Egypt's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Health and Population, Khaled Abdel Ghaffar, said that the models of countries that have achieved success worldwide are those that have adopted the approach of applying decentralization, explaining that competition between governorates is reflected in the economic progress of the country. The minister pointed out during a session entitled "Decentralization and Human Development: Bridging the Gap between Policy and Practice" within the activities of the second edition of the Global Congress on Population, Health and Human Development (PHDC'24), that studying the population map at the level of Egypt and population growth rates puts our hands on the problems that concern each city and centre in particular within the same governorate.
The session addressed the strategic implementation of decentralization in Egypt, the dimensions of administrative, financial and economic decentralization, how to empower local communities to enhance service provision and human development, and reviewing models of successful local initiatives from Qena and Fayoum governorates, as a practical application to bridge the gap between policy and practice, while enhancing sustainable growth and community participation.
Abdel Ghaffar stressed that there are many indicators within each governorate that the state cannot manage centrally, and tangible results of success cannot be achieved except by giving more powers to governors and with the assistance of representatives of the relevant ministries within the governorates, explaining that the challenges of the strategies lie in implementation on the ground within the governorate.
Manal Awad, Minister of Local Development, said – during her speech – that the conference reflects Egypt's and the international community's commitment to achieving sustainable development, pointing out the importance of the conference in expanding opportunities for exchanging experiences between experts and decision-makers participating in the dialogue sessions, stressing that her ministry places reducing geographical development gaps at the top of its priorities, such as the local development programme in Upper Egypt to reduce the gap between Upper Egypt and Delta.
The Minister of Local Development added that decentralization is a fundamental pillar of human development, and the ministry seeks to achieve geographical growth and improve citizen needs through planning, follow-up and community oversight to implement the planning process and improve communication and response channels with citizens.
She stressed that the ministry is working to reduce the impact of decentralization on human development through evaluation and follow-up via the monitoring system, and enabling local communities to achieve development and best practices in this regard.
