Badrawi Foundation fore Education and Development and Dreamers of Tomorrow Association (DOT) empowered youth through the Efham Youth and Entrepreneurship Civic Education Program since 2002. With unemployment soaring and education not matching the skill demands of modern companies, recent graduates from universities in the Arab world have few employment prospects. This problem becomes more pressing each day as the majority of the population comes of age. The youth in the Arab world are in a crisis, and it is time to enable students and young professionals to find alternatives through leadership, creative thinking, team building, and risk taking.

Efham, meaning “understanding” in Arabic, was established to answer the need for hands on training and expertise in the concepts of market economy among students and young professionals in the Arab world. Efham encourages students to create their own entrepreneurial opportunities when employment options seem limited. The entrepreneurial program introduces the values of risk taking, creative and critical thinking, and civic responsibility to students coming from a socialist and state-run educational system that does not promote these values.

One of the common complaints of Arab secondary school graduates is their college degrees, while difficult to obtain, did not prepare them for the “real world.” The Efham Youth and Entrepreneurship Civic Education Program addresses this discrepancy through leadership and skill building training programs empowering entrepreneurial students to participate in the economy independently as well as enriching the contribution of young processionals in companies.

At Efham training sessions, students learn to write business plans, communicate effectively in the workplace, and work in groups, as well as learn about the role of free enterprise in market democracy. Students also hear case studies from businesspeople and exchange experiences with other students. The Efham training gives students and young professionals an edge in team building, leadership and creative thinking as they launch their own businesses. Over two hundred university students participated in the first Efham skill building session. The Cairo University Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences developed the curriculum in collaboration with the Efham Advisory Team.