Author: mohammed

Signing cooperation agreements with 11 civil society associations

Post author By mohammed
Post date 9 September، 2021
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Cairo- September 9, 2021

CSA4L project targets five thousand farmers, 25% of whom are women, to spread climate-smart agriculture systems Care Egypt Foundation held a ceremony to distribute agreements for funded projects with partner associations in the governorates of Beni Suef and Assiut on September 7 and 8, as part of the activities of the Climate-Smart Agriculture for Life project in partnership with the European Union. A number of executives, representatives of partner associations, representatives of the directorates of agriculture and social solidarity in the two governorates and representatives of the Department of International Cooperation in the governorate’s general office participated in the celebration, as well as the participation of heads of boards of directors of partner societies in each governorate. Care Egypt Foundation had launched its first project on climate change “Climate-Smart Agriculture for Life” in partnership with the European Union, which aims to support the participation of civil society and youth in adapting to climate change and mitigating its effects in Egypt, with a funding of 1 million euros and aims to: Work at the community level to implement community-led interventions that encourage climate-smart agricultural practices by engaging civil society organizations, agricultural cooperatives, and youth with a focus on women’s participation in these interventions. The project adopted a participatory planning strategy, where the current situation of the candidate communities was studied and the target community was involved in identifying needs and preparing financing proposals based on the community needs that were identified in a participatory manner. Climate and participatory planning methodology and how to write proposals according to the scenario planning methodology, passing through a number of steps and stages before the final selection of projects to be funded through the grant program. Through the grant program of the “Climate-Smart Agriculture for Life” project, 11 civil society organizations in Beni Suef and Assiut will implement 11 community development initiatives aimed at raising farmers’ and society’s awareness of climate change concepts and building their capacity to address the crises resulting from this phenomenon. And the shift from traditional practices in agriculture or agricultural production processes to climate-smart farming practices, which would have a direct positive impact on the productivity of small farmers and women farmers and improve their living conditions. Among the applications of modern agricultural practices, the use of solar energy in irrigation machines and rationalization of irrigation through lining watering cans, establishing early warning systems, working to improve soil properties, safe disposal of agricultural and animal residues and reusing them in the form of feed and organic fertilizers, making indicative models, distributing production requirements and planting varieties Of the seeds that withstand difficult climatic conditions and enhance the added value through the recycling of agricultural products. The project targets approximately 5,000 farmers, at least 25% of whom are women. Community initiatives will be implemented in the Beni Suef governorate in a number of communities in the centers of Al-Fashn, Beba, Beni Suef, and Ihnasiya, while the implementation will be carried out in the centers of Sahel Saleem, Manfalut, Al-Duwer, Abnoub, Al-Qusiya and Al-Badari in Assiut. The project adopts mechanisms of control and social accountability, as it works in each governorate through the Association of Specific Union for the Protection and Improvement of the Environment in Beni Suef and the Egyptian Agricultural Association in Assiut to involve young people in monitoring projects and applying tools and mechanisms of control and social accountability within the project.

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Khadra Mostafa selling homemade soap for her neighbors

Post author By mohammed
Post date 14 March، 2021
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Photo By : Mona.

Photo By : Mona

What could EGP100/ a day do for a family of seven members? Khadra Mostafa, a married woman living with her husband and five children in Dayrout El-Sherif village, Assiut governorate. The oldest girl is 16 years old is getting married soon, and the youngest is a 5-year-old boy. Large families tied with small income are a main feature of local communities. Khadra’s family speaks for the status quo of thousands of poor families in Upper Egypt. Her husband, Sherif works as a baker. He has been moving from one working place to another. Khadra and Sherif used to fight all the time about money. This has quickly turned into violent discussions. Endless discussions triggered silence. Khadra in dire need for money has stopped asking her husband for money not even for her diabetes medication. She ended up going into a coma. The family remained with zero income for long time.Amal Bokra/ Hope for Tomorrow association made an announcement about the EU sub-grants. Khadra submitted an application. She has always loved soap trading. Before getting married, she used to sell and buy ready-made soap. But she could not make soap at home. “I did not know how to make it. No one taught me”, she explains. First, her husband refused the home-based business. He could not stand the idea of people constantly visiting the house day and night. Things changed overnight! One day, her husband left his job for over a month. “Suddenly, he stopped pouring his anger on me: he realized that I can make money on my own. We don’t argue about expenses anymore”, she said.
Zaynahom, head of Amal Bokra association explains that the grant covers the largest portion of the capital needed for the business while the applicant pays the rest to ensure her seriousness about launching the business. In addition to the grant, Khadra received a 3-day training at the association premises to gain the necessary skills for soap making. At the beginning, it was not easy: “I spoiled two mixes and kept crying all day. At the end, I was able to fix them. They were all sold out”, she explains. “Today, I gain EGP 800/ month. I pay the house rent. I spend the rest on food and education of my children and save some money for my daughter’s wedding”, Khadra adds.This small business has just unleashed her mind to think about bigger dreams. She is now dreaming of expanding her business and buying a new house. “What would happen to my children if I die? I do not want to leave them on the street. We need to have our own house”, she highlights. Howaida Nagy, Project Manager at CARE explains: “CARE is keen on providing women participants with capacity-building trainings as we will not contemplate with providing money to participants. Our goal is to offer sustainable interventions to the target groups that would have impactful sights on their livelihoods for years to come.”

Youth champion community-based monitoring in Assiut and Beni-Suef

Post author By mohammed
Post date 14 March، 2021
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210 young men and women have been engaged in monitoring the performance of local grassroots organizations in Beni-Suef and Assiut during Hayat Kareema project period (2016- 2019). The community-based monitoring model is designed to build trust between CARE and local grassroots associations on one side and between project’s participants and associations on the other side.As part of the Governance Programming Framework, CARE introduces social accountability tools for the first time in Egypt. Partners are fully engaged in ensuring transparency, access to information and compliance to all forms of community-based monitoring mechanisms. “The model offers a space to citizens to help improve local development processes in the most impoverished areas of Egypt”, Dr. Refaat Abdel-Kerim, Governance and Civil Society Advisor at CARE Egypt says. Youth described how impactful it was on their characters, lives and improving the project’s final deliverables. Mohamed Farag-Allah, coordinator at Hayat Kareema project, explains: “I learnt a lot through this experience. I learnt about procurement, tenders, filing systems. I have better communication skills”. Trainings included communications, accountability concepts, report writing, conflict resolution, field monitoring, input tracking, and public hearing management. Despite signing contracts between CARE and grassroots associations clearly stating that the community-based monitoring mechanism is an essential part of the project. Yet, associations had a difficulty cooperating with young graduates playing the role of monitors at the beginning. Directors of associations are used to receive inspections from government entities not youth. That is a precedent of its kind.
“It is not easy for associations to receive a bunch of fresh graduates coming to spotlight mistakes and expose them to the community and CARE, or at least this how they thought we are coming for. However, when we explained that we are here to help, provide technical support and improve their performance, they started to cooperate gladly”, Ahmed Mohamed, former facilitator at the project says. Monitoring incorporated meeting with project’s participants, discussions with association’s team and documentation review. When bugs surfaced, the monitoring team starts discussing with the team at the association the means of adjustments. Then, the whole thing is reported back to CARE. If the association does not make the necessary amendment. A public hearing session is organized. “Associations lack the experience and technical knowledge. Some of them do not own a laptop. Others do not know how to write reports”, Ahmed underlines. Said Hefny, director of Ayadi El-Kheir association at Beni Soliman village, Beni Suef previously described young graduates as “a bunch of kids inspecting the association’s work”. He quickly changed his perspective when he realized the true objective of social accountability. “They –the youth- became our contact point with the community. At some point, they redirected our attention to more unprivileged areas in the village. They transferred best practices from one association to the other”, he explains. So far, 18 public hearings sessions were held with the main purpose of providing a platform of interaction and dialogue between grassroots beneficiaries, local CSOs, local authorities and local business community. Most CSOs applied the required amendments.

Machinery increase yields, value-added agriculture products

Post author By mohammed
Post date 14 March، 2021
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Agriculture in Egypt lacks machinery and equipment to improve the production process. Aware of such an issue, the EU- funded project, Hayat Kareema, accepted proposals of local CDAs and cooperatives for buying machinery that meet the needs of farmers’ communities.In Beni Suef, farmers suffer from high prices of rents, inaccessibility and poor quality of available machinery. For this reason, Ahmed Gomaa, director of the cooperative of El-Zaitoun village presented two proposals worth of one million EGP to CARE, through Hayat Kareema project, to provide tractors, a corn silage machine, a plough and a trailer. “Our role is to provide services to farmers. We already provide seeds and fertilizers, however, the cooperative is opt to optimize its role by providing machinery at affordable prices for farmers in El-Zaitoun village”, Ahmed says. “Up to the present moment, 1000 out of 1700 registered farmers have benefitted from the two tractors”, he adds. Flipping is important to preparing lands for the next cultivation season and helps increase yields by the end of the season. “Suppliers used to exploit farmers as they offered their tractors at high prices in El-Zaitoun. They know that farmers have no other option”, Ahmed explains. The cooperative offers tractors at lower prices, 500 EGP instead of 700 EGP as offered in the market. View the lower prices offered by cooperatives, in turn, suppliers decreased prices too. Nasser Hussein, a farmer in El-Zaitoun village praises the quality of the cooperative’s tractor, leading to an increase of his yield; and
highlights the importance of accessibility to machinery for improving agriculture production. “My wheat yield increased from 3.5 tons to 5 tons last season. Having a high-quality tractor next door- at the cooperative- is definitely a good idea. Previously, we used to search for tractors in surrounding villages. It was difficult to find one on the spot. We had to wait for a week till we get it to the village”, Nasser Hussein, a farmer in El-Zaitoun village says. Filtering and packaging is another example of introducing machinery in agriculture sector. Beni Suef governorate produces vegetables and fruits allocated for exportation.

Culture

Zeinab

Zeinab, a sister to six brothers, sits proudly in her renovated classroom. “Our school has transformed”.

“The school’s conditions were horrible in the past; we only had one bathroom serving the whole school, we had no courage or mechanism to deliver our complaints and no one was listening to us”.

“My School and I” project, which aims to improve the learning environment in 20 schools in Minya and Beni Suef, was implemented in Zeinab’s school.

She and her colleagues are jubilant about their school’s makeover.

Their words are full of ownership and pride. “Now we have new water faucets, new bathrooms, a complaint box that is frequently checked by the administration and a child protection committee to ensure our safety”.

The project’s best achievement according the sixth grader is the teachers’ new teaching techniques; “I used to be afraid of speaking myself out or asking any questions because the teachers would scold me or even hit me at times, but this has changed”.

No one can do this now as I would immediately report it to the protection committee that would take a firm action against the aggressor.

“We have noticed that our teachers are more patient now and are more open to listen to our discussions and answer our inquiries”.

Zeinab also felt a change in reduced discrimination between girls and boys at the school; “I love to play basketball, Before the project, girls had less privileges and weren’t allowed to play sports in the playground. The project helped the school’s administration and students to overcome this injustice, and now we have the same rights to play sports during activity classes, just like boys”.

After attending the project’s sports days and being involved in different team building activities, she believes that she became a better team player and started cooperating with her colleagues more.

Zeinab dreams to become a doctor and wishes that the school would have a library where she could spend her free time reading and learning.

TODAY.. CARE IS TURNING 72 YEARS OF IT’S GLOBAL OPERATIONS AND 63 IN EGYPT

Post author By mohammed
Post date 14 March، 2021
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Today, CARE is turning 72 years of it’s global operations and work globally “Defending Dignity, Fighting Poverty”.
while CARE International in Egypt turned 63 today as we have proudly been in Egypt since 1954.

Wedad Nouman

“I’m tired”, she said even before introducing herself to us, It came from her heart and her exhausted features asserted it.

Time has had its toll on her wrinkled face and she looked 100 years old.

Her name is Wedad Nouman, from Tatalia Village, Assiut Governorate.

Wedad leant on the table before her, so as to sit quietly in her chair. Her tired body landed, which gives you the feeling – sitting before her – that the whole world came to rest, especially after the long sigh she uttered.

Down in her heart, there was a lot of pain reflected in her pitch dark clothes, as if she lost a dear one.

Wedad is certainly tired, but her success story is an example to be followed.

Her husband travelled to Iraq at the end of the 1990s and she didn’t hear from him again.

She didn’t know if he was alive or dead, let alone that of course he didn’t send her any money.

This went on for a very long time; for 18 whole years. A lonely woman who – all of a sudden – found herself bearing the responsibility of ten children.

A lot of women around the world are responsible for raising only one child, but she had to care for ten children.

She had every right to put emphasis on her words when she said “I’m tired”. “I pray God that no one sees what I have seen in my days”, said Wedad.

“He came back suddenly as he left suddenly, but he came with a dusty face, messy hair and a beard hanging on his chest.

He looked like a captive in a war won by no one. He looked as if he came all the way from Iraq on foot.

He came back after he has fallen sick, he came back with empty hands for his children, whom he abandoned and returned to find them grown men”.

When her husband left, Wedad did not give up.

She was keen to make her children continue with their education, but also to find them jobs during their schooling and in the summer vacation, so that they provide a source of income, no matter how little.

The girls were no exception, for she educated all of them.

She took part in money pools a long time ago, five years ago.

In the beginning, she participated with five names and got 2,000 pounds.

She took another 2,000 EGP loan and bought a small calf. She cared for it as she cared for her children.

The calf gave birth to two babies. She was so happy with them and took good care of them till they grew up.

She sold one for 12,500 pounds and the other for 8,000 pounds. This was a big wealth for this woman, who cared not only for her children, but for her grandchildren too.

She used this money in renting a small plot of land, to plant and provide food for the calf that produces milk, butter and cheese, that she sells to her neighbors, providing her with another source of income. Her children have grown and became men.

She said with relief, “My son takes care of the crops”. She wished.

she had someone to carry all her burdens. “I’m tired, I’m tired of my heavy burdens.

Even after I helped my daughters get married, I still care for them and their children, hence I’m responsible for my children and my grandchildren”.

As if it’s a chain of endless responsibilities, a chain that shackles her and burdens the exhausted old woman.

“Some people feel for me and others say why is she playing the man? Even when my husband came back from Iraq, he objected to my work”.

But the wise woman, who bore all these responsibilities and overcame all these hardships, managed to tame her husband who came back after long years.

She confronted him calmly and asked him why is he indignant. “I never asked you what happened in Iraq.

You came back sick and I took care of you. I never uttered a word”. “He backed and felt thankful for this faithful woman who waited for him all these long years.

Bit by bit he changed his opinion. When we asked her if he helped her she said “Help? He’s too old and can’t go around like the old days. If he supports himself that would be enough for me.”

“It is not shameful to work, but it is shameful to beg”, she concluded.

“This is what God destined for me”, She is content with all that she experienced and all that she achieved.

She still gives abundantly to her children and grandchildren, in spite of the hard lines time put on her face.

Sondos

In Minya, like many conservative rural areas, girls are usually not allowed to play or take part in schools’ activities.

Sondos, an 11 years old girl, attending one of the beneficiary schools of “My School and I” project, had a different experience.

Sondos saw everything in her school changing throughout the past period.

“our classrooms are more colorful and clean, our teachers are now more dedicated in their explanation and are using more interactive methods.

Also, the school’s environment became a safer one especially for girls”.

Sondos narrates to us how the teachers used to severely hit the students even for minor mistakes, believing this is the best way to raise and educate a child.

Consequently, students were very scared of the teachers and couldn’t communicate with them, which hindered the educational process.

After attending several training sessions held by the project, the teachers started realizing the fatal mistake they have been committing, and learnt that hitting doesn’t only harm the children, but is also a punishable crime by law.

“I can’t believe hitting is finally prohibited in our school, it was a nightmare that created boundaries between us and our teachers” says Sondos.

The project also trained the school’s teachers on new teaching methods and improved the school’s learning facilities, which eased up the learning process for the students and made it more interesting to them.

The readability classes which are starting at the beginning of this academic year aim to improve the reading and writing skills of the students.

Sondos works in the school’s student union, which was initiated by the project to grant the students opportunities to acquire leadership skills.

The project encouraged girls to join the union too, which gradually removed the barriers between girls and boys at school and achieved equality among them.

Sondos really loves her renovated school, however she wishes one day her school would have a music room with a piano; she has been dreaming of learning the piano for a long time, and who knows maybe one day she would grow to become a famous pianist.

غير مصنف

Sherine Wasif

“We are simple people who trust in God”. With this simple, devout phrase, Sherine Wasif introduced herself to us.

Sherine, 30 years old, have three kids, the eldest of whom has recently got his commerce diploma.

She married 25 years ago and lives with her husband in Tatalia village in Assiut governorate.

Plenty of Upper Egyptians express their sheer poverty as “simplicity” in place of “poverty”.

They feel rich within themselves, despite their modest conditions, to the extent of poverty sometimes.

However, Sherine wasn’t pitch poor, for she managed to save an amount of about three thousand pounds from selling her poultry and abundant eggs.

Sherine has been saving money for herself, her husband and her children all along.

Her husband is a simple farmer and when the cultivation season is over, he goes to work with any craftsman as an apprentice.

Sherine joined the saving fund in her village early on and she took a large loan from the society amounting to 4,000 Egyptian pounds.

Her eyes sparkled as she told us, with a big smile on her face, “I dreamed of having a buffalo”, She chuckled proudly.

Her husband rejected the idea. “How are we going to feed it?”, he objected.

The husband was very doubtful of his wife’s ability to feed the buffalo, but due to her insistence he finally gave in.

With a big smile on her face, Sherine commented, “Nagging is the weapon of an Egyptian woman” and the secret of her success was her nagging.

Sherine repaid the buffalo loan. Her success was that simple. She took another 1,000 EGP so that her husband rents a very small plot of land to feed the productive buffalo.

Her dreams did not stop at that, but she thought of another project, as the buffalo does not occupy much of her time. Her husband fought with her, rejected the whole idea and asked her to devote her time to her kids and taking care of them.

“Have I neglected any of my duties?”. Sherine did not neglect her children, but her husband opposed the idea just for the sake of opposition.

Sherine did not give in to her husband’s refusal and she cooperated with a lady neighbor of her who was also a member of the saving fund.

They both took a 5,000 EGP loan to work in garments trading.

Her trade grew, which made her in-laws who lived with her in the same house grow jealous.

Her sister in law (wife of her husband’s brother) flooded the house so that Sherine’s visitors could not buy clothes from her.

She did this on purpose, telling her “whether you like it or not”. It did not stop at that, but her husband’s elder brother hit her and her son, telling her “Are you going to act the lady here?”.

Her brother-in-law told her that when he started to sense her success and the improvement of her financial and living conditions; yet, she did not give up and this did not stop her from defending herself, proceeding with her projects and pursuing her dreams.

When her fights with her in-laws continued, her husband sided with her and supported her.

The house was divided between the brothers and the lot of Sherine and her husband was 3 rooms; a room for the buffalo, another for the garments and the third for them to live in. Despite the family of five being crammed in one room, this decision of distributing the house made Sherine happy and feel independent.

Sherine succeeded in her projects. “I have good manners and my prices are good, Whatever the village women ask for I get them”.

By that Sherine summarized the secret of her success in the garment trading project.

When she took us by the hand to show us her buffalo, there was a strange intimacy between her and the buffalo.

She patted it so tenderly and lovingly, calling it her “Lucky charm”. She asked us to take a souvenir photo of her and the buffalo.

Sherine feels a lot of contentment, pride and happiness due to her success in her project, “I have learned a lot. I used to be too shy to talk to anybody.

I’ve changed a great deal”, Sherine also advised us that it was not only her who changed, but her husband changed too, for he used to fight with her and try with all his might to stop her from trading in garments, “You don’t need such a job”, he constantly repeated.

His position changed when he saw how she repaid her debts without seeking his support; he felt then that she knows what she’s doing. He gives her support when she has too many clients. He prepares lunch for her and their children to give her time to look after her trade.

Sherine adjusted her cheerful, flowery headscarf on her head and proudly said, “I used to feel helpless, but now I’ve learned how to be strong.

In the future, my children will follow in my footsteps”, She chuckled, bent a little backwards and continued, “my eldest son is embarrassed because my clientele are all women”.

Sherine concluded, “I will put shelves and expand my garment project”. It was clear to us that for her dreams the sky is the limit.

Shahira

Passion is all what you see in their eyes, which are carefully following her hands and face, moving together in harmony.

You immediately sense the love and tenderness she has to them, to an extent which would make you question if they are only her students not her kids.

Well known for a beautiful smile which is always preserved on her face, “Shahira”, who succeeded in transforming the lives of her students, is definitely a source of pride to all her village.

“Shahira” is not only one of “The Readability Project” instructors, but one of its organizers too.

She was able to attract the students of her village to the classes, after a long period of aversion to them, due to their fear from being viewed as unintelligent or lazy if they joined the readability classes. Besides her work as a teacher, Shahira supervises the project and gives a hand to other teachers whenever they need help.

“Since CARE started the project, I have been very excited about it. I attended all the preparatory training sessions to be able to apply all what I learnt with the kids.

I do my best to encourage the kids and make them love the classes, so I try to introduce different learning activities to the classes instead of the old tough methods of teaching.

Parents’ role in the educational process is crucial; that is why I teach them “the readability class curriculum”, so they could help their children with their studies, which definitely gives us better results.”

Shahira’s simple methods of teaching, and her innate experience as a mother in dealing with kids helped her succeed in gaining the love and trust of her students.

She started by working on improving their self-confidence, through asking them very simple questions and rewarding them when they answer correctly.

She also organized an exhibition to display the new methods of teaching so that all the teachers could benefit.

The effort Shahira’s students exert now in learning, and their persistence to improve and achieve better results, is the best proof she is an exceptional teacher and role model, who planted a seed of good that would soon ripe and have its positive impact on everyone; because “Confucius” once said it; if your plan is for one hundred years, educate children.”