October 8, 2020
Minya – U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Administrator John Barsa, Deputy Assistant to the President Sarah Makin and Chief Advisor for International Religious Freedom Samah Norquist, traveled to Minya to meet with local partners advancing religious freedom and the area’s economic development.
In Minya, together with U.S. Ambassador Jonathan R. Cohen, the delegation met with representatives from the Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS), youth, and local religious leaders to see how a decade of U.S. investment helped diverse groups join together to strengthen access to education, jobs, and health care for those most in need.
The delegation met with young women from Minya who received scholarships from the U.S. Government to study at Egyptian universities. The young women shared how their scholarships are giving them the experience, practical skills, and confidence to succeed in their careers and become future leaders. The United States, through USAID, has provided scholarships to 4,000 Egyptian students over the past four decades, training Egyptian students with the skills that match the needs of the labor market.
For more than 40 years, the United States has implemented programs in Egypt that seek to improve the lives of all Egyptians. USAID’s programs focus, among other areas, on economic opportunity, access to potable water and wastewater services, education, healthcare services, and women’s empowerment for all Egyptians. Many of these investments, particularly in the water sector, have been made in Upper Egypt.
To find out more about USAID’s work in Egypt, please see https://www.usaid.gov/egypt, and follow @USAIDEgypt on Facebook and Twitter.
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