Final Report; Final Thoughts

Part One:
This semester I worked with the Al Shehab Institution for Promotion and Comprehensive Development also know as Al Shehab for short. This NGO works on developing marginalized groups in slum areas in and around Cairo particular one such are known as Ezbet Al Haggana. The organizations mission is to promote and develop slum areas by empowering individuals to advocate for their rights as citizens and/or residents in Egypt. They also encourage the beneficiaries to use their own tools and resources in order to promote sustainability and a sense of accomplishment within in the community. To achieve this Al-Shehab has made it their mission to give local community members leadership positions under various developmental projects to encourage community participation. In doing this, community residences are able to identify with a familiar face. By creating partnerships within the community, the organization promotes participation through having equal input and say in the decision making process, being open-minded, and fostering a spirit of teamwork and volunteerism.
This organization envisions democracy being the foundation of this society wherein individuals are able to enjoy their social, economic and political rights as it was expressed at the international convention for Human Rights. Al-Shehab believes the residents of these communities should be allowed access to basic needs such as water and sanitation.
Al Shehab has a number of programs based on the needs and wants of Ezbet Al Haggana residents and quite a few that cater more to children, women, and refugees in the area. “The empowerment model for women and graduated girls” is an example of a program that understands women to be the head of most households in Ezbet Al Haggana. This program is aimed at helping women to establish themselves in society and gain a steady income for themselves and their children by attaining official documents (birth certificate, ID etc). In doing this they become officially recognized as citizens and are able to seek employment, and have access to medical care. The organization also has a program that advocates for women who are victims of domestic violence. A Violence Against Women day was recently held in Ezbet Al-Haggana to bring awareness to the community. The organization also holds an annual summer camp for Egyptian and refugee children who live in the area teaching them about teamwork and how to accept one another through games, arts and crafts.

Part Two:

I chose Al-Shehab as the NGO I wanted to work with because there seemed to be a variety of groups I could work with through the programs they offer. I was drawn to their ground work approach and the significance of vision and goals to the action needs of the people they worked with. However, the element of this NGO that drew me the most was the way they work with women in the community. Al Shehab has recognized women as the foundation of the slum area known as Ezbet Al Haggana as has in many ways helped them put their leadership skills as mothers, daughters, and wives to work by offering a number of programs for them and advocating for their safety and rights. The program offered for victims of Domestic violence appealed to me because it not only works with women but men who are often the perpetrators as well as whole families helping to build solid relationships. After my first meeting with our supervisor, I verbalized my desire to work to create a program that strengthens a safety net for victims of domestic violence in society. The way I wanted to tackle that was to advocate for police intervention in domestic violence disputes. By this I mean, give training session to active police members about the dangers of domestic violence, the struggle of the victim and the importance of helping all citizens who are in need of their services. I wanted to focus particularly on the police force because they do not really take an interest in affairs that occur in the home and are usually absent in slum areas like Ezbet Al Haggana.
I was interested in police involvement and comprehension of the psychological, emotional and physical trauma that occurs in these situations. I also wanted to draw a parallel between police activity in DV disputes in Egypt and in the states. At my home college I volunteer at a women’s safe house and in the training I was surprised to learn that a lot of policemen were actually ignorant and biased to situations that occur in domestic disputes. I think it would be beneficial to both the police force and the community for them to learn how to handle certain situations in a way that is non-biased and helpful to both parties. Another reason why I loved Al Shehab’s approach to the Domestic Violence program is because they do not exclude men as apart of the equation. Having open counseling session with other men help them to voice their frustrations and help them to see the hurt and damage their actions bring to themselves, their spouses and their families. After I made it clear that my interest lay in violence against women I was given a task to come up with a proposal for a program that builds awareness on violence against women that could be implemented on a national level. I started my tasks by looking for articles and statistics regarding Domestic Violence in Egypt and build my proposal. I want training sessions to be held more than twice a year in each local police branch that would educate officers about the role they should play in these situations. I understand that a number of different NGO’s that want to advocate for this same issue would have to come together and hold meetings with police and government officials in order for something like this to take flight. The approximate time I give for trainings to commence is a year an a half given that an agreement will have to be made regarding how sessions will be conducted and funds set aside for such sessions to occur. I have learned that when writing a proposal, a lot has to be taken into consideration and over time it will develop into an actual plan that will be more detailed and structured.

Part Three:

From the time I’ve spent at both Al Shehab offices and the conversations and interviews held with its staff, I’ve come to learn a lot about the organization and how it functions with the beneficiaries in the slum area, and as an entity in the city of Cairo. It’s partnerships with other local and national NGO’s also attribute to its involvement in Egyptian society and how the various developmental concepts discussed in the course are implemented into the organizations vision and goals on a daily basis.
From what I have seen, Neoliberalism has not played a huge role in the decision making process at Al Shehab. Neoliberalism, as a school of thought and what some believe to be orthodoxy advocates for minimal government interference, privatization, and promotion of self-help initiatives. This discourse stemming from Reagan and Thatcher’s political regimes is becoming more accepted in the international arena and popular with various political regimes. However, in the world of NGO’s there is a struggle to stay away from the Neoliberal approach. There are times when NGO’s have no choice but to accept this discourse as the donations are coming from individuals who want to see certain neoliberal policies implemented in the work done at the local level. When NGO’s are fortunate to not have their donor’s money influence their role in society, they choose the alternate approach which encourages government interference, and non-privatization. The majority of the time NGO’s like Al Shehab want beneficiaries to use their own tools and resources which feeds into the idea of self-help initiatives. However, this is an essential part in the process towards development; some aid is required before a community can be considered self-sustainable and “developed”.
In recent years Al-Shehab has countered the affects Neoliberalism through the fight for water access and garbage pick-up. The city of Cairo has not recognized Ezbet Al Haggana as a place of residence although it is home for over 1 million people. The government had taken on a Neoliberal attitude claiming that the people of this slum area should help themselves and not expect any aid from the government. As a response to this Al Shehab helped get representation for the people to sue the government for the absence of garbage removal, sanitation service, electricity and water within the community. As a result the residents received sanitation services but no rights to water being as the water companies had become privatized. This forced residents to come together and raise funds for a few water pumps to be placed around the slum area. However, this is still not enough to satisfy the needs of so many people.
More recently Al Shehab has been applying for a grant and support from the European Union under Human rights laws. Although gaining support and funds from the European Union will be beneficial to this organization, there are stipulations to how projects have to be run. Because the concept of neoliberalism is mainly a western concept, this organization may find it a bit difficult to adapt this western or Eurocentric way of thinking to the needs of Egyptian society.

Because I was not able to be as involved with the beneficiaries as much as I wanted, I was not able to witness the participatory element first hand at Al Shehab. I became aware, after speaking to my supervisor and reviewing the NGO’s website that participation from actually community members does exist. Participation was definitely evident in the projects that dealt with attaining sufficient water supply. A number of community members were appointed as members of committees and were called as witnesses when the situation was bought before the court. Participation is also evident in their refugee program as ten Egyptians and ten refugees were chosen to be representatives for issues of discrimination and sometimes violence that often erupted between the two groups. This was also evident in the childrens summer camp held at the office in which youth from the community are encouraged to hold counselor positions. This encourages the youth to take initiative through leadership roles and how to be responsible. Encouraging participation is supported in the principles stated on their website which include teamwork, tolerance, decentralization, and community participation. Seeing the amount of participation in Al-Shehab excludes it from being categorized as a charity and more of a development agency that organizes the peoples ideas and desires and uses it’s resources (as well as their own) to make progress.
Social Development as described by Maia Green in “Development Theory and Practice” was focused on eliminating poverty. It also built its developmental tactics around an academic approach and wants to focus on pertinent issues like health. From what I’ve witnessed at Al-Shehab there seems to be very little social development the way it is described here. This organization focuses more on the issues that are specific to Ezbet Al Haggana rather than huge social issues that cannot be easily addressed without looking at the macro. The development method at Al Shehab is more local and specific to the people that they work with. They do not appear to be too institutionalized or concentrated on the professional aspects of Social development like the critiques mentioned in the reading.
Gender as a development concept is extremely evident at Al-Shehab. They are very inclusive in the measures taken to improve conditions within society and this is evident in the programs and activities that they provide. A few of the programs may seem to focus solely on women and exclude the importance of men in the community, simply because women(and children) are the main breadwinners in Ezbet Al-Haggana. This is common in this area because many males in the family are often deceased, disabled or have left to find work elsewhere, forcing the women to find means of supporting the family. The programs are established to build a strong support system for the women who serve as the foundation in this particular community. The Domestic Violence service is one such program that helps to maintain the sanity and physical health of women. Because violence within the home is a taboo subject in Egypt it is rare to see issues like this being addressed. For that reason, a psychologist from the office holds appointments within the center, couple and individual counseling sessions. Some women are ashamed or afraid to be seen going to the center to speak to a psychologist as they sometimes are not permitted to or because it might spur rumors of insanity. In cases like this the psychologist makes house calls. Programs like this also address men who are, in most cases the perpetrators in domestic violence issues. Women’s day as well as Violence against women’s day is held within the community to bring awareness to the importance of women, the essential roles they play within the community and exposure to what goes on behind closed doors. There are also counseling sessions held for men who as a result of anger or frustration take it out on their families.
Social Capital is quite evident in the personal relationships that exist within the community. Al-Shehab’s existence in Ezbet Al-Haggana does not disrupt the social capital that has formed but rather strengthened it by empowering people to use their own tools and resources. If members of this community were not dependent upon each other, I don’t believe it would be standing today. Amongst the extreme poverty, overpopulation, lack of education and jobs in the area, survival is still evident in these close knit relationships. Our supervisor mentioned the creation of women’s co-ops. These groups of about 5 or more women come together to make a living through their skills in making various items. Building a solid trust within the group is an elementary factor in the success these women have in making a small living. I was also told that there are a number of individuals who use their vehicles to help transport hundreds of men who work outside of the slum area. Without this informal system of transportation, there would be little to no chance of finding a way to work every morning.
All in all, I believe this experience although not the most fruitful was an experience. I enjoyed comparing the various developmental concepts discussed in class to Ezbet Al-Haggana. I believe this NGO would be perfect for someone to volunteer with if they are from the area and speak the language. Otherwise, it would be extremely hard for an “outsider” to get the inside view of things that occur on a day to day basis.