Salesian missionaries operate the Don Bosco Industrial Technical Institute, a center of excellence located in Cairo. Every year, the institute trains youth as industrial experts, prepares them to enter the workforce and helps the country maintain a high level of industrial development.

Students at the Don Bosco Industrial Technical Institute have recently been working on the development of two innovative prototypes to implement solar power. This project was carried out in cooperation with AFD (Agence Française de Développement), IECD (Institut Européen de Coopération et de Développement) and Schneider Egypt in order to provide students with the tools and skills needed to undertake this project.

Students are working on developing a pump, which will use the energy generated by the sun through panels without the use of batteries. A second project is to develop ideas for how to provide a small house with solar energy, in addition to using the national power grid, depending on the availability of the sun.

“The idea of ​​the project is to teach students, the next generation of engineers, to be familiar with new technologies for the use of solar energy,” said an Egyptian manager of Schneider.

Another program, the Salesian House, was founded in Alexandria in 1896 by Father Rua to provide education to the many Italian migrants who lived there. Today, the Don Bosco School in Alexandria educates more than 900 students, mostly Muslim, in classes ranging from primary school to vocational training. The courtyards and playgrounds of the Salesian House are filled with students after school who connect with their peers in a safe and supportive environment. The institute is recognized, and partially funded, by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Salesians in Alexandria were able to facilitate summer activities for vulnerable youth at the Don Bosco Institute thanks to donor funding from Salesian Missions. The 320 participating youth were from the city’s poorest neighborhoods in the communities surrounding the Sacred Heart Church of Alexandria.

The project successfully trained 50 volunteers about the Don Bosco program. The volunteers, who had grown up at the center, related quickly to the youth and were able to be positive role models. They played a key role in looking after each child, fostering a safer environment, especially for young refugees.

Salesian missionaries continued offering training to assist refugees in gaining the skills needed for employment or self-employment in Egypt through the Sunrise Project for Cairo’s Urban Refugees and Vulnerable Hosts. The project is possible thanks to funding from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) through a Salesian technical and vocational training center in Cairo.

The project was first funded through Salesian Missions in 2014. To date, the project has improved the livelihoods and quality of life of more than 3,000 Sub-Saharan African, Yemeni and Syrian refugees and vulnerable Egyptians.

During the 2021-2022 funding cycle, there were 498 trainees in the program and 375 successful graduates across 12 workshops. Of the graduates, 77% were refugees and 44% were women. Twenty-seven percent of trainees found formal employment. In addition, 80 trainees received a seed grant and one-on-one mentoring to start their own business. Of these trainees 75% were refugees and 69% were women. Salesians created a new method for the seed funding mentoring. Instead of an outside consultant coming in to work with the trainees, Salesians developed a business curriculum and utilized mentors acting as business trainers to build local capacity and provide trainees a more customized and tailored approach.

Follow-up with those who had received seed funding over the previous three years found that more than 65% of microenterprises were still operational after 12 months. Twenty-one percent of respondents said their income was sufficient to meet their household needs and 17% said they had enough to save.

The Sunrise Project is popular among refugees with more than 2,000 applicants trying for the limited number of trainee openings. From the over 700 who were accepted and who completed baseline assessments, more than 500 received technical and vocational training. This led to 426 successful graduates from September 2020 to September 2021. In addition, 65 trainees received a seed grant and one-on-one mentoring, and 16 microentrepreneurs and past alumni received small business development grants.

The Sunrise Project also provides life skills training, health awareness, entrepreneurship literacy workshops, job panels, seed grants, and violence prevention training to help refugees build the skills needed to succeed in the workplace and adjust to their new urban environments. One of the great successes of the project is the additional social services, including transportation vouchers for travel to and from courses, fully funded for participants. Those engaged in the training are also provided gender-specific hygiene kits and vouchers to purchase groceries and other essentials from a local store. This helps to ensure that basic needs like nutrition are met.

Each participant also receives a primary care checkup and eye exam with a doctor who comes to the school. Some medicine prescriptions are included as are referrals for secondary care as needed.

Don Bosco Technical Institute in Cairo has new bathrooms and access to clean, fresh water thanks to funding from Salesian Missions “Clean Water Initiative.” Every year, Don Bosco Technical Institute welcomes more than 4,000 people who regularly attend classes and other activities, and they will now benefit from clean water access and proper sanitation.

With Salesian Missions funding, Don Bosco Technical Institute improved and renovated the two bathrooms and installed two safe drinking water supplies. This allowed the school to provide sustainable access to safe water and basic sanitation services for both male and female students.

The project entailed dismantling the old facilities and upgrading both the plumbing and electrical systems, including the use of LED lighting which will provide a drastic reduction in energy costs and maintenance. Walls were plastered and a new concrete slab was poured. Five new toilets were provided in each bathroom in addition to new sinks. The school also hung posters above the sinks to remind students to practice good hygiene.

Don Bosco Technical Institute also purchased and installed two steel 240-liter water coolers, each of them with three taps. One cooler will be placed inside the locker room and the other in the courtyard so students have water access during and after physical education sessions and during recreation.