CARE’s Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies (GBViE) Guidance Note aims to help staff understand how CARE programs address GBV in emergency settings. It outlines what resources are available to support programming and is accompanied by four implementation guides.
https://care.org.eg/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/GBViE-Guidance-Note_external.pdf
Deadline Extended- Apply before the 15th of March 2023.
SASPEN Project- open Call for Egyptian SMEs in the Agri sector:
Care Egypt foundation is launching an open call under the SASPEN Project (Sustainable Agriculture Service provision Enterprise Network in Egypt) benefiting from the Dutch -Egyptian expertise in agricultural innovation and entrepreneurship to support young agribusiness professionals and expanding small and medium enterprises (SMEs) by introducing innovative solutions to their technical challenges, linking these SMEs to financial resources, and promoting innovation and technologies. Thus, Improving the efficiency and performance of the agricultural sector in Egypt.
The SASPEN project is managed by Care Egypt Foundation (CEF) in partnership with Care Netherlands (CNL) and funded by the Netherlands embassy (NL).
We are inviting 40 young professionals representing small and medium enterprises in agribusinesses in Egypt to apply to the 2nd cycle of the project to get the needed technical support and knowledge provided by the Dutch -Egyptian expertise to support their establishments of agricultural-focused SME start-ups and/or expand their existing SMEs.
The SASPEN project is managed by Care Egypt Foundation (CEF) in partnership with Care Netherlands (CNL) and funded by the Netherlands embassy (NL).
We are inviting 40 young professionals representing small and medium enterprises in agribusinesses in Egypt to apply to the 2nd cycle of the project to get the needed technical support and knowledge provided by the Dutch -Egyptian expertise to support their establishments of agricultural-focused SME start-ups and/or expand their existing SMEs.
The 2nd cycle plan:
-The support will be in the form of a diversified and selected set of training modules provided by Dutch and Egyptian consultants based on the need assessments of the newly selected SMEs.
-The SMEs of the 1st cycle will provide mentorship, share their expertise in the different segments of the agri-sector, and transfer the knowledge acquired from the Dutch experts during the 1st cycle of the project to the newly selected SMEs in the 2nd cycle.
-The selected Agri-preneurs will have access to technical guidance and financial information sources to improve their skills and further develop their products and services.
-These SMEs will also benefit from channels for business opportunities with Dutch projects, companies, and partners in the agri-scene.
Criteria of Selection:
Who can apply?
What are the criteria that the proposed SMEs should meet?
you can apply by filling out the below form:
https://forms.office.com/r/i73WybTNRm
“Selling milk is considered a shameful act in rural areas of Upper Egypt. For locals, selling milk means that households are in need. Despite the shame, Nadia Mahmoud walked out to sell milk to the milk collection center (MCC) ten years ago in Halabeya village, Beni Suef, Upper Egypt. Day after day, selling milk has transformed Beni Suef to a leading governorate in the milk production business.
In her seventies, Nadia was not satisfied with the trader she used to deal with. The prices were too low. She used the surplus of milk that was not sold to make cheese for her household consumption. Although her sons work as milk traders, she prefers to sell milk to the local MCC. “I am one of the pioneers who started selling milk to the MCC and have been loyal to it since ever established ten years ago”, she says.
Today, Beni Suef produces 30 tons of milk per day instead of 5 tons with the beginning of the project and 200 KG before “Alban Baladna” CARE-Danone partnership.
Traders control prices. “With the trader, I am not sure what and when will I get my money. If the price of milk drops down on the day he pays me, he would pay me less than the price set when I sold him. If the price increases, I get paid the same amount on the day I sold him. It was so unfair. That’s why, I prefer the MCC”, Fawzya El-Sayed explains.
“With the MCC, I feel that I am an employee who gets paid a stable salary by the end of the month. With this monthly payment, I am entitled to get financial advances from the MCC whenever I need guaranteed by the milk I provide”, Fawzya adds.
At CARE, we believe in educating motivated young women to become compassionate leaders in their communities. We are committed to teaching leadership skills to
every student in public schools in areas where we work. Girls participation in extracurricular activities, like sports and students’ unions (SU) are limited especially in joint
schools. Fatma Safwat, an 11-year-old girl shares her experience as a member of students union of Qasr Hor primary school in
Malawi district, Minya governorate. Fatma, one of the few girls in her school students’ union, is very enthusiastic
about her role in the union. “Eyeglasses for students with short sight” is her first initiative. It all started when Fatma saw some
of her colleagues are bullied for suffering from short sight issues. They were hesitant to share their problem with their teachers. Fatma communicated the matter with the
school management team that was not aware of the issue. She delivered a list of names of students who needed medical examination
and followed-up on the action taken by the management until students were medically examined and got their eyeglasses. Fatma says: “I feel proud of myself when I see my
colleagues happy and able to catch up with their studies”. She also helped raise the awareness of students against bullying. ‘Ana we Madrasty’ or ‘My school and I’ project,
funded by Dubai Cares, aims to improve the quality of education for children in a safe and attractive educational environment. It
provides students with leadership trainings and support social workers to empower SUs role in schools. Elham Zakaria, project
field supervisor at CARE Egypt explains:“The Student Union is one of the school’s most important solid bodies. Our goal is to
build the students’ as well as school staff’s capacities to encourage and support them in their initiatives”. Cleaning the school sidewalk” is her second initiative. Fatma headed the SU delegation meeting the city council to discuss the problem of garbage dispersed in front of the
school gate. “It is our role to speak up about this matter bothering everyone”, she explains. The school management in collaboration with
CARE team worked with the city council to remove all garbage. The roles of the Student Union are endless. Schools are not just about classrooms and textbooks, the Student Union gives the
students the discovery they need to create a living, evolving culture for student growth and success.
In 2017, Reem Mohamed, a (33) Syrian woman, fled with her husband and two children as war engulfed her country. Reem is a young Syrian woman, married with two children, who have been living in Egypt since then. Reem is originally from Damascus countryside, had to move to the capital, Damascus, when her village was declared a war zone. “Although we thought that the capital would be a safer place for us, we lived very hard times. The economic conditions were very bad. No life, no electricity, no safety, and the capital was under attack all the time,” she says.
At that time, Reem and her husband realized that it was about time to flee the country. “We have already lost our home, our business and we left with nothing,” Reem explains. The family left everything behind: their families, friends and country. “We had some savings; so we took our passports and left the same night,” she adds.
The trip to Cairo was not without risks. They lack food and water during their trip which lasted for hours. “Travelling in such terrible conditions and with two children – a 3-years-old son and a six-month-old daughter was a nightmare,” she says.
The family headed to Alexandria to join their relatives there. Her husband tried to start a food processing business. But the business failed and he lost most of his capital. He had to work as an employee in another business.
Adapting to her new life is another challenge for Reem. “Badi Ahwa” (I want to buy coffee) is a simple expression that was not understood by Egyptians”! “People did not understand what I was trying to say,” Reem says. She explains that she never thought that the difference of dialects would be a problem when she decided to move to Egypt. “I know that I am in a better situation than other Syrians who live in isolated camps elsewhere. Here, we live among Egyptians and as part of society. However, the integration is still not that easy. The difference in dialects, cultures, and even in food is obvious.” she underlines.
“At the beginning, I used to take care of my house and children only. I used to spend days alone, with no one even knocking at my door,” she adds.
Reem could not easily adapt to her new life or integrate into a new country. But when she joined a Whatsapp group in her neighbourhood, she was introduced to a CARE Friendly Space. Located in Agami, Alexandria, CARE Friendly Space is a safe place for women created in neighbourhoods where the majority of residents are Syrian refugees.
This place offered Reem an opportunity to network with other refugee women from different countries, including Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Eritrea as well as Egyptians. Activities such as sewing, drawing, cooking, psychological support or even just information sessions about the legal status of refugees, their rights and duties in their new host community were organized.
“This place allowed me to communicate again with people like me, speaking the same language, dialect and with similar stories. I felt home again,” she says. “I learnt to draw, sew and make string art. I displayed my artwork in exhibitions and sold some of my work. But it all stopped with the pandemic,” she adds.
Then, came the COVID-19 pandemic
With the outbreak of the pandemic, Reem, like many other families, went through a difficult time. There was little income and nowhere to go. Even the Friendly Space that she used to consider as her only recreational and learning centre closed its doors during the lockdown. She could no longer connect with her peers.
Our team at CARE Egypt understood the feelings of loneliness and the profound depression of these women during the lockdown. Hence, we created “Lametna” (Our Gathering), a new podcast as a way for female refugees to reconnect.
Season 1 episodes focused on opening a safe space to express their feelings and offering psychological support. Then, twenty Syrian and non-Syrian women refugees volunteered to train in program hosting.
Reem was one of the participants. She hosted a program that she named “Nasij Al-Hekayat” (Weaving Tales). “I had the opportunity to speak about everything: my memories, me being a bride in my house back in Syria nine years ago, about refugees who drowned at sea, about success and failure, my artwork and many other topics,” she explains.
In six months, we podcasted 100 episodes. We reached 7707 listeners from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Germany, France, the USA and Iraq.
Reem left Syria with her 3-year-old son and 6 months-old baby. Four years on, Reem still gets scared when hearing an airplane passing by. The war memories are still vivid in her mind. However, she is full of hope that one day all the hard times would be gone and maybe one day they will go back to their country so that the children meet their grandparents, uncles and aunts for the first time in years.
Though asylum seeking may protect one from the devastating physical consequences of war, the psychological impact is inevitable.
“It is as if I have left the strong, confident Arabic teacher back whom I used to be back in Syria, all I have now is a weak, dependable character, that fears everything and never does anything on its own” says “Mona”, a Syrian woman who came to Egypt after the war circumstances in Syria.
Having an autistic child added much to her suffering; due to her husband’s abandonment of his responsibility towards him, she had to stay up with him all night, fearing her husband would hit him harshly if he cried and woke him up.
Mona failed to express herself and her suffering, she preferred to stay silent and keep it all to herself, she even refused to visit doctors when she got sick.
She only visited a doctor for the first time after two month of nonstop bleeding.
“I thought it was my husband’s right to treat me like this; I used to accept being hit by him instead of my son, I used to accept humiliation and scolding, I used to accept being blamed for delivering an autistic child, I used to accept it all in fear of getting a divorce, but I just couldn’t take it anymore.”
Joining “The Friendly Space” support group was a turning point for “Mona”; she realized that an everlasting positive change in her life had to start from within first, then it would work its way out.
Learning to stand up for herself was her key to a new life, she started facing her husband and refusing his bad treatment, she stopped him when he tried to hit her or their son, she told him he had to bear the responsibility of their child with her, and asked him to stay up with him at night at least once a week because she needs some rest and sleep.
When he refused her requests at the beginning, “Mona” threatened him and asked for a divorce.
To her surprise, he immediately retreated, apologized and agreed to all her requests.
“My fear of losing my husband was actually destroying my life not saving it, when I risked everything for the sake of my dignity, I got everything in return.
It only required me some bravery and the courage to say “NO” to lead a totally new life, one which I am actually satisfied with.
Now I have my strong independent personality back and I am not ready to ever give up my rights again.”
KL is a 17 year old Syrian adolescent who moved to Cairo after the war took place in Syria.
As all Syrians who were forced to leave their homes, remembers the exact date in which he left his home on 13 November, 2012.
When KL moved to Cairo, he was only 14 years old.
As he moved with his family and without his father, KL began to earn his family’s living by working in parking lots, supermarkets, grocery stores and hairdressers.
“I had to work, though I faced many problems to find a job, Some days I returned home with 2 pounds and this was all I succeeded to get”
In 2015, His mother saw an announcement on Facebook for an “Interactive Theatre” asking for volunteers by CARE in a CSO near their house.
“Though I was a little bit not sure that this is a true training, I gave myself a chance to have something new!”, He added “I felt at the beginning that I do not belong neither to the place nor participants and that I am a stranger as I always feel”.
But this feeling has been dramatically changed after the third session of the training.
“This spirit I have felt in the group brought back the same feeling I used to have with my friends back in Syria”.
During the first stage of the training in which the trainer helped the participants to get closer to their personalities and memories, many hurtful memories were passing in KL’s mind.
KL remembered the sexual harassment incident he faced when he was 8 years old. As he described, a man took him in a hidden place and forced him with a knife to take off his clothes.
KL mentioned that the perpetrator threatened him that he will be killed if he told anybody about what happened.
That was not the only memory that crossed his mind, KL also remembered his two close friends who died in front of his eyes in Syria.
“I became accustomed to scenes of blood and murder, I need help!”
After some sessions and getting involved in acting, KL’s character has completely changed, He became more optimistic about his future.
His smile began to appear for the first time since he came to Egypt as he mentioned.
He found new friends and his talents appeared. Moreover, He became a defendant for the cause of the project and combating Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
“I became more close to problems that Syrians face and I feel I have a role in changing my community”.
The interactive theatre training has helped him overcome his inner pain and awful incidents he faced in his life.
KL, as per the trainer’s evaluation, has a great potential in acting and in interactive theatre.
The trainer and his colleagues always encourage him before and after the performance.
The young man’s scenes are met with loud applause from the audience every time he conducted theatre performances.
“I have retrieved my dreams and I have a role model, our theatre trainer”.
KL offers help in many scenes in case of absence of his colleagues. He has been a co-trainer for a new theatre group for women in the same project.
Moreover, he was recruited as a theatre trainers in a Syrian local NGO working in Egypt. KL’s dream is coming true.
He described the “Interactive Theatre” training as a turning point in his life and apparently it will be.
NB: KL is not the real name of the young man as per her request due to the sensitivity of the incident he faced
Once married ten years ago, Nesma was a
housewife. After a three-month marriage, Nesma
got divorced. Since that time, she did not have
anyone to support her financially. Her father
passed away. Her brother helps but he still needs
to meet the needs of his children. “Even the
EGP 300 divorced pension I used to receive was
stopped due to some employee’s mistake,” she
explains. “We used to argue a lot. He slapped me
many times. When it was all over, I felt very down.
Yet, I had to do something with my life”, she says.
Nesma, now living with her mother, in Dayrout
El-Sherif village, Assiut governorate, started with
a grocery store; however, it did not work out well.
“It was not lucrative enough. Moreover, when my
mother got sick, I had to leave everything for her,”
she says. “But how can we live with my mother’s
four-hundred EGP pension?”
At that time, the project facilitators were reaching
out to local communities in the targeted villages
of both Assiut and Beni Suef. When the facilitator
reached out to her, Nesma did not have income
at all. “I like sewing a lot. Since I was a little girl, I
remember that I loved watching my aunt sewing.
I even learnt it at school but it was not enough.
I dreamt to have my own income. I did not want
to be a burden on my brother anymore. I want to
generate my own income just like he does”, she
underlines.
Marwa Hussein, Agriculture and Natural
Resources Program Director says, “We believe
that development of Upper Egypt is highly
intertwined with women empowerment. For
this reason, CARE, Egypt works on promoting
income-generating activities to create selfsustained
businesses for women. Women in rural areas still are not actively participating in
economic activities. Lately, with CARE efforts,
women are more engaged in income-generating
activities which has led to better positioning for
women in household decision-making and better
livelihoods for their families.”
The association provided training to accepted
applicants. Nesma received a training on sewing
before handing her a sewing machine. “I started
with sewing two bed sheets. I paid EGP 200 for
the fabrics and the association gave me the
sewing machine worth of EGP 1000”, she says.
“I sold the bed sheets, then made more and more.
I started selling to my sister and neighbors. One
of my neighbors took me to the school where
she works to sell my products to her colleagues.”
Since then, Nesma expanded the network of
her clients and went to several exhibitions to
display her products. “I can earn up to EGP 1000
per month. I am now more experienced when
it comes to buying fabrics and bargaining with
traders”, she adds.
“I dream of expanding my business, building-up a
good reputation around the neighboring villages
and maybe start marketing my products online to
penetrate new markets”, Nesma says.
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.”
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.
CARE Egypt Foundation (CEF) is an Egyptian, non-governmental organization harnessing the legacy of CARE International in Egypt since 1954 to fight poverty and improve livelihoods. We envision Egypt as a place where everyone enjoys economic opportunities, equality and social justice. We empower women and girls by sharing our values amongst the private sector, government and civil society.
CARE Egypt Foundation is a not-for-profit organization registered under number 833 for year 2018 at the Ministry Of Social Solidarity in Egypt. © 2020 CARE. All rights reserved.
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