Egypt has always been known for its rich and unique cultural heritage, as well as its large proportion of the labor force. Ethnic products are a sustainable means of livelihood for a large proportion of the labor force in Egypt.
The ethnic and craft industries' potential for job creation and labor absorption is one of the major attractions of this industry. Not only does it provide income generation opportunities for groups which have limited access to resources, but also offers employment opportunities for the most economically
disadvantaged people in society. This industry requires small capital investments and provides high added-value in comparison to other manufacturing sectors, simple tools and a relatively short period of apprenticeship or training depending on the intricacy of the craft.

The objective of DEEP program
"To integrate Egyptian Contemporary Traditional Arts and crafts in the International supply chain and develop branded consumable products."
To achieve this objective, DEEP programme will work to enhance the capabilities and the opportunities
for marginalized producers, namely through capacity building and institutional development, vocational training and technical assistance, design and product development, promotion and marketing, advocacy and Fair Trade principles and practices.

DEEP programme launches the first website for Egyptian ethnic products to promote and encourage
export and establish links with target markets in order to qualify a group of Egyptian companies to
compete in international markets, follow up their performance and successes in different international
forums, along the past year, through increasing their export volume and clientele abroad. Such
initiatives have been reflected in the extensive and successful presence of the Egyptian ethnic products in the French and EU markets, through their representation in the strongest specialized ethnic product fairs in Europe and expectation to be represented in the US market.

For the first time in Egypt, DEEP has introduced a distinctive set of technical support services in order
to develop the ethnic and craft product sector in several fields. IMC, for example, has launched Design and Development Initiative for this sector, through resorting to more than 30 international top-notch designers to submit new ideas that go in line with market requirements in each of ethnic product specializations. This has resulted in more than 1000 designs for new products that belong to ethnic product sector and tests have been conducted for such products in Egyptian and European markets. This experience has proved to be successful through the orders required to be exported to foreign markets.

The First International Cairo Forum has been successfully held (June 2010) with the participation of
UN Organization, Cultural Council of the Union for the Mediterranean (CCUFM) and international
institutions concerned with ethnic products. Cairo document has been signed in the form of a cooperation agreement between international institutions and Mediterranean countries to develop ethnic products.

• Small and medium production units
  
• Designers
  
• Commercial businesses
  
• Nongovernmental Organizations (NGOs)