Village Partnership

The Village Partnership program is implemented in collaboration with Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Services (CEOSS) from Cairo.

This development program consists of a number of locally initiated projects in health, education, housing and environment, agriculture, economic assistance and human rights awareness raising. It is based on the understanding that poverty is a complex social phenomenon that must be addressed through an integrated approach combining various development activities in a targeted community and engaging the active participation of beneficiaries.

After successfully completing activities in the village of Jafaar, we started a four-year program in two impoverished communities – El Ashmoneen, a rural area in Upper Egypt, and Estable Antar, an urban slum in Old Cairo. We remain committed to this project for at least another two years, continuing to raise funds to complete development activities in these two areas. We encourage donors to consider supporting one or more activities within this program.

Ashmonen is located in the Malawi district of the Minia governorate, on the western bank of the Nile in Upper (Southern) Egypt. It has about 15,000 inhabitants, 80% of whom are employed in agriculture. A small number of the farmers actually own the land they work on, while the majority work on rented land. About 40% of the population is very poor. Interventions in Ashmoneen focus on improving the quality of life for the groups in need through:

• Improving housing and environment including house repairs, toilet installation, solar panel installation, clean water connections, neighborhood cleaning campaigns and tree planting campaigns.

• Health services including screening and treatment campaigns and awareness - raising, including anti-Female Genital Mutilation campaigns.

• Education, including school enrollment campaigns, literacy classes and life skills classes for girls.

• Agriculture including poultry distribution, breed improvement, training for farmers in environmentally safe and bio-organic methods of agricultural production, and awareness raising about preservation of natural resources.

Estable Antar is an urban squatter in Old Cairo. More than 60% of the population live below the poverty line. The illiteracy rate is about 56%. Estable Antar is an informal community built without any urban planning. Basic services, housing and environmental conditions are all very poor. Houses are often built from non-permanent materials, the population density is very high, and pollution poses a real threat to human health. Only about 50% of households have access to clean water and sanitation. Incidences of respiratory, eye and skin diseases as well as parasites are high. There are no hospitals in the community.

Development activities in this community provide assistance in:

• Housing and environment including house repairs, toilet installation, solar panel installation, clean water connections, neighborhood cleaning campaigns and tree planting campaigns

• Education, including school enrolment campaigns, literacy classes and life skills classes for girls

• Fighting child labour through a combination of community awareness campaigns, safety measures at workplaces, health campaigns for working children, micro-credits to families of working children and those at risk, and campaigns for returning working children to schools or providing them with literacy classes and training for safer jobs

• Health services including screening, treatment campaigns and awareness raising, including anti-Female Genital Mutilation campaigns

• Economic assistance though microcredits to support female headed households

All activities in both communities are supported by capacity building for local community based organizations to ensure long term sustainability.