The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Egypt received a generous contribution worth EURO15 million from the Egyptian-German Debt Swap Programme for 2020. This new contribution builds on a previous successful partnership between WFP and the German Development Bank (KfW) on ‘Food for Education Through a Life Cycle Approach' implemented under the previous Egyptian-German Debt Swap Programme.
WFP and its government partners will use the fund to launch a new two-year project that will support 136,000 poor families with their nutrition and education needs and provide income generation opportunities for women and youth. The ‘Investing in Human Capital in Rural Upper Egypt' project will build the resilience of families to cope with the social and economic impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. The project will benefit students in community schools – one-classroom schools – providing them with a daily in school nutritious snack that provides 25 percent of their daily nutritional needs. In addition, to encourage regular attendance in schools and combat child labour and early marriage, families of students will receive monthly cash assistance conditional on their children's regular school attendance. "At the heart of this project is a human-centric vision that recognizes the abilities, skills and potential of Egyptians with women and youth in particular and takes into context their needs in order to adequately respond to them," said Egypt's Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat. "Aligned with the Ministry's Vision and Global Partnerships Narrative; People & Projects & Purpose, this contribution showcases our collaborative commitment to rebuilding towards a more inclusive and resilient recovery, and accelerate progress to the Sustainable Development Goals," Al-Mashat added. The project will also support the transformation of community schools into ‘smart schools' equipped with technology to help foster an improved learning and knowledge environment for students, educators, as well as for other community members. It will also raise the capacity of local community stakeholders, including the Community Development Associations and NGOs to facilitate microloans for women and skills development for youth. Additionally, the project will provide food assistance for pregnant and nursing mothers, and children under two, conditional upon regular medical checkups at health clinics. This will be complemented with improved access to public primary health, nutrition care services, and large-scale nutrition education and awareness activities reaching millions of Egyptians nationwide. "The contribution reflects the fruitful and sound tradition of German-Egyptian Cooperation. In the light of the challenges caused by the worldwide pandemic, we must not forget the most vulnerable among us," said German Ambassador to Egypt Cyrill Jean Nunn. Together with the Ministry of International Cooperation, WFP is implementing the project in coordination with the Ministries of Education, Health and Population, Social Solidarity, Supply and Internal Trade, Local Development, Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the National Council of Women, as well as the National Nutrition Institute and the Egyptian Knowledge Bank. "We have good experience working with WFP as a part of this year's Egyptian-German Debt Swap Programme and as a partner of choice in implementing successful models of integrated development in Egypt," said Director of the KfW Cairo Office Bernd Siegfried. "Egypt and Germany are aligned in their priorities towards sustainable development, peace, and prosperity all of which are aspects highlighted in this new project." WFP is the sole UN agency in Egypt providing food security to the most vulnerable populations and continues to count on the contributions of donors to sustain and upscale assistance to the most vulnerable populations in Egypt throughout its COVID-19 response and recovery phases. "Thanks to Governments of Egypt and Germany, our project will help advance national priorities in the areas of social protection, education, nutrition, food security, youth and women economic empowerment, "said WFP Representative and Country Director in Egypt Menghestab Haile. "WFP highly appreciates the Ministry of International Cooperation and the Government of Egypt's trust and support in allocating resources to the benefit of vulnerable communities and to ensure no one is left behind as per the Sustainable Development Goals and Egypt's Vision 2030." The United Nations World Food Programme is the world's largest humanitarian organisation, saving lives in emergencies, building prosperity and supporting a sustainable future for people recovering from conflict, disasters and the impact of climate change.
