Nevine Gamea, Executive Director of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (MSMEDA), said that the agency works within the framework of an integrated system to improve the living standards of thousands of families in informal settlements. Gamea praised the continuous cooperation between MSMEDA and the Ministry of International Cooperation in concluding agreements with various donors and international agencies to implement development projects that serve the Egyptian society. This came in a speech delivered by Gamea at the celebration of the end of the first phase and the launch of the second phase of the urban upgrading program and the promotion of job opportunities in slums in the governorates of Cairo and Giza. The event took place in the presence of Khaled Abdel-Al, Governor of Cairo, Ahmed Rashid, Governor of Giza, Christian Berger, Ambassador of the European Union, and Matthew Wasser, Regional Director of the French Agency for Development in North Africa and Rafael Martin de Lagarde, representative of the French Embassy in Cairo. In her speech, Gamea added that the urban upgrading program was implemented in four regions in the governorates of Cairo and Giza, and 570,000 families benefited from the implemented projects in Ezbet Khairallah and Al-Zawiya Al-Hamra in Cairo Governorate, in addition to Ard Al-Liwa and Mit Okba in Giza Governorate. She pointed out that the number of urban and social development projects amounted to 35 projects in the four targeted areas, including 15 projects in Cairo Governorate, 20 projects in Giza Governorate, with a total cost of about 268 million Egyptian pounds, which provided more than 320,000 daily employment for workers who do not have fixed jobs and are residents of these areas. She pointed out that these areas witnessed remarkable development seen in the provision of basic services, including the renewal of water and sewage networks, paving roads, lighting works, installing water tanks, developing tunnels and bridges, as well as schools and health institutions, in addition to training women in some handicrafts that enable them to improve their economic levels. Gamea affirmed the agency's keenness on completing cooperation with development partners during the second phase of the urban upgrading program, given that the European Union and the French Development Agency are among the most important and largest funders and partners of the agency over the years. Walid Darwish, head of the central sector for community and human development in the agency, explained that projects have been implemented at a cost of EGP 117.9m in Cairo governorate, which provided approximately 142,000 daily employment for irregular workers, while in Giza governorate, projects have been implemented at a cost of EGP 121.3m, and succeeded in providing 184,000 operating days. Darwish referred to the mandate of the European Union to the French Development Agency to implement a second phase of the program and enhance job opportunities under the management of the agency, to be implemented at the beginning of 2023. For his part, Khaled Abdel-Aal, Governor of Cairo, confirmed that the urban upgrading program contributed to improving services for about 1.5 million citizens in the governorate in Old Cairo and Al-Zawiya Al-Hamra, with a grant from the European Union and the French Agency. Ahmed Rashid, the governor of Giza, said that improving living conditions in slums included providing proper services to citizens to prepare the labor market, and also included providing economic and social services to women to prepare them as an essential element in comprehensive development in societies. Christian Berger, Ambassador of the European Union to Egypt, Raphael Martin de Lagarde, representative of the French Embassy in Cairo, and Maceo Fassier, Regional Director of the French Development Agency for North Africa, also praised the efforts made during the first phase of the urban upgrading project, which was carried out in cooperation with MSMEDA and the governorates of Cairo and Giza. He stressed the aspiration to complete cooperation with the agency and partner agencies to provide a better life for citizens in these areas.
