NACDW: A building block in Egyptian civil society governance

CAIRO - 9 January 2023: Egypt’s 2014 constitution stipulated the right to social protection, which guarantees achieving social justice and decent lives for all citizens. 

That’s why the state has not neglected the effective role of the civil society in achieving all these developmental goals, and widening the social protection spectrum through reaching the largest number of beneficiaries across the governorates. 

Alliance’s emerge

An important step was made by the President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, when he announced the year 2022 as the year of civil society. 

In March 2022, the National Alliance for Civil Development Work (NACDW) was established after 24 civil associations signed on its charter. 

By the end of the 2022, the alliance became the biggest organized, independent gathering of civil society associations, representing the main umbrella, under which 30,000 associations work to achieve development, economic empowerment, social protection. 

Structure of Alliance

The National Alliance for the Civil Development Work (NACDW) has 24 members, including: the General Federation Of NGOS, Haya Karima Institution, Egyptian Zakat and Charities House, Baheya Institution, Ahl Masr, Life Makers, Ra’y Miso, Resala Charity Foundation, Elbakiyat Elsalihat. 

The alliance also include 15K partner associations and 30K member associations under the General Federation Of NGOS, which encompasses around 60K employees and 50K volunteers. 

Goals of Alliance

The alliance was established to unify efforts of civil society associations, and guaranteeing the contribution of all parties effectively in developing local communities and meeting their needs. 

This is sought through strategic plans in different developmental fields including: health, education, awareness, urbanism and others. 

The alliance’s support was diversified as follows:

- Health support: 

The alliance’s assemblies and alliance institutions provided primary health care to beneficiaries via medical convoys in different governorates, and through medical facilities affiliated with the alliance. 

- Financial support: 

The alliance provided the support regularly to beneficiaries, and especially those who were affected by the negative impact of COVID pandemic, or the economic recession that has affected the whole world. 

- Food subsidy: 

The alliance contributed through providing food parcels, food items’ convoys, food outlets and school meals across the state. 

- Direct interventions: 

The alliance’s efforts extended to renovation of houses for beneficiaries whose names were listed, in addition to rehabilitation of villages and providing assistance like: furniture, house appliances, clothes and others. 

- Economic empowerment: 

The alliance has helped in providing SMEs in non-refundable grants worth 1.1 billion EGP during 2022. 

Alliance’s partnership with governmental, private sectors

In August 2022, President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi directed to provide the alliance with 1 billion EGP additional fund to support its societal activities, which has helped the alliance to achieve its goals and activate its partnership with both sectors through some initiatives. 

The alliance’s initiatives included: occasional initiatives, where beneficiary families received cash support, food items , school meals, school tuitions and medical services. 

The initiatives also included urgent interference, which increased the number of beneficiaries to 20 million citizens covered by the social protection, which is worth of 265 million EGP/monthly.  

Also comprehensive development initiatives were part of the efforts, like an initiative focusing on planting and agriculture, which is the first of its kind to be implemented in a partnership way. The first phase of the initiative called “Planting” aimed at empowering 100K young farmers to plant wheat on a distance of 150,000 feddan in eight governorates.

The alliance managed to adopt many of the terms of the national human rights strategy in its activities and procedures, especially in civil and political rights, and social and economic rights.