<
https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2024/03/07/cash-transfers-incentivize-social-change-for-women-and-girls-in-egypt>
"“Early marriage is harmful to the education, health, and wellbeing of girls. I
know that because I experienced those drawbacks myself when I got married at 17
years old and this is why I am passionate about raising awareness on those
harms,” said Ghada Ahmed, a resident of Egypt’s Port Said governorate and a
social worker in the “Waai” advocacy and awareness raising campaign. “Girls
must focus on their education then move on to get jobs. Having a job builds
character.”
The Waai (meaning “awareness” in Arabic) Program is a behavioral awareness and
change platform launched in 2020 and a key intervention of the Takaful and
Karama Cash Transfer Program (TKP). It aims to reach Egypt’s vulnerable
citizens on 12 interlinked social messages including: combatting child
marriage, fostering economic empowerment, advocating citizenship, positive
parenting, education, combatting female genital mutilation, promoting good
hygiene practices, maternal and child health, family planning, illegal
migration, as well as the rights of persons living with disabilities.
“We raise the awareness of women on how they can start their businesses and
accordingly generate sustainable incomes and become financially independent,”
said Shaimaa Mohamed, another Waai social worker in Beni Sueif, Upper Egypt.
When it came to Shaimaa’s attention that one woman named Marzooka wanted her
young daughter, Nada, to get married before reaching the legal age, Shaimaa
spoke openly with Marzooka about the negative consequences her daughter would
face. Marzooka and her husband were convinced and did not go through with the
marriage. In her conversations with Marzooka, Shaimaa also told her about
Waai’s economic empowerment activities. Marzooka embraced the idea and started
her own business producing and selling cheese and butter.
Shaimaa also taught Nada how to use her smart phone to promote her mother’s
products online. And Shaimaa went even further by walking them through how to
best package and market their products. “I did not know about digital marketing
before I attended this training. We increased our income because of this
project, and our work is growing,” Marzooka said.
The Waai campaign is currently targeting poor communities with special focus on
beneficiaries of the Takaful and Karama Program, led by the Ministry of Social
Solidarity (MOSS). The Takaful and Karama Cash Transfer Program, which means
“Solidarity & Dignity” in Arabic, is Egypt’s national flagship social
protection program, launched in 2015 with support from the World Bank. It was
complemented in 2020 with the launch of the FORSA, or “Opportunity’’, program
for economic inclusion.
The Takaful part of the program provides monthly conditional cash transfers to
poor households with children under 18 years provided they comply with health
and education conditionalities. The Karama part of the program provides
unconditional cash transfers to the elderly poor, orphans, widows, and persons
living with disabilities. As of December 2023, the program has reached 4.67
million households (around 17 million citizens) and 74% of card holders are
women."
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-global-inequality-social-safety-egypt-reforestation-china/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
