Cairo, Egypt – created in 2007
The city of Cairo is characterized by a significant presence of street children, working children living on the street but also children living with their families on the street. The political and economic upheavals of the last few years in Egypt have had a significant impact on these precarious populations, as well as on the intervention methods of NGOs and the position of public authorities.
Since 2008, SamusocialInternational Egypt has been providing continuous intervention to children and youth in street situations (EJSR) in Cairo, in partnership with the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS) and civil society actors. The reforms initiated since 2016 by the President of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi elected in 2014 and 2018 are helping to improve the economic situation, and by 2020, Egypt’s GDP was approximately $362 billion. However, due to the fluctuation of the Egyptian pound and rising fuel and energy prices, inflation has soared, straining the purchasing power of Egyptians. In recent years, human rights defenders have been arrested, and laws on counterterrorism and regulation of the internet and media have raised international concern, as have measures taken against the LGBT community. The child protection system remains inadequate, despite important developments in the legislative framework to support the reintegration of RSTs into society. A study, conducted in 2019-2020 by SamusocialInternational in Egypt, showed the limitations of the implementation of some of these laws. This explains, among other things, why a large proportion of the EJSRs met and followed by SamusocialInternational Egypt do not have identity papers and this limits their access to common law.
In June and July 2021, the Director of Operations and the two coordinators of SamusocialInternational Egypt conducted a series of trainings for the mobile teams of the 17 EMAs of the MoSS on the Samusocial method in several cities of Egypt, to reach almost all the staff of the EMAs
In July 2021, SamusocialInternational Egypt organized a two-day conference for social workers from all partners and MoSS on the thematic booklet on the right to identity and the booklet on adolescent girls. Through 3 round tables, professionals discussed issues concerning young women, especially mothers living on the streets and recommendations were proposed.
An internal exercise on the needs of children and youth living on the streets in relation to the services offered was organized with the support of the SamusocialInternational Technical Resources and Education Department. During this exercise, the team was able to identify new ways of working.
Activities:
Mobile Assistance Teams (EMA)
SamusocialInternational Egypt provides medical, psycho-social, educational and legal services to the EJSR. 5 outreach activities per week are organized in the gathering points of street children and youth in Cairo (Agouza, Helwaan, Maadi, Manial, Old Cairo, Abou El Rich, Tahrir and Sayed Zeinab).
Support to partner associations
In 2017, SamusocialInternational Egypt signed five partnership agreements with five local NGOs: Banati Foundation, Ana ElMasry, Egyptian Association for Societal Consolidation, Face and Nour Elhaia. The organization offered five training courses on several topics, including first aid, STI prevention and sexual violence. In addition, common maraudes were organized.
Advocacy actions
In Cairo, advocacy is particularly focused on students, who are the future agents of change, through conferences that often lead to longer-term collaborations with institutions, students and their parents. The organization of a theater festival also takes place every year (3rd edition in October 2021) in order to present and highlight the artistic creations of the children. The year 2021 also marks the signing of a second agreement with the MoSS allowing SamusocialInternational Egypt to intervene in governmental shelters and the organization of quarterly coordination meetings with the “Homeless Children” department to follow up the partnership and facilitate consultation and synergies between the different services involved.
Key figures 2023:
618 Beneficiaries in the street
784 Beneficiaries in partner centers
239 night maraudes
2,405 Social interviews
2,058 Medical care
For more informations:
Contact: egypte@samu-social-international.com
Website: http://samusocial-egypte.org/
Consult our brochure by clicking here: