Think tank details accomplishments of Decent Life initiative targeting 58M citizens in Egyptian countryside

CAIRO – 1 July 2023: The Egyptian Center for Strategic Studies (ECSS) issued Friday a report titled "The Villages of Egypt in 10 Years: From Marginalization to Decent Life" which is the initiative aimed at developing the countryside and improving the lives of 58 million with a budget that surpasses LE1 trillion.

What to Know on Decent Life Initiative

The initiative is planned to take place in 4,500 villages dispersed among 20 governorates. It was launched in January 2019, and is being executed over three phases. The first phase, which is still being finalized, targets villages where poverty rates exceed 70 percent; the second is for villages where the range is between 70 percent and 50 percent; and, the third will consist of villages where the percentage is below 50 percent.

Accomplishments

By the end of 2022, 333 civil service complexes have been introduced, as well as 330 agricultural ones; 217,247 electricity poles; 1,149 roads; 256 water pumping stations; 1,547 water treatment plants; 1,101 healthcare units; 221 veterinary units; 353 ambulance service units; 213 family centers; 31 nurseries; 62 libraries; and 990 youth centers. That is in addition to digging 249 water wells, renovating 1,486 housing units, and building 3,828 new ones.

Human Development

Equally, there were initiatives tailored to enhance the quality of life of residents such as operating 701 medical convoys, and holding 98 awareness lectures for residents and 215 social dialogue sessions.

With regard to education, 834 new schools were built, and 1,519 others were renovated. Further, the illiteracy of 74,091 adults has been eliminated.

To reduce unemployment, the residents of targeted villages were hired at plants manufacturing interlock tiles; others processing palm products; and milk collection and processing centers. Also, workshops were held to teach, mainly women, hand weaving on looms, sewing, hand weaving of carpets and rugs, and wood carving.

On the front of economic empowerment, Decent Life Foundation and civil society joined forces to fund 1,200 enterprises with a total of LE45 million. The foundation also signed a cooperation protocol with Misr El Kheir, a prominent charity organization, to pay the debts of 2,000, and empower them socially and economically.

Women Empowerment

Since there are three million families financially supported by women, microfinancing programmes were created to help them make a living so that the amount of funding hit LE1.4 billion in 2021 disbursed to 220,000 women.

On another level, Decent Life initiative helped identify scores of families eligible to join the monetary subsidies programme Takaful wa Karama so as the number of beneficiaries recorded 22 million, with women composing 76 percent and an annual budget of LE3.4 billion.

Charity

There are also several charity campaigns that are "Wasl El Kheir" that distributed staple food boxes among 1.5 million citizens; a similar one that is called "Ketf Fi Ketf and reached four million citizens; "Back To School" that paid the tuition fees of 40,000 students; "Education is Life" that taught 24,000 students and teachers some digital skills; the awareness cultural campaign "Enta Al Hayah" that reached 52,000 individuals; "Ydoum El Farh" that funded the marriage of 800 couples; "Satr wa Afya" that provided 320,000 citizens with various assistive devices as well as home appliances and amenities; and "Kheirak Sabek" targeting to distribute five million hot meals on rural dwellers.

Upper Egypt

The Upper Egyptian governorates in specific acquired 96.8 percent of allocations. That helped finish 97.3 percent of wastewater infrastructure, 90.2 percent of healthcare units; 48.8 percent of schools; and 85.2 percent of roads.

Moreover, 247 irrigation projects were accomplished; 2,480 kilometers of canals were lined at a cost of LE8.6 billion; drip irrigation was substituted for surface irrigation in 60,000 feddans; agricultural wastewater canals rehabilitated; 4,179 industrial establishments lying near waterways overhauled; and New Dairut Barrages which serve 1.6 million feddans (one feddan equals 4,500 square meters) were built.