Yet more visions for progress are charted by Egypt's human development report. Mona El-Fiqi reads through Towards a new Social Contract was the title of the Egypt Human Development Report (EHDR) 2005 issued last week by the United Nation's Development Programme (UNDP) and the Egyptian Ministry of Planning. The report attempts to offer policy prescriptions and programmes whose ambitious aim is to double real per capita income by 2015. A list of 54 priority projects and plans were identified by the report's authors for implementation in this time span at a cost of LE20 billion annually. According to Heba Handoussa, the lead author of the report, "the most important outcome is to set Egypt on the fast track for economic, social and political transformation while safeguarding its natural resources and ecological balance." The first chapter of the report presents a novel vision of Egypt in which disadvantaged persons are seen not as mere recipients of international commitments like the UN's Millennium Development Goals, or of aid from the state or donor community. Citizens are portrayed as the major participants in, and beneficiaries of, a new social contract between them and the Egyptian state. After the passing of 11 years since the first Egypt Development Report was launched in 1994, there have been improvements in specific areas, according to the recently issued report. In the education sector, the combined basic, secondary, and tertiary enrollment ratio increased from 66.2 per cent in 1994 to 74.2 per cent in 2004. This, the report says, was the result of national efforts to raise awareness and build a greater number of schools over the past decade. The literacy for adult population also increased from 52.3 per cent in 1994 to 65.7 per cent in 2004. Improvements in health were reflected in the decline in child and infant mortality between 1994 and 2004, and the increase in life expectancy by six per cent over the same period of time. The government's health expenditure has risen from just below four per cent of GDP in 1995 to a current six per cent. This is comparable to education levels in other countries with similar socio- economic conditions. Poverty levels have also significantly decreased, according to the report. The percentage of poverty in the overall population decreased from 35.1 per cent in 1991 to 20.1 per cent in 2004. Unemployment remains a challenge with the numbers of unemployed increasing from 1.8 million (of whom 845,000 were women) in 1993 to 2.15 million (of whom 1.2 million were women) in 2004. The report charts a blue-print for a new pro-poor, pro-growth social contract. It proposes a vision for prosperity contingent on the equitable distribution of the sources of growth and its gains amongst all Egyptians. The EHDR defines the social contract as an integrated rights-based programme of action tailored and targeted towards the poor but also providing choices and alternatives for other citizens. A change in the philosophy of education is proposed, entailing "a paradigm shift in the quality of education that can realise increased national productivity and human capital development." The often stated recommendation that the small and medium enterprise sector can act as engines of growth is also reiterated. "More than three million micro and small enterprises in rural and urban Egypt are the heart of job creation," said Handoussa. Cairo University economics professor, Laila El-Khawaga took issue with some of the recommendations, however she described the report as "too optimistic" in its position that small and medium enterprises can be an engine for economic growth and resolve the unemployment problem. "Such projects will only generate job opportunities for their owner and family members," El-Khawaga said. She added that the report has "overlooked" the high cost of job creation through small enterprises, a cost estimated by the Social Fund for Development (SDF) at LE6,000 per job. The report's assessment that the export of manufactured and agricultural goods will generate economic growth was also taken to task by El-Khawaga. "Such products are not [internationally] competitive. The development of the Egyptian industrial sector remains conditioned on its ability to attract FDIs. This ability is limited compared to the Asian, and other African countries."
