Project title: Poverty Alleviation and Environmental Enhancement in Northern Cairo” (AID 8592/COSPE/EGY)

Funded by Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs – Italian Cooperation

Sector: Community Development – Environmental Education

Type of intervention:Networking, awareness, capacity building, training.

Local Partners: APE (Association for the Protection of the Environment), AAEC (Ama Arab Environment Company)

Other stakeholders involved: NCCM (National Council for Childhood and Motherhood) and CCBA (Cairo Cleanliness and Beautification Authority)

Location: Cairo Governorate: Districts of Shobra, Road El Farag, El Sahel, El Zawya, El Sharabeya, El Hadaayeq and El Zaytoon 

Period of implementation: 2008 – 2011 (start up February 2008)

Amount and nature of the funds:Channel: bilateral. Value of the project:  € 1.500.685

Beneficiaries: Community Development Associations and Ngos, schools, churches and mosques, district authorities, police officers, hospitals personnel

Objective: To improve the quality of life, healthy, and the environmental conditions of the inhabitants of the Northern Cairo area

Description of the project

Historical Background

Cairo is one of the most heavily populated metropolises in the world. Most of its
inhabitants are concentrated in the Northern area of the city where around 2 million persons live in only 31 km2. Northern Cairo consists of 7 districts; Shobra, Road El Farag, El Sahel, El Zawya, El Sharabeya, El Hadaayeq and El Zaytoon. This area is currently suffering from a state of environmental, health and social degradation.

Beside a high level of poverty, local population lacks of knowledge on how to lead a healthy life. Many are unaware of pertinent environmental issues, due to social, traditional, and financial realities. The population is largely unacquainted to the extent of the relationship between environmental pollution, solid waste and the obvious effect of above said factors on leading a healthy lifestyle.

Therefore, COSPE together with APE and AAEC, among other partners, decided to design and implement a project to improve the human and social development in the area; steps are being made to take action in order to relieve the burden of Northern Cairo's environmental reality.

Starting from the assessment realised, the present project has been designed in order to make a step beyond: from the awareness and educational activities to a permanent system of virtual behaviours carried out by network formed by the local population, the authorities and community groups and leaders.

In the general delay of execution of national policies on protection of the environment main problems to be addressed are:

·          Professional inadequacy of institutional officers in charge of managing the issue

·          Scarce involvement of local actors on social and environmental issues

·          General delay in terms of awareness on environmental topics. It is registered a certain indifference among religious leaders (who play an important leading role in the society)

·          Scarce priority assigned from the relevant authorities to environmental rules especially those related to management of public spaces dedicated to solid waste management and a missed integration among public and private sector in addressing the issue

·          Destructive actions normally done by street children and informal pickers.

·          Missed enforcement of rules on hazardous medical wastes, which lead to dispersion, recycling and sometimes illegal market of them

Objectives

The overall objective of the project is then “to improve the quality of life, healthy, and the environmental conditions of the inhabitants of the Northern Cairo area” and, specifically, “to raise the inhabitants awareness of environmental conditions specifically regarding the solid waste management”. 

Expected results to be achieved will be:

• raising residence environmental awareness about dealing with waste and workers in the field of solid waste;
• activating rules and laws in the same field;
• implementing positive actions for marginalized groups, such as street children and informal pickers;
• Extending good practices among health providers/operators in dealing with hazardous medical waste.

Through community based institutions, such as schools, NGOs, religious communities, health facilities and the family unit, awareness of the public's sense of importance of cleanliness for the environment and the health in general will be raised. One of the major social marginalized groups, the street children, will benefit from awareness and positive actions; they actually need nurturing environment to grow and become functioning members of the society. By involving local authorities the project intends to contribute to institutionalize environmentally healthy and other concerned laws. The project will also extend good practices among health providers/operators in dealing with hazard medical waste by offering seminars, training, workshops. To these ends a constant presence on the media will be guaranteed.

To assure the sustainability of the project a strong networking and a community based development methodology will be used to create common permanent initiative among different actors at different levels.

Beneficiaries

Schools in the 7 Districts are almost 500: at least one third of them will be involved and 30 of them will be targeted by the development of environmental educational programs managed by the project staff and teachers together. At least 1300 children (10-15 years old) will also participate to joint environmental activities with youth clubs and associations.

Leaders of CDAs, associations, mosques and churches will be involved in initiatives and information/awareness campaigns and trainings: all of them are supposed to be an important reference for the public opinion and they are so considered key actors for sensitising the community.

Policemen, together with District authorities are also supposed to be a target, since they can help to enforce the law and let people respect regulations on environment and public spaces. Specific positive actions will be taken towards marginalised groups as street children and informal garbage pickers. Activities will have the objectives of: limiting the impact of their behaviour on the environment; positively involving them in the issues of waste management and improving their living conditions. Training will be provided, furthermore, to personnel of hospital and clinics – at least 200 people – involved in management of hazardous medical waste management. 

Activities foreseen

• Community mobilization and community planning
• Schools activities for teachers, schools and parents council
• Communication and media campaigns
• Community mobilisation for religious leaders, NGOs CDAs and youth clubs
• New professional profiles on environment and community management
• Capacity building addressed to police staff and local authorities officers
• Support and network for associations dealing with street children
• Involvement of street children in income generating activities related to the environment
• Integration of activities for schools and association with the network of street children
• Production of promotional material on good practices and norm on medical hazardous waste management
• Training sessions addressed to medical staff, managers of hospitals and clinics
• Training addressed to hospital operative units and dialysis centres and other centre with high risks of hazardous medical waste