ABSTRACT

The recent social, economic, political and cultural developments have led to a change in the value and moral system in Egyptian society. The program of Ana we Nahnoo (AwN) aims to educate young people and developing their life skills regarding self-understanding, developing relationships with others, adapting to society, and preparing participants for the labor market by supporting readiness for social development and economic growth. The main philosophy of the program looks for ways to transfer of learning skills to other areas of life as well as maintain the impact of learning. The main purpose of this study is to assess the impact of the program over a period of time from its implementation on the development of graduates’ self-management and others-dealing skills, and their readiness for social and economic growth. We analyzed the content of the four parts of the program, to identify the basic and implicit concepts and skills, assessed the level of basic skills targeted by the program among graduates, through a specially prepared online survey, conducted interviews to measure the level of readiness for social development and economic growth, and analyzed the components of the program in order to determine future development trends based on appreciative inquiry. The results showed the effectiveness of the program in developing the targeted skills, the survival of the impact of skills which learned, a high level of readiness for the graduates’ social development and economic growth. The strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, and future needs of graduates were identified to develop the program in light of them.

Keywords

Readiness for social development; Readiness for economic growth; culture programs, youth programs; Culture and Education for the Child and Family Foundation (CECF).

Abbreviations

CECF, Culture and Education for the Child and Family Foundation; AwN, the program of Ana we Nahnoo, consists of 4 parts (Ana, Asasiat Wa Maharat, Ekhtlafna Wa Tawasolna, Mogtmana); SWOT Analysis, Analysis of Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats; CAF, content analysis forms; OSF, Online Survey for facilitators; AIF, appreciative inquiry for facilitators; AIG, appreciative inquiry for graduates; IFREG, Interview form for assessing the readiness for economic growth; IFRSD, Interview form for assessing the readiness for social development ; OSG, Online Survey for graduates.

Introduction

Over the years, Egyptian society has preserved a unique and distinctive culture almost steadily. However, it was exposed to many social, cultural, economic and political changes, like all societies, especially in the Arab world (Castells, 2009). The pace of these changes has significantly accelerated with the major transformations that Egyptian society has undergone in the past years.

Values, ethics, attitudes, and behaviors are among the pillars of the cultural system of society, and have been greatly affected by the change in the political, cultural and social context.

The information and communication revolution also led to the situation of the people of society in the face of many consumer, media and cultural innovations (Bardici, 2012), some of which are not appropriate to the society’s approach, which resulted in the infiltration of many negative values into the Egyptian society in a way that hinders its progress and growth.

The Egyptian youth, which represents about 60 percent of the population, was among the groups most affected by societal transformations (Ezzat, 2020). Studies have reported changes in the orientations and cultural patterns of Egyptian youth in recent years, as a number of extraneous variables prevailed, such as the primacy of individual interests, Apparent religiosity, violence, fanaticism and one-sidedness, the prevalence of consumer culture, and the relative decline of altruism, tolerance, and teamwork values (Attia et al., 2011; Anderson, 2013; Kalliny et al., 2014; Abbott et al., 2020).

The interest in building the Egyptian character is one of the most important issues in light of these changes. Informal education and life skills

development programs play a significant role in promoting positive change, building values and ethics, influencing attitudes, and developing positive behaviors, concepts, and life skills (Roper and McAloney, 2010).

Social and economic growth is greatly affected by the value and cultural level, especially in the process of growth. This calls for attention to programs that support educating young people, preparing them for social development, and preparing them for economic growth, in a way that positively affects the growth and development of society as a whole.

Culture and life skills promoting programs

Culture and life-skills programs directed at young people are concerned with the proper formation of the personality and the development of skills such as communication, self-awareness, decision-making, problem- solving, critical and creative thinking, and preparing young people for the labor market by supporting their readiness for social development and economic growth.

The techniques and educational strategies that these programs employ to achieve their goals vary. There may be audio, visual, or reading materials.

These programs are also interested in studying the educational requirements for building a personality in light of the changes that society is witnessing, and developing perceptions and supporting visions. (Zedan, 2018) arranged the requirements for building the Egyptian character and indicated that implementing culture programs that aim to develop awareness among young people is one of the most important educational mechanisms necessary to achieve the requirements of building the Egyptian character.

It is necessary to deliberately organize programs that aim to educate and teach life skills. It is also necessary to teach how to transfer these skills and prepare young people for the labor market. (Bean et al., 2016) indicate that young people who learn these skills apply them in other areas of life

(Musekamp et al., 2017), where an improvement in self-management skills predicts an improvement in quality of life (WHO, 2001).

Some countries incorporate culture and life skills programs into their curricula at multiple levels.

In the National Human Rights Strategy, (The National Human Rights Strategy, 2021) launched by the Arab Republic of Egypt in September 2021. The axis of cultural rights, the axis of culture and capacity building were among the four main axes of the strategy. This achieves the highest degree of societal integration for all groups. This clearly indicates the importance of culture programs for individual and national growth.

Determining the knowledge and skills that must be developed as a result of these programs is essential to determine how they are designed and ensure that the content of the program is achieved (Nasheeda et al., 2019). Most field studies have focused on investigating the impact of culture and life skills programs in the short term, usually immediately after their implementation , leaving an open question about the impact of these programs after a long period of implementation, and their impact on other aspects of development and growth. In this study, we are interested in evaluating the impact of the “AwN” program on the graduates of the program after a long period of implementation, especially with regard to readiness for social development and readiness for economic growth.

Readiness for social development

Social skills are verbal and nonverbal behaviors and cognitive processes that enhance social communication, increase positive social interactions such as cooperation, and decrease negative social interactions such as aggression (Adams, 2005). Although there are many definitions of social skills, the common denominator is communication and interaction with others (Little et al., 2017,9).

Acquisition of social and emotional skills is associated with positive youth development, healthy lifestyle education, reduction in depression and anxiety, conduct disorders, violence, bullying, conflict, and anger (Sancassiani et al., 2015). Social skills are essential for success in life and later work, as they are linked to competence in teamwork (Deming, 2017). Lack of early social skills may have long-term effects on social, emotional, academic and behavioral outcomes.

Recent evidence indicates that young people’s well-being and mental health are affected not only by the absence of problems and fears, but also by individual skills and positive factors in their social environments (Weare, and Nind, 2011). Accordingly, many school interventions and culture enrichment programs have focused on enhancing emotional and social skills in order to promote the healthy development of children and youth (Durlak et al., 2011).

There are many programs that target the development of social skills for children and youth, most of which focus on social emotional development as a result of their close association. These programs are usually most effective when they use a sequential training approach, rely on active learning, and when their goals are clearly defined.

There are also a large number of scales that have been developed for the purpose of measuring social skills, including social skills improvement system rating scales, SSIS (Gresham et al., 2010). and adaptive behavior measures (e.g., Vineland Adaptive Behavior Scales, Third Edition (Sparrow et al., 2016).

Eric Erickson, a well-known psychologist who was influenced by Sigmund Freud, believed that people at each stage of life’s growth face a conflict that would be a turning point in the growth process (Moradimokhles, 2017: 190) and may positively or negatively affect his personality, At each stage, the individual’s (psychological) needs conflict with the society’s (social) needs, so they are called psychosocial crises.. He proposed a theory of psychosocial development that was more extensive than Freud’s psycho-sexual theory. Ericsson developed eight basic stages: (Jemes et al., 2014)

• First stage: (0-2) Trust against Distrust
• Second stage: (2-4) self-control and self-reliance against shame and doubt
• Stage Three: (4-5) Innovation against Sin
• Stage Four: (5-12) an Action against Humility
• Step Five: (12- 18) Identity Against Lost and Confusion
• Stage Six: (18- 40) A sense of belonging to isolation and seclusion
• Stage seven: (40- 65) Action against stagnation
• Eighth stage: (from 65) Integrity versus frustration

The ―AwN‖ program includes many activities aimed at developing social skills, readiness for social development (including self-awareness and the ability to express it, empathy, honesty, understanding personality types and multiple intelligences, persuasion, honesty, privacy, honesty and trust, respect, Courage, avoiding closure, teamwork, acceptance of others, communication, integration, acceptance of difference, democracy).

Readiness for economic growth

At The 8th annual ASDA‘A Burson-Marsteller Arab Youth (ASDA‘A Burson-Masteller, 2016) youth aged 18-24 from 16 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region indicated that youth’s lack of job opportunities is the main reason for the increase in extremism.

(Prince et al., 2018, 13) cited a major problem of skills mismatch, which means an unskilled youth workforce that lacks the skills required by private sector employers.

The growth of the national economy starts from economic growth at the individual level (Bulturbayevich and Jurayevich, 2020, 3). Where living levels improve, growth rates and well-being increase. Focusing on providing young people with the necessary skills for economic growth is one of the most important pillars of lifelong economic growth. Strong culture programs are needed, whether conducted within the framework of formal education or independently, that contribute to training youth for economic growth.

There are evidences that support the necessity of educating the economic and financial aspect at an early age starting from the kindergarten stage. Studies of cognitive development have shown that concepts related to saving money (eg, ownership, preservation, planning, and deferred consumption) can be acquired in early childhood (Scheinholtz et al., 2011).

(Amagir et al., 2018) emphasized that the ultimate goal of economic education is to empower individuals and motivate them to change their behavior, urge them to make well-informed financial decisions, and distinguished between three components in his definition of financial literacy (knowledge, understanding, skills behaviour, attitudes and confidence).

Educational programs for young people must include education in finance and the skills which necessary for economic growth (Dejaeghere et al., 2016), Financial knowledge is seen as an indispensable part of education (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2014). (Farhangmehr et al., 2016) indicated that teaching students entrepreneurship not only improves their motivation to become entrepreneurs, but also develops their psychological and social skills as well as critical thinking skills. Entrepreneurship education focuses on changing attitudes to encourage more students to see business as a viable career option (Black et al., 2003).

The literature focused on evaluating programs aimed at raising economic awareness. Fox, Bartholomae, & Lee, 2005 identified steps for evaluating programs that contribute to economic growth for children and adults.

(Michael Collins and Odders-White, 2015) developed a framework, Figure (2), for developing and testing programs aimed at developing the economic aspects and financial capabilities of children from the primary stage, with the aim of improving the lifelong economic decision-making process.

The “AwN” program relied on providing young people with many skills implicitly related to economic growth, including setting goals, order, value of time, conscience, self-control and desires, linking information and implementations, persuasion, honesty, courage, budget and saving, life skills in Work, teamwork skills, factors affecting reaching goals, avoiding closure and tribalism, self-evaluation, communication and union, creativity, democracy, separation of responsibility and separation of powers, work control, thinking using the six thinking hats of Edward de Bono.

The program was nominated by the advisory DR. Elisabeth Kendall from Oxford University, who specializes in extremist thought to be taught in Yemen to provide young people with critical, logical and technical thinking.

The four parts of the program

The program is divided into four parts, which were developed sequentially over 3-4 years, starting in 2004.

Part one “Ana”

This part focuses on self-development and learning to organize, setting goals, symbols, individual observation of differences between him and others, the importance of books, imagination and flexibility in thinking, visual remember, observation, honesty, conscience, emotional intelligence, self-control and desires, empathy, reflection, and self esteem.

While the first part deals with all these concepts, it implicitly focuses on a number of concepts and skills that are the basis for this part:

• Organizing by noticing disorder, and applying organizing utilities such as schedules and lists.
• Defining goals, planning, setting future visions, long and short-term goals, and working to achieve them.
• Self-control, awareness of actions, part of emotional intelligence.

The child is trained on all these skills through a variety of topics, including home, room, favorite places, family, past time, friends, school, neighbors, hobbies, living creatures, and memories. (AwN- Part One, 2021)

Part Two “Asasiat Wa Maharat”

This part focuses on thinking, importance of reading, multiple types of intelligence, strategies for persuading others, honesty, privacy and respect, budgeting, saving and giving to the poor, knowledge of true unconditional love, and business skills.

While the second part deals with all these concepts, it implicitly focuses on a number of concepts and skills that are the basis for this part, the most important of which is building on what was previously learned in the first part in addition to:

• Being honest in time and making use of time and punctuality as evidence of his respect for himself and others, the integrity and preservation of the body, and the non-use of drugs.
• Personal budget and savings: distinguishing between what he wants and what he needs, fulfilling desires after needs, saving for the future, and organizing expenditure.

The child is trained on all these skills through a variety of topics, including reading, types of intelligence and personality patterns, art and invention, time is fidelity, your body is fidelity, respect, personal budget and savings, falling in love, marriage, and life skills at work. (AwN- Part Two, 2021)

Part three “Ekhtlafna Wa Tawasolna”

This part focuses on self-satisfaction as a motivation for all other goals, the difference between happiness and contentment, the influence of family and society on reaching goals, problems that we may encounter on our way such as family closure and the circle of trust, the importance of helping the group progress to increase chances of success, and the importance of accepting the other, evaluation Cultural proverbs, reasons for difference, and how to accept differences.

While the third part deals with all these concepts, it implicitly focuses on a number of concepts and skills that are the basis for this part:

• Self-satisfaction, the role of conscience, and the difference between happiness and self-satisfaction.
• The circle of trust, familial closure, and tribalism/paralysis, and its negative impact on favoring close ones, mediation, delaying societies, the importance of the rule of law, and commitment to the right regardless of friendship and kinship.
• The importance of difference and acceptance of the other: respect for the other, good treatment of those outside the family or at a different social level, and helping the poor.

The child is trained in all these skills through a variety of topics, including the family, neighbors and society, goodness and the limited cake, tribalism, the history of societies, the city, the province and the homeland, communication is a source of strength, building a brick wall, the story of a brave man, and our differences are caused by our location, and our differences are caused by our nature, and how We make our differences a source of strength, and how do we accept our differences (AwN- Part Three, 2021)

Part four “Mogtmana”

This part focuses on the idea that we are all right, positive community formation, true and unconditional love for one’s country, care for the environment, democracy, the role of civil society in democracy, the difference between public and private and non-private, nepotism, separation of responsibilities, work and work control, and collective decision-making.

While the fourth part deals with all these concepts, it implicitly focuses on a number of concepts and skills that are the basis for this part:

• Thinking: It is the pursuit of what is apparent, before, during and after the event, thinking about the consequences, and thinking about the reasons for the actions of others.
• Environment, conservation, energy conservation and cleanliness of public places.
• Work and its importance, its role in the country’s progress, the necessity of separation of powers, and the consequences of favoritism.

The child is trained on all these skills through a variety of topics, including ―what is a positive society, what are the components of a positive society, the environment minister asks me, air pollution, garbage accumulation, energy waste, a letter to the environment minister, what are the requirements for democracy, an autocratic father, and how Democracy fails, democracy and civil society, private and non-private and public, the danger of confusing public and private, about patronage dialogue, separation of responsibility or separation of powers, work and control of work, me, my work, my community, and the hat game of Edward Debono‖ (AwN- Part Four, 2021)

Study Purpose

• Evaluating the impact of the AwN program after a period of implementation on the graduates with regard to the graduates‘ skills in self-management and dealing with others.
• Check the graduates’ readiness for social development.
• Verify the graduates’ readiness for economic growth.
• Analyzing the components of the program in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats, development trends and meet future needs.

Study Questions

• To what extent has the program developed the basic and implicit concepts among graduates? Related to:
  • Understanding, Accepting and managing oneself.
  • Developing basics and skills of the relationship with others.
  • Accepting differences and communicating with others.
  • Developing positive attitudes towards their country.
• Are there differences between graduates due to demographic variables (gender, geographical distribution, age at graduation from the program)?
• Are the achievements of the graduates attributed to the effectiveness of the program, from the point of view of the facilitators and graduates?
• How prepared are graduates for social development?
• How prepared are graduates for economic growth?
• What are the concepts that should be deleted or modified to the program from the point of view of the facilitators and graduates in light of the nature of the current era?
• What are the future needs of the graduates that can be added as another part of the current program, from the point of view of the facilitators and graduates?