Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab said Thursday the government allocated 48 Million EGP to 25 NGOs as part of the cooperation policy between the state and NGOs to solve the problem of street children in Egypt, during the Commission for Social Justice's meeting at the cabinet. Director of the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research Nisreen Al-Baghdadi offered to tally the number of homeless children over all provinces to define the true scale of the phenomenon and achieve to effective solutions.
Approximately 16 thousand of street children exist in all Egyptian provinces, 83% are male and 78.5% are between 11 and 18 years.
Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali agreed with the approximations, saying that there exist 5-8 thousand in Cairo.
Wali mentioned that a 3 year program set to begin this month will aim to increase the proportion of children who receive survival services.
The government will collaborate with the Information Decision Support Center to develop a map showing the places of street children, Wali added.