Employment and Volunteering Fair in Development Organizations

The issue of unemployment is one of the biggest problems facing Egyptian society, especially Egyptian youth. At the same time, many officials have taken initiatives to solve this problem through programs to build the capacities of young people, provide job opportunities for young people and match the skills of young job seekers with job opportunities available in the labor market.

As a result of Egypt’s need for the civil society sector to contribute to the solution of many important problems, the community development sector is growing rapidly, leading to increased awareness of social development work. The development of the community has a large share in the labor market, which requires assistance in order to reach job seekers/ Volunteers in this field, and also enable the organizations of this community to select qualified employees/Volunteers for their opportunities. On the other hand, it is not easy for job seekers/ Volunteers to access the opportunities available to these organizations. Where advertising these jobs do not reach job seekers easily because these organizations are publishing ads through the social networks of existing employees, and without any strategy to market these ads that enable job seekers to access these opportunities and also enables organizations to reach candidates who have the skills required .

Hence, the idea of ​​organizing employment and volunteering fair for the development sector in Egypt came, which will serve young people looking for work or volunteering opportunities in this area, and the organizations will also show their projects and advertise their vacancies and find young people with the skills required for these jobs.

Also as part of the global community we took the responsibility to help achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs); this fair would contribute to the goal number 8 that aims at providing good jobs and to achieve economic growth. Thus, Think Tank – Development Solutions provides an “Employment and Volunteering Fair for Development Organizations” that aims at supporting the development sector in Egypt through linking development organizations and young people interested to work/volunteer in the field; either these organizations are nonprofit, social enterprises, international/ regional organizations or CSR section in private sector.

Objectives

For Youth:

• To know more about the civil society and the development sector in Egypt
• To know more about organizations, their scope, their work and their criteria of selection
• To reach organizations and applying for job or volunteering opportunities
• to learn what skills should be improved
• to learn how to market for their qualifications

For Organizations:

• Allowing organizations to meet potential employees/ Volunteers in an informal setting
• Providing the opportunity to present their achievement
• Marketing for their organizations/ their ideas
• Providing networking opportunities
• Creating a database for potential employees/volunteers

For society:

• Creating job/ volunteering opportunities in the development field
• Supporting the development sector with highly qualified employees/volunteers
• Contributing to the achievement of the SDGs

Previous Experience

Think Tank had organized 5 Employment/ volunteering fairs since 2010. 2 of them were in Al-Sawy Cultural Wheel, 2 in Cairo University and the last one was a Stand Up Fair in Think Tank Office and continued for 5 days with each day 7 organizations. 

Each Fair had from 35-40 organizations participating. With attendance of youth from different governorates, jobs seekers or those who are looking for volunteering or networking opportunities (around 400-1000 attendees in each fair). Media coverage was provided from different news websites; El-Youm 7, El-Nahar, Akhbar Misr, El-Tahrir news and CSR Egypt.com.