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Italian Cooperation in Egypt |
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Italian NGOs
Involved in Egypt |
ENGAGING ON ITALIAN NGOs WORK
 Italian
Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) are consolidating their
activities in Egypt working in partnership with the civil society.
Together, they play an important role in addressing development
issues and promoting participation.
Italian NGOs have
been willing to work in Egypt since long. After their formal
recognition from the Egyptian authorities, they are currently
implementing projects in several sectors and geographical areas.
These projects
are
co-financed by Italian Co-operation.
MAIS, COSPE and
MOVIMONDO are presently active in the Country, as well as CISS and
Ricerca e
Cooperazione. Other NGOs are currently exploring areas of
interventions. NGOs promote economic, social and human development,
focusing on exchanging experiences and know-how.
 Ricerca
e Cooperazione
(RC) is a non-profit Italian NGO, founded in 1985 and based in Rome,
that
promotes and implements development, research and information
programs in developing and less developed countries.
Ricerca e Cooperazione is accredited upon the Italian Ministry of
Foreign Affairs since 1986 and is dealing with development
bilateral initiatives and private ones and it is registered
upon UNFA and IFAD. Concerning EC co-funded projects, RC is working
with several budget lines, such as Food Security, Demography,
Environment.
Within the activities carried out in the area of sensitisation on
development issues, RC has established a partnership with several
Italian Municipalities.
Connected to
some Italian, European and developing Countries NGOs’ networks, RC
is an active member of the Italian NGOs Association.
Ricerca e Cooperazione organizes development projects in the
following sectors: rural development, regional planning, natural
resources management, protection of environment; social promotion
and strengthening of local organization; income generating
activities and vocational training; microcredit scheme
implementation; sexual and reproductive health; cultural heritage
rehabilitation and enhancement;
productive
activities and professional training; cultural heritage
rehabilitation and valorization; fight against desertification.
MAIS
M.A.I.S.
is currently implementing a project to address human rights
violations in Sohag, Egypt. W.A.H.I. (Women Association for
Health Improvement) is collaborating with MAIS in its present
mission and has extensive experience in implementing successful
projects with many local NGOs. The project, called "Advancing
Women Rights. Promoting Attitudes against Gender-based Violence
through strengthening the Capacities of the Civil Society
Organizations", aims to promote
women rights by changing the community’s cultural and social
attitudes which traditionally have exposed vulnerable women and
young girls to violent and harmful practices.
The project will
be implemented by two main strategies, which will both alter popular
beliefs and perceptions about women and be useful in reducing
gender-based violence, while advance women’s and children’s rights.
These strategies include an intensive advocacy component and a
capacity building program. The advocacy component is intended to
develop a positive public opinion about women and encourage civil
initiatives to prevent harmful practices against women and children.
The capacity building program has been designed to strengthen the
capabilities of civil society organizations which advocate and lobby
for the application of laws in defending women from violent acts.
Eventually, the
project will produce a sustainable change in different aspects of
many women’s private lives including the decrease of early
marriages, domestic violence, and FGM (Female Genital
Mutilation). Moreover, support services such as legal, medical
and psychological counseling, besides micro credit loans, are being
offered to the project’s beneficiaries, which will help them in
their battle for empowerment and rights.
COSPE
 Since 1998
COSPE
works on supporting income generating activities mainly in
the handicraft sector. COSPE is active in several Governorates and
works with individual and group producers, mostly women. Applied
strategies focus primarily on enhancing producers’ technical and
managerial skills, as well as product quality and quantity. In so
doing, COSPE advocates for economic and social inclusion of
marginalized groups promoting their access to markets.
Marketing Link/
Phase I
is COSPE’s first intervention in Egypt. The project started in 1998
and finished in 2001. It trained more than 200 producers (mainly
rural women) in the field of product development and quality
improvement. It succeeded in creating access to the market,
including Italian Fair Trade channels, for more than 600
marginalized craft producers.
Promoting equal
and fair trade is also COSPE concern instilling ethical
principles which guarantee the absence of any form of economic,
psychological and physical abuse.
 In light of this
experience and in order to pursue the opportunities identified under
it, the ongoing Marketing Link Programme was funded by the
Italian-Egyptian Debt for Development Swap Program and started in
2003. The project aims at further strengthening individual producers
and groups of productive families in handicrafts and agro-processing
sectors. It works closely with the Ministry of Insurance and Social
Affairs. It focuses on production and management skills improvement.
It supports the activities of the ‘Egypt Craft Center’ as Fair Trade
organization and market channel for producers’ goods, with an
expanded outreach of 2,000 producers nationwide. In 2002, 4.5 tons
of dates from Siwa were exported in Italy through the Fair Trade
MACONDO organization; and 13 tons are to be exported in the
2003.
A further phase
of Marketing Link Programme is currently under consideration.
COSPE is also promoting a new project “Rehabilitation
of the Vocational Training Centre and Support to the organization of
cultural events and social activities of the Community Development
Association of Abu El
Nomros”
in Giza Governatorate. The project proposes a multisectorial
approach to community development tackling economic as well as
social uplifting and it integrates with the
Italian Poverty
Alleviation Program.
MOVIMONDO
“Community
Development through the Promotion of Local Small and Micro
Enterprises”
is MOVIMONDO’s project in the Governorate of Giza in partnership
with the Egyptian NGO Small Enterprises Community Development
Association (SECDA). It
tackles specific issues such as the lack of communication and
association among entrepreneurs, the pulverisation of production
processes and the difficulty of articulation between enterprises and
markets. The project focuses on
developing small
and micro enterprises, while spreading the culture of associationism.
It operates within
the framework of the micro-credit scheme implemented by the Italian
Poverty Alleviation Program. It works with Community Development
Associations (CDAs) improving the potentials of the
micro-finance system. The project provides 4 Business Support
Centers in selected CDAs implementing the revolving fund. These
centers deliver services of legal, fiscal, managerial and financial
assistance. They advocate for cooperation between micro-enterprises
and handicraft workers and for spreading the industrial culture
among the entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, it stresses the importance of
networking and associating among local and national
entrepreneurs so as to exchange experiences.
Furthermore, the
project promotes territorial partnership in the Mediterranean
region, organizing exchanges of small Egyptian entrepreneurs and
local operators in Italy through managerial training courses.
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