OVERVIEW

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) makes an effort to extend assistance to each governorate and geographical area of Egypt, and provides support in a broad range of fields.  In Cairo governorate, USAID has helped increase access to education, supported the conservation of historic sites, and assisted with public health improvement and private sector development.  Nationwide projects also benefit the governorate indirectly.  Ongoing projects in Cairo include:

• Microfinance development
• Education
• Health
• Criminal Justice
• Civil Society Grants

ECONOMIC GROWTH 

Small and Microenterprise Development

With USAID support, Banque Du Caire, Cairo Foundation and LEAD Foundation are active in implementing sustainable microfinance activities in Cairo. To date, the three institutions cumulatively extended more than 2,285,700 micro-credit loans valued at LE 3.14 billion ($572 million) to about 924,000 low-income entrepreneurs with a default rate of less than 3 percent. At the present time, through 65 specialized micro-credit branches, the institutions are managing an outstanding loan portfolio of LE 282 million ($51.2 million) and serve 290,000 active borrowers. More than 65 percent of these borrowers are poor female heads of household assisted to start or expand current businesses in Cairo’s economically disadvantaged areas.

Other Areas of USAID Assistance

• Supporting the Ministry of Justice to upgrade and modernize Egypt’s property registration system.  A model property registration office was established in the Mokattam area in October 2008.

• Working with the Center for Economic and Financial Research and Studies at Cairo University to develop and implement a series of workshops to bring together experts and practitioners to address key development issues for Egypt.

• Providing technical assistance to the Commercial Registry - the agency responsible for business registration across the country, with its main branch in Cairo - to modernize and computerize the registration system. USAID assistance includes technical assistance, training, procurement of software and hardware, revision of regulations and public awareness activities. Assisting the Egyptian Patent Office with legislation, renovation, computerization, training, simplification of procedures, and development of manuals and public awareness.

• Assisting the trade mark and industrial design office with the upgrading required for complying with international intellectual property rights agreements.

• Funding a partnership between Georgia State University and Cairo University to tailor the latter institution’s bachelor’s degree in commerce to better fit the needs of the Egyptian economy while also advancing Cairo University’s research capabilities.

Antiquities Conservation

USAID has worked with its partners the Supreme Council of Antiquities and the American Research Center in Cairo to support the conservation of antiquities and archaeological sites in the Cairo area. Sites include the Mosque of Salah Tala’l, Sabil-Kuttab Muhammad ‘Ali, Bab Zuwayla, Sabil-Kuttab of Nafisa Bayda and the Aslam El-Selehdar Mosque (where conservation was undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture).  USAID assistance also included the following projects at the Egyptian Museum: the upgrade of the Royal Jewelry Rooms, conservation of various statues and treasures, modernization of the museum’s conservation lab and museum management training. USAID also supported groundwater control and antiquities preservation in Old Cairo, a densely populated area that contains numerous monuments of prime importance. These monuments include Africa’s oldest mosque, Cairo’s oldest church and a synagogue.  Ground water lowering helped to preserve Amr Ibn El Aas Mosque, Abu Serga Church, Mar Guirguis Church, the Roman Tower, Ben Ezra Synagogue and the Hanging Church. Ground water lowering projects around the Mosque of Salah Tala’l and Amr Ibn El Aas Mosque also addressed the problem of sewerage flooding in nearby areas which resulted in construction of sewer lines and house connections which benefitted approximately 190,000 residents living near the two sites.   

Small Development Activities Program

The Small Development Activities program awarded more than $76,000 in grants to 11 Community Development Associations.  The grants were used for a wide range of projects, including:

(a) micro-credit programs for low-income families and street children,

(b) computer training for recovering drug addicts and for university and secondary schools graduates

(c) training for children with special needs

(d) vocational training,

(e) training of nurses in pediatric oncology and,

(f) a community solar hot water system project.

EDUCATION

Schools

The USAID-supported Education Reform Program addresses school-based reform by introducing modern teaching methods to schools, training school management in educational leadership, promoting teacher professionalization and increasing community participation. In Cairo governorate, the program has trained over 7,300 teachers, awarded more than 64,900 girls’ scholarships, taught literacy to over 5,500 adult learners and built 135 classrooms.

More than 120 Cairo schools participated in the School Team Excellence Awards program that motivated teachers and school education teams to maximize student learning and implement school-level reforms; 23 of the schools in the program received excellence awards at the district level and three at the governorate level.

All public primary schools in Cairo governorate have received libraries under the National Book Program; 236 teachers have been trained on how to effectively utilize these books to encourage reading.

Thirty-seven experimental schools will be equipped with computers and data projectors, and their teachers trained on how to use this technology to improve learning outcomes, under the Technology for Improved Learning Outcomes program.     

Higher Education Scholarships and Participant Training

To date, ten students from Cairo have received USAID-funded scholarships to the American University in Cairo, 12 students have received Fulbright scholarships to undertake master’s degrees at U.S. universities and over 220 students have received scholarships to attend community colleges in the United States.  In addition, more than 1,480 Cairo residents have received USAID-funded training within Egypt or the United States.

Health Systems Strengthening

USAID, in partnership with Health Systems 20/20, supports the Ministry of Health to implement its health sector reform program. USAID supports the development of a long-term workforce plan, the institutionalization of National Health Accounts to monitor health system performance, and building the capacity of the Health Insurance Organization as a payer to extend health insurance coverage. Cairo is one of the target governorates where USAID is helping the Ministry of Health implement workforce planning and management in select hospitals. 

Health Communication Campaigns

USAID-supported health communications programs assist the Egyptian to carry out health campaigns. Health messages on maternal and child health, family planning and reproductive health, avian and pandemic influenzas, and other national priorities are delivered via clinics, a national network of pharmacies, outreach activities and mass media campaigns.

Infectious Disease Control

USAID supported the implementation of the National Infection Control program in28 hospitals and 165 primary health care units in Cairo; funded equipment and software and provided technical assistance and training for 34 Epidemiology and Surveillance Units; assisted with upgrading the capacity of the Central Public Health Laboratory and the Governorate Common Laboratory; provided funds and technical assistance to establish the first HIV/AIDS Voluntary Counseling and Testing center in Cairo; and supported the establishment of the first sexually transmitted infections clinic and the first AIDS treatment and care hospital ward.  USAID also works with the health sector to educate health care workers in the detection and treatment of avian flu patients.

Supporting Most at Risk Teenagers Against HIV/AIDS

USAID supports UNICEF to implement a project in ten social care institutions in Greater Cairo that aims to reduce the vulnerability of at-risk children to HIV/AIDs by building their knowledge and skills and increasing their ability to manage risk situations. The project also trains counselors and social workers.

DEMOCRACY and GOVERNANCE

Family Justice Project

USAID’s Family Justice Project works closely with its Egyptian partners, the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Family and Population to: a) strengthen the capacity of the family justice system to mediate family disputes; b) increase access to and information on family legal services; c) establish legal aid offices to provide free legal assistance to litigants in family legal disputes and d) establish a management information system on mediation services and results. One of the main activities of the project was to devise and implement a nation-wide training plan for Egypt’s 233 family mediation centers, including training of trainers. The nation-wide training program was completed in November 2008. 

Combating Violence Against Women and Children

USAID is providing training to a range of professionals working with women and children including judges, prosecutors and social workers in the child court system, members of newly-established child protection committees, professionals working in shelters for battered women and NGO leaders and professional staff.  The project has thus far trained more than 490 professionals in the Cairo governorate.  USAID will be refurbishing the Cairo Child Court and the city’s largest state-run child protection facility in order to make the facility more child-friendly in line with the rehabilitation focus of the newly-amended Child Law. In addition, USAID supports two NGOs working to reduce violence against women in the Cairo governorate:  one is implementing an 18-month project to raise awareness of women’s rights and provide psychological, social and legal support for battered women in the communities of Greater Cairo and Nagea Hammadi (Qena governorate); the other is implementing a 14-month project in Old Cairo that empowers battered women by teaching them their rights and raises community awareness of violence against women.

Administration of Criminal Justice

This project works with the Office of the Prosecutor General in Cairo to strengthen the existing public defense system by developing curricula and providing training to engage prosecutors in applying human rights concepts and the right to counsel to due process practices in Egypt. The project is also automating nine selected prosecutor general offices and is developing an information center to improve the management and administrative capacity of the Office of the Prosecutor General. 

Media Development Program

USAID is assisting the Egyptian media sector to become more professional, economically viable and independent through the strengthening of Egyptian institutions that train journalists and manage and develop media.  USAID will also help the implementing a media reform agenda.  The program is working with many institutions in the Cairo governorate.

Decentralization

USAID is supporting the Government of Egypt’s plans to reform local administration toward a more decentralized model of governance through the five-year Egyptian Decentralization Initiative, which began in April 2006 and will end in April 2011. USAID is assisting with increasing the financial resources available to local governments for responding to community priorities; enhancing participatory mechanisms to plan, allocate, and monitor the use of revenue; and strengthening the  

administrative capacity and legal framework for local government to manage resources effectively and transparently.

Civil Society Grants

USAID is implementing a broad range of initiatives to strengthen civil society in Egypt. Through the Civil Society Direct Grants Program, USAID is helping to create an environment that encourages civil society organizations to develop and implement local, demand-driven activities to promote democratic development and increase citizen civic and political participation.  USAID is providing funding for seven non-governmental organizations working in Cairo governorate in the following areas:

• Legal education for trainee lawyers and new lawyers.

• Increasing youth (those aged between 13 and 18 years) participation in public life through the dissemination of a culture of civic education and citizenship as a way to solve social and community issues, and increasing youth involvement in the democratic process through assisting youth to develop advocacy skills.

• Programs encouraging the use of the media as a tool for supporting democratic reform.

• Mobilizing local communities to improve transparency and fight corruption in public and private institutions.

• Strengthening the legal and regulatory framework governing civil society.

• Increasing the number women and youth who are registered to vote and promoting their increased voting and political participation through training, technical assistance and sub-grants to Egyptian civil society organizations who work in this area.

• Engaging religious leaders, policy-makers, community leaders, educators and the media in a dialogue centered on the principles of democracy, pluralism and tolerance.

For more information, contact USAID/Egypt Public Outreach Office,

tel.: (202) 2522- 6557, or visit our web-site: http://egypt.usaid.gov