89% of beneficiaries of ‘Takaful, Karama’ are women: gov.

CAIRO, 28 Feb 2019: Nearly 89 percent of those who benefit from the government’s ‘Takaful and Karama’ program are women, according to a report issued by The Planning Ministry on Thursday.

The report highlights the Ministry’s accomplishments in the 1st half of 2018/2019.

Minister of Planning Hala el Saeed said in a statement, that equality between both genders and empowering women are integrating and intersecting targets of sustainable development. She asserted the importance of consolidating gender equality in all domains including health and education.

Takaful is an income support program for families with children (0-18 years), designed to produce human development outcomes. It entails commitments to families regarding child health and nutrition (0-6 years), school enrollment and 80% attendance for children (6-18 years) and maternal care for pregnant and lactating mothers.

Karama is a social inclusion program for persons who cannot work, specifically the elderly (65+ years of age) and persons with disabilities (50% disability and above) and is designed to provide social protection and decent life for these most vulnerable populations.

Last August, Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Waly, announced paying LE1.1 billion under the Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) program for low-income families.
This sum was distributed through 3,800 post offices nationwide. The number of families benefiting from this program this month amounted to 2.25 million families, approximately 10 million individuals.

The program includes 5,630 villages in all the governorates of the country, while about 72% of the program budget is directed to the governorates of Upper Egypt, with Minya receiving the largest sum in August, up to LE148 million, followed by Sohag with LE124 million, and Asyut with LE114 million.

In 2015, Egypt launched the Takaful and Karama program to provide direct financial support to the