MoL staff and private-sector HR professionals on gender-responsive employment practices. It includes capacity-building programmes, advisory support to the GEC, and implementation of six priority activities from MoL"s Gender Action Plan. Work Package 4 - Development of Innovative Instruments for Job Preparation The contractor will develop inclusive, gender-responsive job-preparation tools aligned with labour-market needs, pilot the programme, deliver Training-of-Trainers packages, strengthen MoL"s Training Unit, and produce immersive 360° workplace videos. Work Package 5 - Expansion of Service Offerings to Promote Decent Employment This work package strengthens service providers and MoL"s inspectorate, supports SST and LST delivery, certifies trainers, develops new decent-employment services, pilots them in SMEs, and develops scalable models and M&E systems. Target Group and Expected Impact The intervention targets young jobseekers and newly employed Egyptians aged 18-35, with particular emphasis on women. Indirect target groups include MoL staff, private-sector HR professionals, service providers, and SMEs. Through strengthening institutional capacities, developing high-quality training and advisory services, and expanding decent-employment offerings, the contractor contributes to more inclusive, equitable, and sustainable labour-market outcomes in Egypt.