Egypt: Teaching employability and entrepreneurship in pictures

Young Egyptians take part in a group career counselling session at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, in Alexandria. Offering career guidance and referrals to further training, these sessions aim to change perceptions of employment and to provide young people with the information they need to make careful and conscious choices for their futures
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Ibrahim Elderei, head of Barclays Upper Egypt region, leads a session on financial literacy in the gymnasium of the local Scouts hall in Qena city. These sessions, which focus on issues from loans and interest rates to advice on how to save, are led by volunteers from Barclays Egypt and take place across the country. Barclays is upfront about the business benefits of their involvement, including building a broader customer base for the future
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

In Alexandria, 21-year-olds Haidy (R) and Sara discuss ideas for their budding jewellery business, called Fayonka. Both women found free courses in entrepreneurship through the Youth Association for Population and Development, supported by the Barclays/Unicef partnership
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 take part in a skills development course at the village youth centre in Kom El Dabaa in Qena. Sessions at the centre focus on encouraging young people to plan for their futures and to begin exploring entrepreneurship as an option and alternative to traditional careers
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Volunteer Islam Refaat (second left), from Barclays Egypt, speaks with young people at a financial literacy session in Qena city
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Hoda, 23, weaves traditional scarves on a loom in her home in Kom el Dabaa, Qena. After taking courses on employability and entrepreneurship, Hoda undertook further training in the traditional Ferka weaving her area is famous for. While Hoda's family is largely dependent on remittances from her two brothers in Kuwait, Hoda says she hopes she will soon be able to set up a profitable small business based on her scarves
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Traditional Ferka scarves on display. A separate building at the local youth centre in Kom el Dabaa is equipped with looms and materials to train unemployed and underemployed youth in traditional weaving techniques
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK

Young women gather outside the local Scout hall in Qena City, where Barclays volunteers are leading a financial literacy workshop. The Barclays/Unicef partnership comes to an end in December, when a full evaluation of the project will begin. Though Unicef expects 45,000 young people to have participated in the project, they report that only 87 have managed to find jobs through the counselling centres and only 15 have managed to set up small businesses. Tackling youth unemployment in Egypt will need to combine skills development programmes with a focus on long-term, broad-based strategies for job creation
Photograph: El-Dakhakhny/UNICEF UK