World Bank approves $500M fund for Egypt’s social safety nets

CAIRO – 4 July 2019: World Bank’s board of directors approved Wednesday an additional $500 million fund to support Egypt’s ongoing efforts in expanding and improving social safety nets, according to Minister of Investment and International Cooperation Sahar Nasr.

The minister clarified that this step comes to ensure access to the most needy families while building sustainable paths out of poverty.

"As Egypt moves ahead with the second wave of the economic reform program, we continue to commit ourselves to ensure the well-being of all Egyptians, and we are also dedicated to providing sustainable income opportunities," she said.

Nasr added that this partnership with the World Bank is based on the success of the Takaful and Karama Program and the World Bank's support for Egypt's goal of sustainable growth for all Egyptians.

The new project aims to support and expand the program of Takaful and Karama with the application of employment and economic empowerment programs for the members of the targeted families, in addition to the provision of vocational training for the poorest members of the families and linking them with economic opportunities with priority given to youth and women.

Takaful and Karama project covers about 2 million families, about 9 million people. The project reached disadvantaged families in all of Egypt's 27 governorates, in which 88 percent of the total beneficiaries so far goes for women.

The tale of Takaful and Karama cash transfer program

CAIRO - 1 July 2019: With Egypt receiving the final tranche of IMF, the government was keen to strengthen social safety nets program including Takaful and Karama, here is a thorough explanation for Takaful and Karama program as published in the World Bank website.

"We aim to invest in Egypt's human wealth and our partnership with the World Bank helps us to design programs that improve the quality of life and build human beings," Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali stated.

For her part, Regional Director of the World Bank office in Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti, Marina Weiss, said that through this project, the bank continues to support Egypt's efforts to develop human capital and create jobs, which are essential to the success of its reform program, adding that promoting sustainable and inclusive growth requires effective support to get out of poverty.

According to the statement, the project also comes in line with the World Bank Group's partnership framework with Egypt and the expanded regional strategy for the Middle East and North Africa to promote sustainable and inclusive growth through skills development and enhanced livelihoods for women and youth.

The World Bank program in Egypt supports ongoing reforms based on three interlinked pillars identified by the partnership framework.

The first pillar focuses on building human capital in Egypt by improving the education system, implementing reforms in the health care sector and expanding social safety nets in the country. The second pillar focuses on improving Egypt's competitiveness through private sector-led growth, supporting the country's transition to the digital economy and stimulating business to create jobs.

The third pillar focuses on improving governance and building the capacity of local governments to provide better services to citizens.

The bank's portfolio in Egypt includes 16 projects with total commitments of $7.5 billion, in addition to the bank's analytical and knowledge services.