Date: 10-13 February 2020

Location: Cairo

In line with the continuous efforts to promote the Global Knowledge Index (GKI) as an advocacy tool and to widely disseminate and embed it in policy debates, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF), under the umbrella of the Knowledge Project, held the Knowledge Week for Sustainable Development in Egypt.

The Knowledge Week brought together representatives from ministries and government departments, journalists, media professionals, researchers, representatives of the private sector and students, as well as 72 young men and women from different regions of Egypt, who were selected to participate in a competition-like to present alternatives and recommendations concerning their vision for the future of Egypt and how to improve the rank of Egypt in the Global Knowledge Index.

The Global Knowledge Index 2019 that was launched during the knowledge summit 2019 ranks Egypt 82 out of 136 countries, advancing 17 positions and achieving notable progress in pre-university education. It also maintained its advanced ranking on the level of enrollment in higher education, ranking 11 out of 136 countries. The Knowledge Week was a way for Egyptian youth to design a detailed work plan to solve the intractable challenges preventing the Egyptian society from becoming a knowledge-based society.

The Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research Dr. Khaled Abdel Ghaffar attended the knowledge week and he highlighted “the continuous collaboration for a year between the Ministry of Higher Education and the Knowledge Project, in which the strengths and weaknesses of Egypt's performance have been studied since the announcement of the results of the Global Knowledge Index 2018. This was followed by exploring solutions to address different challenges. The result was that Egypt advanced 17 ranks in the Global Knowledge Index 2019, achieving a remarkable progress in higher education, ranking 49 globally. He announced the launching of a ‘Higher Council of Knowledge’ composed of deans of relevant universities, and from which a ‘Knowledge Committee’ will be formed, with the participants of the Knowledge Week forming its first members. The council and the committee will be responsible for developing a proposal for a strategy to build a knowledge society in Egypt.

Also, The CEO of MBRF Jamal Bin Huwaireb highlighted the importance of the Knowledge Week initiative, through which “the partners, UNDP and MBRF, seek to involve young people in leading the development process.

The Knowledge Week comes as part of a series of workshops and seminars to promote the use of the Global Knowledge Index as an advocacy tool and to disseminate it widely in political debates. The workshops target policymakers, decision-makers, students, youth, professors, and researchers to advance dialogue and raise awareness about the importance of knowledge and knowledge-based policies to achieve sustainable development.