Development Support Centre

A Political Science major with concentrations in International Law and International Relations, I have never really been interested in the workings of NGOs and their interest with human rights and conditions, issues concerning gender rights, garbage disposal, etc. I have always been more interested in, what I thought, the more "serious" side of Political Science: International cases, treaties governing the rights of passage, security issues, territorial integrity, state sovereignty, and all that fit within those categories. I always thought Development to be an area that comes automatically as a package with Political Science. However, after a few of the class sessions and my meeting in DSC, I have come to realize that Development is an entire area of Political Science which does more than just touch on human rights issues or gender issues; it is an area which takes into account the overall and specifics of a developing state's progression in handling domestic affairs of all sorts and providing personal, physical, educational, and professional care to its citizens and its territory.

The DSC, formally known as the Development Support Centre for Consultancy and Training, established in 1999, in a consultancy firm which attends to the institutional needs of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Egypt which are rising in increasing numbers by providing support and assistance to strengthen the capacity of those organizations and assisting them in reaching their target audiences and realizing their goals and objectives. The DSC does so both through trainings and direct consultancy. Furthermore, the DSC links NGOs together with Donors, who support the NGOs monetarily or in other ways.

At our first meeting at DSC, we met with two members of the staff, Hala Shukrallah and Wedad Ekkerdaoui who gave us a presentation on the different projects in DSC, how long they have been working, past examples of projects they undertook, their main concerns, their mission statement, their beliefs and objectives, and how they carry out their day-to-day business. While they listed an amazing and overwhelming number of NGOs on the board, I was more interested in the DSC's work because they interact with all those NGOs and aid in not just one area of interest, but all of area of interests because in the end the DSC provides the assistance and helps the NGO, whatever its concentration or mission is, reach its goal.

The DSC's mission statement is basically, "To support and strengthen the newly emerging civil society in Egypt and the Arab countries, while encouraging its diversity of character and unity of purpose, as part of a larger global civil society". Mainly, the goals of DSC are to:

• Assist in strengthening the growing civil society in Egypt and the Arab World through developing the institutional capabilities of different organizations and growing civil initiatives.
• Assists organizations in developing independent agendas, both at the community and international levels, through identifying the needs of its target groups and beneficiaries, especially the most disadvantaged and marginalized.
• Builds on the common experience of organizations to develop the skills and tools needed for NGOs and their target groups to identify and advocate their causes and issues to broader sections of the society, including government institutions.

The DSC, according to the staff, does not see itself as a group of professionals, rather as a group of people who want to aid civil institutions in their commitment to long-term goals concerning the civil society in Egypt and in the Arab community. It works constantly to develop its interventions accordingly to rising humanitarian and developmental issues in accordance with newly identified needs and challenges in growing sectors of the society. The DSC developed its approach based on the belief that institutional development is a component on which civil development and the development agenda is based on. In addition, DSC works with the principle of "partnership", whether it be with other consultancy firms or donors in forming a collective agenda with the target NGOs.

My main task will be aiding in a research made by a foreign employee, Martha. Her research is about the role of civil societies in Egypt and the Arab community, and I will be aiding her in the survey of such societies within Egypt and researching in the different roles different civil societies play within Egypt, both within the civil and political scale. My other tasks include simple bureaucratic tasks, such as translation, sending documents, and office work.

In conclusion, I believe that my work in the DSC will be fulfilling, as I will be able to survey the roles of NGOs in the shaping of civil societies and its structural role in the political nature of Egypt. Furthermore, it will give me hands-on experience on Development as an area of study in Political Science, and will hopefully change my initial views of Development to one which is much more complete and positive.