On 3 November, Janaïna Herrera, the French General Consul in Alexandria, welcomed the IECD and local stakeholders of the “Seeds of Hope” project, which allowed 526 students (including 321 girls) from two technical schools to follow high quality training in electrical maintenance. 110 partners were present: electricity students and trainers, representatives of the Ministry of Education, as well as the French Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Egypt. Mrs. Herrera thanked the French Development Agency and the Southern Region. For the occasion, the French firm Alstom presented 160 boxes to the young students in order to help them to apply their skills. It also paid tribute to the implication of the trainers, without whom this project would have not been possible, and recalled its wish to see the development of a complementary training course in solar energy, a very promising sector in Egypt.

Launched in 2009 in Lebanon, then rolled out to other 5 countries, the “Seeds of Hope Program” has been developed in Egypt since 2017.