Final Deliverable

Transcription

Final Deliverable

Stakeholder Mapping Tool
Analyzing Civil Society Organizations in Egypt
May 2016
SAIS Practicum
Justin Taj Ahmed
Laura Saiki Chaves
Tchilalou Sogoyou Bekeyi
1
Contents
Background ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 3
Key Findings .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Visual Mapping ........................................................................................................................................... 11
Organizational Profiles ................................................................................................................................ 14
Agora for Arts and Culture ...................................................................................................................... 15
Ahead of the Curve ................................................................................................................................. 19
Alashanek Ya Baladi ................................................................................................................................ 22
Anti-Harassment Movement .................................................................................................................. 26
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar (Girls are a Red Line) ....................................................................................... 29
Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) ......................................................................................... 32
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).......................................................................................... 35
El Madina for Performing and Digital Arts .............................................................................................. 38
El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation ...................................................................................................... 41
Etijah: Youth Development Consultancy Institute .................................................................................. 44
HarassMap .............................................................................................................................................. 47
Nebny Foundation .................................................................................................................................. 51
New Imprint for Development (Bassma) ................................................................................................ 55
Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment ........................................................................................................ 58
Population Council - Egypt ...................................................................................................................... 60
Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD)................................................................................ 64
Tadwein Gender Research and Training Center ..................................................................................... 66
Teens Club ............................................................................................................................................... 69
Women and Memory Forum .................................................................................................................. 72
Annexes ....................................................................................................................................................... 75
2
Background
Together with United Nations Women – Arab States Regional Office (UN Women), Promundo is
one of the main organizations behind Women for Women and Men for Women: Towards a
Positive Change, a project funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA).
Targeting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in general, and Morocco, Lebanon,
Egypt and Palestine in particular, Women for Women and Men for Women: Towards a Positive
Change is a three-year program that began in 2015 that aims to address challenges of gender
equality and women’s empowerment that have come up since the Arab uprisings. The
program’s overall goal is to enhance gender equality in the MENA region by understanding the
root causes of gender disparity as well as by strengthening the capacities and networks of civil
society organizations (CSOs) and grassroots movements that are using innovative approaches to
implement evidence-based advocacy methods and engage the community. Women for Women
and Men for Women: Towards a Positive Change thus seeks to address to gender equality
issues by not only including women and girls, but by including men and boys as well.
To assist these efforts, Promundo is rolling out its International Men and Gender Equality
Survey (IMAGES) in Morocco, Lebanon, Egypt and Palestine in collaboration with UN Women.
The survey seeks to identify gender issues from a man’s perspective by incorporating questions
that ask what both men and women want for themselves, their families, and their communities.
SAIS Practicum
The SAIS practicum is a two-semester course designed to provide students with the tools and
opportunity to work with an external client on a development-related problem. The three
members of the project team --Justin Ahmed, Tchi Sogoyou, and Laura Saiki Chaves--are second
year master’s degree candidates at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced
International Studies (SAIS), pursuing a concentration in International Development. Working
closely with Promundo, and their faculty adviser, Dr. Jennifer McCleary-Sills, the SAIS team was
brought on board to conduct a stakeholder mapping of 19 civil society organizations in Egypt
during a two-week field study.
Field Research
The field research was undertaken from January 6 to 25, 2016 and it consisted of key informant
interviews with civil society organizations in Cairo and Alexandria. The focus was on the
initiation of a stakeholder mapping exercise, with an emphasis on identifying each
organization’s capacity for engaging men in gender equality programming. More specifically,
the field objectives were to (i) identify organizations with willingness and propensity to engage
men and boys in gender equality-related social programming; (ii) understand the barriers to
and channels of support for increasingly restricted activities; and (iii) support the adaptation of
Promundo’s IMAGES on a regional level. The findings of the stakeholder mapping are intended
to assist Promundo and UN Women identify innovative and emerging civil society organizations
in Egypt that will be ideal implementing partners of Women for Women and Men for Women:
Towards a Positive Change.
3
Methodology
UN Women, Promundo’s partner on IMAGES, served as the main liaison for the SAIS team
during the time spent in Cairo. UN Women identified the majority of the stakeholders and
assisted with the scheduling of interviews with the local NGOs. Some of the interviews were
also set up by Salma Abou Hussein, a Population Services International contact residing in Cairo,
whom the SAIS team had met in advance of the study in Washington, D.C. through Dr.
McCleary-Sills.
During the two-week trip, the SAIS team interviewed 19 stakeholder organizations, primarily
based within Cairo (although some organizations were headquartered in Alexandria). The
majority of the interviews took place at the UN Women Regional Office, while others were held
at designated organizations offices throughout Cairo. Due to the timing of the visit, and
considering the approaching anniversary of the January 25th revolution, the SAIS team was
unable to physically meet with Alexandria-based organizations. For the latter, the interviews
took place on the phone or via Skype. In cases where the SAIS team met with organizations at
their respective offices, the interviews were conducted on a one-on-one basis; however,
interviews conducted at UN Women Regional Office were, for the most part, group interviews.
When required, a representative from UN Women served as translator and so did Salma Abou
Hussein.
At the beginning of each meeting, a member of the SAIS team laid out the specifics of the
research, clearly explaining participant(s) autonomy to be involved in the discussion and then
obtaining the participants’ verbal consent to partake in the mapping study. The questions
discussed during the interview ranged from the nature of the organizations’ work, to their
achievements and perceived strengths and weaknesses. In order to assess each NGO’s attitudes
toward the involvement of men and masculinity and its perception of the external environment
in which it worked, questions regarding the involvement of other civil society organizations, the
existing gaps in the space for gender equality programming, as well as the nature of the NGO’s
engagement with men and boys in their programming were also explored. The Key Informant
Interview Guide, which details the names of all participants and date of all interviews, can be
found in the annex.
Key Indicators
In order to quantify the qualitative information received in each interview, a scale was
developed to evaluate three different indicators: engagement, community-centricity, and
influence. Each indicator is measured on a five-point system outlined below.
Engagement relates to an organization’s nature of engagement of men and boys. This indicator
was based the organization’s actual programming, which encompassed to a certain extent the
overall organizational attitude towards the role of men in gender equality efforts. The scale is
given below:
1
Organization engages men in its programming but did not explicitly address gender roles
in its activities
2
Organization engages men in gender programming, but only secondarily as opinion
leaders or mentors and not participants who are agents of change
4
3
4
5
Organizations engages men secondarily as participants in gender-based programming,
although they were not the primary audience
Organization engages men primarily within its initiatives as direct targets of gender-based
programming
Organization explicitly targets men in its gender programming and also has a desire to
start a dialogue on a societal level about masculinity and gender roles in general
Community-centricity measures how directly an organization is able to engage directly with a
community. Because organizations will naturally target different audiences, this indicator was
developed as a means to demonstrate the varying levels of community engagement that exist
within the organizations interviewed. The scale is given below:
1
Organization is a macro-level actor. This includes government agencies or foundations
that oversee the general large-scale programs
2
Organization focuses on macro- and meso-level engagement. That is, it is an organization
that supports the development of the NGO ecosystem or any type of network for private
companies, universities, or community-based organizations (CBOs)
3
Organization engages with CBOs and/or communities on an ad-hoc basis although it is not
one of its core activities. These organizations typically include research and advocacy
firms
4
Organization works directly, systematically, and continually through CBOs as one of its
main activities
5
Organization is present and works directly with individuals at the community-level. That
is, the organization is a CBO.
Influence measures the ability of an organization to expand its operations. The indicator
outlines the ability of an organization to operate within the enabling environment and to grow
its activities and reach, if necessary. This indicator also distinguishes the factors that restrict an
organization’s operation and it incorporates the organization’s perceived influence in the field.
The scale is given below:
1
Organization is currently inactive
2
Activities carried out by the organization are restricted by external forces like government
regulations and policies
3
Activities carried out by the organization are somewhat limited by issues relating to fund,
human capital, or organizational intent.
4
Activities carried out can be increased significantly because the organization has an
extensive capacity to scale among target group. Nevertheless, the organization is not
considered a major player by those in its peer group
5
Activities carried out can be increased significantly because the organization has an
extensive capacity to scale among target group. The organization is also considered wellregarded and well-networked by those in its peer group
All stakeholder organizations were assessed using this scale. It should be stressed that these
scales are not meant to be considered a ranking of any sort; rather, they allow us to organize
the CSOs according to their current capacity, focus, and level of engagement. Team members
evaluated organizations independently and jointly as a means to ensure uniformity and intercoder reliability.
5
Key Findings
Interviews across all 19 organizations solicited revealed a wealth of information regarding the
barriers faced by civil society organizations (CSOs), the strengths with which they overcome
their respective constraints, and the areas in which support from external organizations (e.g.
Promundo and UN WOMEN) – as well as each other – may be leveraged most effectively.
Although all organization profiles can be read in detail in the section that follows, this
particular section aims to shed light on the issues which face these organizations and to outline
a process of thought and action which may be employed to support the further development of
civil society in Egypt and beyond.
Key Barriers of Note
While organizations retained their focus on diverse segments of the population, a varied set of
social goals, and an even wider basin of approaches to their respective engagements, many
were faced by a set of similar constrictions. For each restraint faced, there were organizations
who displayed some ability to overcome it effectively, and others that were – due to any
number of other factors – especially restricted. These organizations can gain significantly from a
broader understanding of the diverse ways in which their peers and other CSOs have dealt with
many of the same issues.
Political and Governmental Constraints
Nearly every organization we spoke to cited, either generally or with regard to specific activities
and experiences, issues arising from political pressure and/or interference from governmental
authorities. At least 10 organizations—more than half of those with which we spoke—listed this
as a key barrier to the carrying out of their work. However, constraints posed by the
government have manifested themselves in a number of ways, which we will analyze below.
Some of these constraints proved to be more amenable to work-arounds, to strategic pivots,
and direct counters than others.
Resource Limitations
Especially common was reference to the difficulties in obtaining funds through the multiple
layers of government authorization. One organization, which broadly focused on community
development and especially on economic empowerment, rather than more squarely on gender
disparities, mentioned that obtaining project approval by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, only
to have the funding denied by the Ministry of the Interior, was quite commonplace. The case
has been made far more difficult for those organizations which are not officially registered with
one of the Egyptian Ministries, and thus are generally found ineligible for official Ministryapproved funds. In close relation with this is a reported lack of internal (staff) capacity,1 which
was cited by seven different CSOs as a key barrier they regularly faced.
Organizations have taken a number of approaches in countering funding- and capacity-based
impediments. For one, some organizations have registered themselves with different arms of
government, which allows them some autonomy (especially financial) from the Ministry of
1
The lack of internal capacity and staff limitations are common not just for organizations registered as NGOs, but
also for those that work as private firms and companies.
6
Social Solidarity and centrally-approved funding pipelines. For example, El Nadeem is registered
as a psychiatric clinic under the Ministry of Health; Ahead of the Curve, El Madina, Agora, and
Tadwein are registered as private enterprises under the Ministry of Investment. HarassMap and
others have funded activities through personal consultancies, engaging key staff on statements
of work to provide services otherwise difficult to broach with government authorities. On the
level of organization-wide strategy, there are a number of other structures through which
organizations aim to heighten their returns to labor, and expand through funds, despite not
explicitly building capacity,. These models include strategic partnerships, volunteer networks,
and franchises, to which our analysis will return later.
Legislation and Public Forums
The constraints on civil society wrought by legislative actions at the governmental level are
well-document. The protest law which heavily restricts CSOs’ abilities to meet and coordinate
public outreach and activities together is one of the most salient examples. Some organizations
(e.g. the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights [EIPR]) have thus halted such activities
indefinitely as a result. Organizations interviewed regularly pointed to a lack of political will and
space to discuss gender disparities at the policy level and across forums of public dialogue. It is
notable that that when asked who else should be spoken to regarding influential work in
addressing gender disparities in Egypt, only one organization (Alashanek ya Baladi, again, a CSO
focused on community development in general) pointed to government authorities such as the
National Council on Women and the National Council on Motherhood and Childhood. Others
pointed to difficulties from what the government has not yet done, or how government
responses to the calls of those advocating for gender equality and women’s empowerment
have created difficulties in and of themselves.
Given the organizations’ diverse registration statuses, and the ambiguities in the regulation of
different types of activities, it was asserted on the first day of interviews that a publiclyrecognized and consistent definition of “civil society” in general does not exist. This is a large
impediment for the exploration of advocacy and programming on politically-controversial
topics. For organizations whose staff have been subject to severe obstruction—including
violence and imprisonment by public forces (e.g. Bassma and EIPR) – and for those who are
investing in partnerships with both governments and an expanding range of locally-based
groups (e.g. Etijah, Population Council), knowing full well the boundaries of engagement is
critical.
Where the government has taken action—like in the passing of a bill acknowledging and
prescribing punishment for sexual harassment—the action itself has presented barriers to
effective work. This law was considered a major achievement in that it required a significant
level of collaboration and the support of Parliament. Although the bill’s passing was lauded and
praised, some interviewees also were quick to note that the harshness of the punishment
provisioned, as well as individuals’ expectations of what prolonged incarceration may entail,
deterred many victims and bystanders from holding offenders to account. In other cases,
interviewees said that the general level of political instability made such significant levels of
achievement with governmental bodies have little impact. The representative from El Nadeem
reported the organization’s decade-long firm commitment to a bill criminalizing family violence,
7
which was finally passed by the Parliament in 2010. Yet, because Parliaments have been
successively dissolved since then, the bill has yet to be implemented.
Resistance and Working Relationships
Even within our sample group, it was apparent that a number of organizations maintained a
self-reported working relationship with government agencies and ministries. These CSOs were
not necessarily those which exclusively or even primarily focused on community development
rather than gender inequality. Our interviewee from Bassma, for example, reported that a
working relationship with the government was necessary for the provision of their anti-sexual
harassment workshops at public universities; our interviewee from Tadwein (an evidence-led
resource center that supports gender equality projects), on the other hand, emphasized the
government’s willingness to collaborate when strong evidence of impact and need was
demonstrated.2
In some cases, working relationships are not considered an option for a CSO – especially those
that have seen their staff repeatedly pitted head-to-head with government authorities. The
Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR), for example, houses a legal team it leverages to
push back against government resistance when necessary. It has had some success in utilizing
this team to justify the receipt of previously restricted funding in the past. The Nebny
Foundation countered local government representatives’ repeated attempts to confiscate its
work-space through the mobilization of direct beneficiaries and their families through sit-ins,
signaling once again the importance of demonstrated impact. Thus, while many interviewees
stated the potential for the government to “shut them down” on any given occasion, many
organizations have shown the propensity and the willingness to stand up to such threats. As will
be re-iterated further, the use of partnerships and the mobilization of networks can be central
to these efforts.
Community Resistance
Civil society organizations face resistance to their activities not only from above, but also from
below. Whether actual or potential, opposition from intended beneficiaries, their families, their
peers, and/or local opinion leaders were cited as key barriers by at least six different
interviewees and acknowledged by others. Reasons for antagonism towards grassroots efforts,
however, proved to be far from monolithic.
General Resistance to Community-Based Organizations (CBOs)
A common theme among community development-oriented organizations was the skeptical
and cynical nature of the opposition, which relates to the frequent distrust CSOs in general,
often resulting from a lack of demonstrated impact by previous community programs. When
interviewees were asked the reasons from abstaining from programming that explicitly targets
gender inequities on the community-level, they pointed to the belief that such a focus would
alienate other target beneficiaries (men and boys). This was especially a worry in the case of
programming oriented towards adolescents (e.g. from the Nebny Foundation and Teens Club),
for which it was emphasized that parents would be wary of such gender-centered
2
The importance (and dearth) of impact measurement capabilities will be returned to further on in the analysis.
8
programming. Nevertheless, it should be noted that such CSOs did attempt to indirectly address
gender inequalities by targeting women just as frequently as men (if not more so) in their
programming. The Nebny Foundation’s gender-neutral approach to educating both boys and
girls together in science programs in itself challenged dominant perceptions of gender roles
without stating it explicitly, and the group’s partnerships with organizations squarely-focused
upon women’s empowerment supported such goals without having to develop programming
internally to do so. Conversely, Etijah makes clear its intention to support local volunteer-based
organizations and the diverse goals which these organizations deem important, which have at
times have included combating social norms which create barriers to gender equity and may
prove deleterious to women’s health. In all cases, the importance of engaging with local
community-based organizations (CBOs), which serve as gateways to target beneficiaries, could
not be emphasized enough.
Resistance to CBOs focused on gender disparities
Organizations that are focused on combating gender inequality at the grassroots level are
presented with a broader range of reasons for community resistance. Multiple interviewees
cited being accused of advancing a foreign agenda, a notion that has been advanced by
conservative authorities and local opinion leaders. Some interviewees thus emphasized their
efforts to reveal the locally-grounded nature of gender equality and of women in positions of
power in general. Women and Memory Forum (WMF), for example, documents and displays
the lives and achievements of Egyptian women and feminist pioneers dating back to the 19th
century; Agora and El Madina utilize theatre to highlight the contributions of ancient Nubian
women to some of Egypt’s historical heights. Our interviewees from Tadwein further
demonstrated the complications presented by mistranslations and complexity of words
pertaining to controversial issues, which may directly affect community perceptions of genderoriented programming and advocacy as a result; thus, Tadwein pointed to the need for
localized, simplified, and field-tested messaging to allow for effective engagement and avoid
issues relating to semantics.
Even when CBOs that focus on gender equality are not antagonized on ideological grounds,
they generally witness competition that exists with other progressive causes when gender
equality is treated as a priority. Interviewees from organizations that aimed to address sexual
harassment in Tahrir Square and beyond during the Arab Spring noted that individuals often
voiced their skepticism over the importance of gender issues. These individuals often
questioned the organizations’ very staff, asking whether they believed the cause was of greater
importance than the Revolution writ large. Our interviewee from Teens Club noted the
importance that parents placed on education and the accumulation of technical skills over
gender disparities issues, thus restricting social programs and discussions to the topics
considered to be of highest demand. According to the interviewee, programming that
addressed gender disparities were relegated and considered of lesser importance when other
social and economic demands were deepened by the prevalent sense of shame and self-blame
among women who face various forms of gender-based discrimination and violence.
9
Impact Assessment Inadequacy
Only two of the organizations with which we spoke indicated that impact assessment was a
core deficiency; however, our own assessment of the organizations’ capabilities in this regard
indicates that impact assessment is at a less than optimal level. Only six organizations exhibited
to us strong ability for impact assessment, and these organizations were generally recognized
as those most influential amongst target groups and peers (as per the methodology stated
previously). However, it is reportedly difficult to garner support at either government (says
Tadwein) or local (says Alashanek ya Baladi) levels without pointing to evidence of both need
and means to address it. Given the lack of staff capacity, trainings, employment, and/or
partnerships with organizations that are strong in impact assessment could go a long way in
strengthening other CSOs’ respective abilities.
Outstanding Strategies for Success
Although each of the interviewees mentioned unique strategies to overcome the barriers to
effective engagements with target groups, there were particular attributes stood out as being
instrumental for enabling success. These findings are of particular importance in the context of
the intention of UN WOMEN and Promundo because they can be used to induce collaboration
and opportunities for shared success in the engagement of new groups for gender equality and
women’s empowerment across the country and the region.
Leveraging of Partnerships
In all, 13 CSOs exhibited strengths in terms of extensive partnership and collaborator networks,
whether at a governmental, peer, or community-level. The benefits of strong partnerships at
various levels impact effectiveness across many strata. For some interviewees, this included
successful government lobbying and advocacy efforts – whether it be the passing of
constitutional articles criminalizing sexual harassment or messaging campaigns supporting the
substitution of the word “flirtation” for “sexual harassment.” Especially on the local level, the
establishment of partnerships is key to accessing of additional target beneficiaries through
gateway CBOs. Moreover, these partnerships have enabled the provision of a broader and
deeper range of services to the same target audience.
Adaptability
Organizations that have continued to maintain significant levels of impact have had to display
an ability to pivot – both to evade official restrictions and resistance as well as to take
advantage of new opportunities. Strategies embodying the former include the ability to directly
combat or avoid government interference (detailed previously), to substitute public outreach
with other means of effective advocacy, and to be able to transform activities for specific target
groups with some level of autonomy from government bodies. The latter, on the other hand,
includes the expansion of work with existing goals and/or approaches to new target groups, or
the broadening of the nature of engagement with target beneficiaries. HarassMap’s extension
of its anti-sexual harassment program to workshops for universities and private companies is
thus representative of such adaptability, as is Nebny Foundation’s incorporation of work with
women’s empowerment groups in its tutoring programs.
10
Varied Emphasis on Volunteerism
While utilization of volunteers has shown itself to be an especially useful tool for expansion of
activities in the face of resource, operational, and ideological constraints, its contribution to
organizational efficacy is surely dependent on a host of other variables indicating organizational
stability and adaptability. For Etijah, Bassma, Alashanek ya Baladi, and Teens Club, the emphasis
on volunteerism (or, in Alashanek ya Baladi’s case, student-group franchising) is central to the
scale and continual engagement of target groups. The structure allows volunteers to focus
engagement upon what they deem is most important and of greatest interest. Although this
limits the organizations’ say in specific activities, it ultimately ensures buy-in and contributes to
the broader capacity of the organization. For HarassMap and Banat Masr Ahmar Khat, however,
volunteerism was seen to equate with volatility. Banat Masr Ahmar Khat’s purported
misalignment within its volunteer base (as to what constituted sexual violence) restricted its
ability to scale and to approach a more diverse set of social issues; for HarassMap, which faced
worries of volunteers’ security in remote, conservative areas, the perceived lack of
sustainability of volunteer dependency contributed to its downscaling of activities from 15 to
six governorates. Thus, while expansion of volunteer bases can certainly provide a way to scale
without relying on increased external funding, the ability to train, protect, manage, assess, and
incentivize volunteers should be considered of great importance for organizations with such
intentions.
11
Visual Mapping
12
The visual mapping tool presented above is the proposed representation of the stakeholder
mapping methodology through which UN WOMEN and Promundo may expand and scale its
programmatic engagements across the region, primarily in regards to the Women for Women
and Men for Women project.
Mapping Indicators
As previously described, the 19 CSOs that were interviewed were evaluated using three key
indicators: engagement of men and boys, degree of community centricity, and influence.
Engagement is indicated on the X axis of the map and community centricity is denoted on the Y
axis. Since these indicators are each a five point scale, organizations are mapped according to
their respective scores. An organization like
Function
Color (Number)
Sawiris, which is ranked as being a one in terms
Research
0
of community-centricity as well as engagement,
Advocacy
2
therefore falls on (1,1). Influence, on the other
Programming
4
hand, is depicted by the size of the actual sphere.
Research + Advocacy
3
The more influential an organization is, the larger
Research
+
its sphere appears on the map. Sawiris received a
Programming
1
five on this indicator, making its sphere the
Advocacy +
biggest on the map.
Programming
6
Each organization has also been color coded by
All
3
function, which is indicated in the box above to
the right.
Customizing Interventions & Cross-Quadrant Collaboration
Utilizing the methodology, it is envisioned that coordinating agencies could match ecosystem
“gaps" to organizational capabilities; that is, match organizations together in such a way that
they can learn from one another and engage in “cross-quadrant” collaboration. Cross-quadrant
collaboration can be seen as an effort to select and prioritize productive engagement strategies
through time, but in a manner that leverages and scales the existing strengths of civil society as
it stands.
Examples of Cross-Quadrant Collaboration:
 Match a well-established organization that has a low engagement of men and boys and
community centricity (large sphere located in the lower left quadrant of the map) with an
organization that directly targets men and boys but has a lower degree of influence or is
constricted by a lack of resources (small sphere located in upper right quadrant).
o E.g. Sawiris Foundation with Banat Masr Khat Ahmar; Sawiris Foundation with Agora
13

Pair up an organization that has a strong presence on the community-level but low
engagement of men and boys (upper left quadrant) with an organization that targets men
and boys but does not currently work on the ground (lower right quadrant).
o E.g.: Nebny Foundation with Tadwein; Teens Club with Tadwein
Of course, coordinating agencies could also choose to customize their interventions by
targeting specific organizations that are bound by personnel and other resource constraints and
funding their efforts directly (the smallest spheres on the map). Moreover, agencies like
Promundo and UN Women could focus on building the capacities of the organizations find
themselves in the middle of the map in terms of engagement of men and boys (e.g. HarassMap,
Bassma, Anti-Harassment Movement).
Moving Forward
The CSO landscape in Egypt and the rest of the MENA region is complex and varied. Although
we were able to interview and map 19 different organization, there is certainly more work that
could be done to implement this tool further. In the future, it could be useful for both
Promundo and UN Women to try to replicate this process and utilize the scoring template.
Including more organizations into this visual mapping representation would allow Promundo
and UN Women to match, prioritize, and support a wide range of CSOs more effectively.
14
Organizational Profiles
15
Agora for Arts and Culture


Registered as a private company under the Ministry of Investment
Based in Alexandria with reach in Cairo, Aswan, Luxor, Marsa Ala, and
Upper Egypt
Agora’s activities aim at social and economic development. To tackle
gender inequality, the organization provides an outlet for creative
community involvement through education, dissemination, and
production of arts and culture.
Organizational Overview
Agora is fully-managed by the founder, Reem Kassem, and two part-time employees who perform
administrative and fundraising functions. The company has no physical office space; this enables both
schedule flexibility and somewhat shields Agora from potential police interference. Serving concurrently
as the head of the Programming Unit (e.g. for cultural events) at the Library of Alexandria, Kassem has
displayed a keen ability to operate notwithstanding intended interference by government actors. For
example, the organization’s activities are conducted as “independent events” such that government
permission is not required. Obtaining permits can be problematic – failure to procure a permit to work
in government youth centers, for example, derailed a previously-intended project funded by UNESCO.
Major Activities
Agora’s activities follow a clear methodology, focused on the utilization of art for social and economic
development as articulated by four core goals: (i) poverty reduction, (ii) youth empowerment, (iii)
enhancing creativity and innovation, and (iv) strengthening identities. Approximately 50% of all the
programming is geared towards the reduction of gender disparities, in one respect or another. The
organization is largely dependent on volunteers to build out programs and local networks to establish
community-level connections. A significant number of Agora’s volunteers are recruited through social
media. They have a strong social media following; and Kassem’s position as the head of performing arts
at Library of Alexandria allows them to cross-advertise. Twenty volunteers – students from various
academic disciplines – assist with day to day activities (e.g. workshops). They are students from various
disciplines (engineers, doctors, lawyers). These regular volunteers have been granted many training
opportunities, whether for debating and social media engagement skills through the British Council,
cultural leadership and arts management through Kassem herself, creative industry/cluster participation
through the Ministry of Industries, or in various artistic functions (e.g. photography, video editing, and
arts exchange programs). For each festival, a public call for volunteers tends to attract 75-120
individuals.
In the development of community-level relationships and partnerships, Agora uses local point-ofcontacts to serve as activists/ambassadors. These contacts prepare the terrain for Agora, making
introductions and developing trust between the organization and the community. It was noted that an
emphasis on programmatic messages’ relation to cultural and traditional histories emanating from
within Egypt often stoked pride and deepened pathways into communities – e.g. intended engagement
to support female empowerment harkens back to the Pharanoic era, as embodied by Cleopatra and
other female leaders. In some cases, other CBOs – generally not driven by mandates concerning gender
16
or culture – may be engaged to support in programming wherever support is necessary. In Alexandrian
slums, for example, Agora partnered with an NGO combating illiteracy who could mobilize participants
and provide a venue; in work with street girls and the homeless, key partners are local shelters.
Economic Empowerment: Economic empowerment
programming makes up the majority of Agora’s
gender-based programming, though social skills and
integration efforts are often incorporated through
regular workshops (e.g. in technical skills;
artistic/innovative skills; problem-solving skills;
democratic awareness; intellectual independence).
Men are included in debates, discussions, and events;
however, they are not the primary targets of
programming. A partnership with the British Council,
for example, supported jewelry production and
marketing amongst sixty (60) women and girls under
fifteen (15) years of age with children, all from the
slum and/or streets (some even homeless). In
partnership with the Embassy of the Netherlands,
Agora led an initiative to develop craft designs,
marketing, and social skills for women in
marginalized groups in Luxor, Aswan, and Marsa Ala.
The impending [2016] “Year of Morals”
project aims to focus on developing future
leaders by delivering sexual harassment
and gender equality workshops specifically
to young boys. Agora is piloting the project
boys 10+ years of age in five public schools
in Cairo; targeting 30 male students per
school. The goal is to provide three-day
workshops, for three consecutive weeks,
which will use craft, performance, theater,
and role-playing to educate young boys
about of sexual harassment. The company
hopes to expand the workshops to public
schools and disadvantaged communities,
but still requires approval from
government authorities to do so.
Public Spaces Festival: Tackling a range of social issues, including sexual harassment and – most recently
– “Women’s Leadership in Egypt”, the Festival provides a space for public and community-based art to
impart social and behavioral change. In addition to public opinion, the interviewee emphasized the role
of the Festival in imparting a positive shift in government employees’ own views with regard to gender
equality and other social issues (one Festival even exposed bribes in Bureau of Antiquities, initiating an
official investigation). Social media has proven especially effective for the mobilization of publics to
attend the Festivals – one contained almost 5,000 people. Having brought the festival to Egypt and
Tunisia thus far, the organization has its sights set on expansion to Jordan in the near future.
Other activities have included a broad range of partnerships with UN agencies across a number of
themes. With UNHCR, Agora provided support for social integration and economic empowerment
components for Syrian refugee women. With UNESCO, Agora was heavily engaged in workshopping for
the most recent International Youth Day (held in August 2015). The organization provided workshops in
storytelling, performances, script-writing, photography, and presentation. Participants penned their own
stories reflecting themes of gender equality and provided accompanied performance, then presenting
photos in the street. Based on the success of these initiatives, Agora aims (pending approval from the
government) to scale such workshops to five governorates.
Even with her organization’s limited capacity, Kassem harbors ambitions to push Agora’s growth
beyond Alexandria and Cairo to reverse the trend of “oppression and deficiencies” purportedly
increasingly limiting creative outlets for young people in general. Activities intended for the future
include the holding of training-of-trainers (ToTs) in different governorates to empower incipient
leaders to replicate her work in opening spaces for cultural leadership and creative
entrepreneurship. Additionally – noting the vicious cycle embroiling women who may go to jail for
debts as little as 200 EGP and without income – Kassem noted her desire to design and build out
economic empowerment programming for women in debtor prisons.
17
Strengths and Successes
Broad, yet targeted, vision: Even with
programming targets ranging from women,
men, girls, and boys; Nubians, Arab-Egyptians,
Tunisians, and Syrian refugees; in schools,
businesses, workshops, and public festivals;
Agora has displayed an ability to achieve
recognizable impacts and draw them back to a
well-articulated development strategy.
Barriers and Gaps
Dependency on government for events: Though
government contacts have proven important to
and helpful for logistical planning, government
compliance for intended events is by no means
guaranteed. Tourism police are required for all
event security, and bribery has even come up as
an issue in the past. Also, as mentioned
previously, a UNESCO-supported event was even
blocked.
Well-versed in partnership with macro-level
actors: In addition to extensive programming
with the UN, British Council, and Embassy of the
Netherlands, Agora has developed many
contacts in government. This has been
especially useful in logistical planning (e.g.
obtaining of permits) for events. Notably, the
Ministry of Industry has even been directly
involved with volunteer training initiatives.
Approach to Men and Masculinity
Agora has recently started to involve young boys in their programming, as seen through the extensive
engagement planned for the “Year of Morals”. The shift in the programing was a product of street
behaviors, blogging feedback, and impact assessment observed by Kassem. It was realized that Agora’s
programs achieve a considerable impact on women, but “not [on] society”; the organization has also
noticed that the situation is “becoming worse” in terms of gender equality in Egypt. Since gender biases
and discriminatory attitudes take hold at an early age, Agora aims to emphasize the ability of young boys
and men to propel change. As a result, Agora is now targeting young male from ten (10) years of age and
above, including university graduates.
Visual Mapping
18
Scoring
Category
Score
Explanation
Agora’s focus until lately has been on social development
Nature of engagement with
men and boys
4
Degree of communitycentricity
5
Influence among target group
and peers
3
and economic development for women and young girls. As
of 2016, however, the organization has built into their
programming the inherent belief of the need to change
young men’s and boys’ mentalities at an early age, as
embodied by interactive workshops of the “Year of Morals.”
Agora has a strong, active, presence at the community level.
Agora interacts directly with women, men, boys, and schools
in their businesses, schools, and in public.
Agora has been recognized by its peers for its work, having
won social innovation and intercultural awards. However,
the organization’s capacity to support programs achieve
scale is limited by its lack of human capacity and even
potentially physical office space.
19
Ahead of the Curve



Established in 2012
Registered as a private company
Based in Cairo
Ahead of the Curve is a social enterprise dedicated to the promotion of
sustainable business practices, inclusive market growth, and social
innovation. It attempts to address gender specifically by working with
firms in the private sector in order to call attention to the topic.
Ahead of the Curve considers itself a social business whose ultimate goal is to promote sustainable
market practices. Founded by Dina Sherif and Mohamed el-Kalla in 2012, the organization specializes in
consulting and social innovation. The organization serves the private and public sectors, as well as civil
society groups and non-profit organizations. Ahead of the Curve employees appear to have some
amount of overlap with other organizations, including El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation. Community
psychologist Farah Shash, for example, works at both institutions.
Major Activities
Consultancy Services: Ahead of the Curve’s consultancy services assist firms by developing strategies
that create social, economic, and environmental value and by forming multi-sectoral partnerships that
can ensure greater social impact and financial sustainability.
Work with Female Leaders: The organization attempts to create a space for women leaders to support
one another. This includes creating networks and hosting workshops, which falls under the umbrella of
advocating for inclusive growth. Mentoring services are also provided, which are open to men. The
organization is currently conducting a mapping study for UN Women and the Ministry for the Social
Solidarity to evaluate the success of women’s economic empowerment in different spaces. Ahead of the
Curve will assist the Ministry implement a policy to target this issue in three governorates.
Ability to work across sectors: Ahead of the
Curve’s popularity and flexibility as a consulting
enterprise enables it the opportunity to work
with other organizations across different spheres,
including government. This ultimately gives the
organization a path through which it can expand
its influence in the region.
Understanding the role of men: The organization
has been quick to realize that men are an integral
part of the equation in regards to addressing
gender issues and inequality, although it has
limited itself to working with the private sector
specifically on gender issues.
Barriers and Gaps
Monitoring and evaluation: Ahead of the Curve
admits that many times impact assessment
evaluations are not executed. This makes a
concrete analysis of its work and its results
difficult to quantify.
Lack of political will and space: The organization
is quite cognizant of the fact that the lack of both
political will and overall space to talk about
gender issues limit its work. Ministry officials are
not always receptive to working on policies to
further address gender equality. Ahead of the
20
Curve has attempted to circumvent this
drawback by working explicitly through the
private sector.
Although Ahead of the Curve appears to be limited in its efforts to explicitly address men and
masculinity issues, it appears that the firm recognizes that it cannot work on women’s rights without the
involvement of men. It generally works with private sector firms, as well as startups and small and
medium-sized enterprises, for gender mainstreaming, but it is unclear what this work typically
constitutes. In any case, Ahead of the Curve’s inclusion of men in its mentor networks for women is a
testament to the notion of actively engaging men at least as opinion leaders.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
men and boys
Score
2.5
2
Explanation
Ahead of the Curve appears to be willing to address
gender issues, as demonstrated by its emphasis on
female entrepreneurs and mentoring network. It also
attempts to promote gender mainstreaming in the
private sector, but it is not clear whether this work
actively engages men beyond their roles as opinion
leaders or mentors. As a result, Ahead of the Curve ranks
between a 2 and 3 on this scale.
Because the nature of Ahead of the Curve’s work involves
supporting diverse networks of firms and improving the
development of NGOs, its engagement is mostly on a
meso-level.
21
Influence among target
group and peers
3
Although Ahead of the Curve offers a wide range of
services, from consulting and advocacy to training and
technical assistance, it is still a moderately small
organization that is limited by its own manpower. Its
restricted ability to engage in monitoring and evaluation
is a testament to this. The company therefore only has
moderate capacity to scale.
22
Alashanek Ya Baladi



Established 2005
Registered as an NGO compliant with the Ministry of Social Solidarity
Based in Cairo, with branches in Kafr el-Sheikh and Beheira
Alashanek Ya Baladi is a development organization focused on
advancing the economic, health, and educational opportunities
and outcomes among under-privileged groups.
Alashanek Ya Baladi (AyB) consists of 38 employees across eight official branches, six of which are
situated in Cairo, another sits on the coast (Kafr el-Sheikh), and the last is in the Beheira governorate.
The organization’s structural focus rests on four components: (i) employment training; (ii) microfinancing activities; (iii) entrepreneurial support; and (iv) health and educational awareness, with a focus
on maternal and children’s health. AyB’s reach is extended through the utilization of a franchising
system, whereby student clubs at private and public universities take on contractual agreements to
develop and manage research and projects in AyB’s name across the country. With 11 franchises
working across 17 or so governorates, this structure facilitates the use of approximately 1,500
volunteers per year. The franchises are required to stick only broadly to the lines of the general brand,
but are free to choose both the neighborhoods within which they work and their central topics of
research.
Major Activities
With many years of mobilization and programming in various neighborhoods around Old Cairo,
solicitation of programming and community mobilization is largely conducted via word of mouth. The
brand reportedly maintains a strong reputation in many areas and franchises are utilized wherever they
are present to establish, maintain, and nurture these community linkages. Where franchises and the
organization do not maintain a local presence, local NGOs are brought on board to support program
design, development, and outreach. Generally, this process begins with a needs assessment, which
helps the organization to prioritize while maintaining flexibility if needed to respond to various aspects
within diverse focus areas. Community leaders are heavily leveraged in this progression. This
development of local NGOs’ capacities represents key project outputs for AyB, as NGOs are supported
both technically and financially.
Economic empowerment activities: The majority of AyB’s work is focused on this structural pillar, across
a wide range of beneficiaries and specific topics (e.g. micro-finance for women and for widowers alike).
Loans and related support are extended to prop up intended and existing business activities; for
example, AyB often supports the development of enterprise feasibility studies for intended loan
recipients. Over 70 percent of the borrowers are women, though this was not an explicit aim of the
organization. Outputs of these activities also tend to be long-term and labor-intensive.
Health awareness and education activities: Efforts in this realm are generally focused on public schools,
where it is believed that the need is the strongest. AyB has worked to establish protocols for
partnerships with the Ministry of Education, as well. Recently, these protocols were operationalized in a
partnership with Nestle for nutritional awareness which reached 100,000 participants. Outside of
23
schools, AyB works for social advancement by developing and implementing workshops in individual
strategies (e.g. career planning, objective-setting) and health topics (e.g. reproductive health, disease
prevention). A project providing health and educational support to children and mothers – initiated
alongside Exxon Mobil – combined education modules and loans to bread-winners (either male or
female). Families were engaged together continually and in general it was found the women were more
than capable of supporting their families once given the means to empower themselves.
Back to School campaign: Conducted for the first time in December 2015 in Old Cairo, the campaign
provides an example of a community program which displayed (albeit informally) gender interactions
and their impact in primary and middle schools. Lasting about a month and reaching 500 children, the
campaign consisted of two day-long interventions that focused on providing nutritional and social
awareness activities to groups of boys and girls. With sessions consisting of board games and other
collaborative projects, gender divides were seen to fall away if the intervention was delivered in an
interactive manner. The campaign proved very successful for fundraising and assessing overall impact,
and AyB aims to expand it out in coming years.
Operationalized partnerships with government: Key
programs have been initiated in conjunction with
government ministries: the protocol for the
partnership with Nestle, for example, was developed
with the Ministry for the Economy. AyB also
recommended we speak to the Ministry of Social
Solidarity, the National Council of Women, and the
National Council for Motherhood and Childhood.
when asked about partners with which to speak to
about programming relating to gender equality
and/or women’s empowerment.
Robust impact measurement system: Both
qualitative and quantitative monitoring and
evaluation components are integrated into all major
programs. For programs where significant measures
are made difficult because of the inherent mismatch
between length of engagement and time-to-takeeffect (e.g. for reproductive health awareness
workshops), qualitative rather than quantitative
impacts
are
those
initially
emphasized.
Nevertheless, AyB’s continual presence within
neighborhoods allows the organization to monitor
continuously.
High level of operational and advocative capacity
through franchising: The franchising model has
enabled AyB to utilize work from 10,000 grouped
volunteers since 2005. Moreover, these franchises
allow for the continual incorporation of diverse skill
sets and experiences into programming capacities.
Barriers and Gaps
Resistance to development organizations from
within target communities: Resistance comes
not necessarily from target groups or activity
participants themselves, but from prospective
community
beneficiaries
distrustful
of
organizations in general. Governmental,
political, and development organizations
regularly engage without delivering on
promises, and this has hindered entry into
communities at times.
Shifting relationship with government: AyB
maintains its desire to remain apolitical and
non-religious. This has often required shying
away from contentious or political components
of programming, as it is seen to sow distrust
among community members and local
government officials. Many times, it has been
seen that approval for projects (which may or
may not contain such content) is choked off at
the stage of “security approval”, even after
approval has been given by the Ministry of
Social Solidarity.
24
Gender mainstreaming takes place through inclusive activities – as aforementioned in Exxon Mobil
health and education project – rather than explicitly. Equal opportunity for participation is a tenet of
core activities, though it is certainly true that some programs naturally become more focused on women
(e.g. vocational trainings, health trainings). Targeting women exclusively, AyB anticipates, may bring
about resistance from given corners of the community; thus, for programs that target education for
women, AyB aims to implement something parallel for men. Advancing men’s and women’s issues in
step is a core focus.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
1
4
Explanation
Men and boys are involved and targeted in AyBsupported programs as broadly as are women and girls.
Discussions of and programming around gender-based
issues, however, are not built explicitly into programs, so
as to avoid potential resistance from any community
member. While the mission of working on men’s health in
step with women’s health resonated soundly, the
incorporation of men and boys into gender-equity based
programming explicitly did not.
Partnership with CBOs, as maintained both through the
core and franchise teams within AyB, has represented a
central component of programming since the
organization’s inception in 2005. Some relationships with
specific groups and neighborhoods span the past decade,
such as those within Old Cairo. AyB, however, relies
primarily on its CBO partnerships and franchise networks
rather than engaging directly on the ground themselves.
25
group and peers
4
The steady expansion of branches and franchise
volunteers point to the scalability of AyB programs and
approaches at a high level. The internalization of impact
and measurement processes also ease the process, as
well as operational support requirements, for targeted
scaling of strong programs. AyB is, however, not generally
perceived (or willing to be perceived as) an organization
intent on scaling gender-based programming.
26
Anti-Harassment Movement



Established in 2012
Unregistered, apolitical and non-religious
Based in Cairo, has reach in Upper Egypt
Anti-Harassment Movement, is a volunteer lead activist group, which focuses
on raising awareness about sexual harassment through workshops and
social media.
Established in late 2012, Anti-Harassment Movement is a voluntary movement that works to combat all
types and sorts of harassment (sexual/physical, mental/psychological, and religious). Our interviewee
was a volunteer representative resource dedicated solely to the movement’s community engagement
and advocacy activities.
Major Activities
Workshops: Most prominently, Anti-Harassment Movement offers workshops on various
aspects of personal relationship management at university campuses, upon student unions’
invitation. On average, 150 participants attend each workshop. Anti-Harassment Movement
steers clear of involving religion and politics directly into the discussion. The workshops target
to both male and female participants. Representative workshops include the following:
 Harasser workshops explore the underlying reasons for becoming a harasser and the
factors that could influence a child to do so;
 Harassment equation workshops introduce the three components of the
“harassment equation” (harasser, victim, and act of harassment), with the aim of
helping attendees recognize and/or mediate between harassers and victims;
 Relationship workshops help attendees to understand the difference between a
relationship based on love and one that is based on lust;
 “Me and the other” workshops help attendees learn how to accept the differences of
others without judging them.
Barriers and Gaps
Strong social media presence: Anti-Harassment
Movement has a very strong social media
presence, with high number of “likes” on its
Facebook page: 191,343 as of April 2016 (with a
considerable surge in recent months, given that
“likes” stood at 184,224 in January).
Lack of government trust: There is no trust
between the government and the NGO
community, and the government is slow to catch
up when the NGOs are pressing for changes
pertaining to the gender equality issue. In fact, the
new protest law has restricted Anti-Harassment
Movement’s activities. The interviewee reported
that this has resulted in a lost “connection to the
streets” and an incapacity to measure their
potential reach and/or impact. The activist group
27
complains that the “real people” aren’t talk to it.
Instead, the group is forced to rely on social media
because of the government restriction on street
campaigns.
Diversity of workshop offerings to prime
demographic: Young men and women at
universities are the main targets of the AntiHarassment workshops, which allows for the
continuous engagement of a key demographic.
Community pushback: There are deep-seated
beliefs by both men and women that there are
more important issues to talk about (i.e.
unemployment) than harassment.
Even with the passing of a new law criminalizing “harassment” specifically, there is a long way to go in
terms of adequacy in sexual harassment law – e.g. the burden falls on victims themselves to prove that
harassers had intended to harass her for indictment. Still, the interviewee purports, the most pressing
barriers to the end of sexual harassment are cultural rather than legal. “Often Egyptians remark the
following: ‘there are a lot of issues in our country, why are you talking about harassment?’” A pressing
concern is women’s and girls’ own deep-seated beliefs as to expectations for themselves, e.g. that
many women believe FGM is very important to their life and future husband. Many women do not
believe they have the right to move or to work/live freely. Many Egyptians, our interviewee asserted,
are raised with a gender double-standard, growing up to believe that men hold more power, that men
hold the right to beat women and insult their wives, etc. For Anti-Harassment Movement, the solution
is to change beliefs; in other words, talk to women so the latter understand their rights, that they have
the same rights as men.
Visual Mapping
28
Scoring
Category
Score
Nature of engagement with men
and boys
3
Degree of community-centricity
3
Influence among target groups and
peers
3
Explanation
Anti-Harassment Movement is vested in the
enhancement of women’s agency, helping women
to understand their rights and to realize that they
have the same rights as men. Even though the
workshops offered at universities are opened to
men and women, there is no systematic
engagement of men or young boys as instruments
of change for women or themselves. The young
men that Anti-Harassment Movement workshops
reach are engaged secondarily as participants in a
programming focused on combatting harassment
(sexual/physical
harassment
and
mental/psychological harassment).
Anti-Harassment Movement works directly with the
community, in this case with young male and
female in universities.
Anti-Harassment Movement’s programmatic intent
is focused on women’s agency as the core of the
fight for gender equality. Though the organization
targets various types of harassment, their activities
are limited to workshops in universities and social
media campaigning. Anti-Harassment Movement
also lacks the human capital to scale. Its capacity is
further obstructed by the Egyptian government
restrictions, which forced the organization to curb
its streets related activities.
29
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar (Girls are a Red Line)



Established in 2012
Unregistered movement, currently inactive
Based in Cairo
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar is an initiative whose goal is to educate the Cairo
community about sexual harassment in the streets through non-violent
activism.
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar (“Egypt's Women are a Red Line”, e.g. a line in the sand) is a volunteer-based
movement – in which participants are mostly male – launched in 2012 to raise awareness of and prevent
sexual harassment and assault. Particularly, the organization was mobilized against the mass sexual
assaults that occurred in Tahrir throughout the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The movement was given
impetus by the Muslim Brotherhood takeover, which founders feared would “threaten the freedom of
women.”
Major Activities
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar’s volunteer engagement process started with a Facebook group addressing the
noted “sexual violence in Tahrir Square.” Though, by admission of our interviewee, social media
marketing was not one of the organization’s strong points (e.g. only 7,539 likes on Facebook), Facebook
did engage the first 400-500 volunteers. Most of the volunteers were rather recruited from stands at
Tahrir Square. News agency exposure also eased the movement’s recruitment strategy significantly.
Once recruited, volunteers were briefed on the movement’s stand and mission and then trained on nonviolent and non-aggressive interventions (how to non-violently intervene in the onset of, and preceding,
sexual harassment; also in escorting attackers to the police station). The trainings were, on average,
three hours long. Focused on role playing, tone and attitudes they tackled issues including the definition
and causes of sexual violence.
Street Campaign: Banat Masr Khat Ahmar took to the streets, on and around Tahir Square, both to
educate bystanders on sexual harassment and to stop assaults as they happened. The initiative was
actively present on the streets of downtown
Cairo and the Nile Corniche area throughout Eid Banat Masr Khat Ahmar’s current inactive status
Al-Fitr, during which there is generally a could be traced to a number of factors: The end of
reported spike in street harassment. Volunteers the revolution, lack of funds, and the Egyptian
themselves were, as aforementioned, trained to
government systematic crackdown against the
intervene in a way which would avoid arguing
NGO community. Re-activation Banat Masr Khat
with, harassing, or lecturing the harassers Ahmar will necessitate a shift in the very nature of
themselves. Female volunteers were present to
the movement’s engagement, and could play a
assist victims and encourage women to file
significant role in efforts to engage productively
complaints. Given the volatility of the situation with men regarding their own perceptions of
during the revolution, Banat Masr Khat Ahmar’s work
required entrance
and exit
plans.Founder
Upon entrance,
masculinity
and gender
roles.
aim to
for instance, persons of influence were contacted ataddress
least a the
week
before
the event
(e.g. shopkeepers,
lack
of public
recognition
of assailants
as both “victim” and “perpetrator”, most
prominently through an intended rehabilitation
program which could create a community of exharassers to support men in further reform and restructured social thought.
30
street venders, boat owners on the Nile Corniche) to gain access to the area; they also reached out to
the closest police station for support and protection. The volunteers relied on these key authorities to
help them fight sexual assault and intervene in case of any harassment happening in the areas.
Barriers and Gaps
Collaboration with approximately 30 other
organizations: Along with a coalition of CBOs,
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar pushed for the
criminalization of sexual assault. This coalition
successfully added an article to the Egyptian
penal code which introduced, for the first time,
the term “harassment” as a recognized and
punishable offense. Banat Masr Khat Ahmar was
involved in the writing process; it secured the
support of lawyers and psychologists to that
effect.
Impact oriented non-violent activism: Banat
Masr Khat Ahmar has the philosophy to use exharassers to educate other men and assailants
about sexual harassment.
Public attitudes: The key problem among both
men and women, including assailants, was that
they didn’t necessarily know what harassment
was. They knew that “rape” was a problem, but
did not believe that what they were doing (largely
verbal harassment) was wrong as well. Thus, their
own belief was that they weren’t doing anything
wrong. Misrepresentation of religious texts which
men are using to obtain societal approval and
power within the household.
Understanding of bystander effect and shame:
Society does not see harassment as a problem,
let alone a crime. Banat Masr Khat Ahmar,
however, is extremely cognizant of this fact. It
mentioned that many women do not side with
the victim, and would at times suggest that it
was “her fault.” Lack of family support inhibits
claims and reports (belief that it will bring
shame to the family). The organization’s
awareness of the reality and depth of sexual
harassment issues is therefore considered one
of its major strengths.
Lack of alignment: Significant number of men
stood against harassment, but – even amongst the
volunteer base – many did not necessarily stand
for more aspects of household decision-making to
be delegated to women or gender equality; e.g.
some volunteers did not think women should be
working.
Inconsistent and difficult arrest processes: Getting
the harassers to police station was a time
consuming process which sometimes took 6-7
hours. Even when the assailant was brought to the
police station, the victim often encountered
resistance from police officers, who would deter
her from filing. On the flipside, many victims do
not want to take assailants to jail because they feel
that the punishment is too high: sexual harassers
face a minimum six-month jail term and a fine
worth 3,000 Egyptian pounds. Jail time also implies
assault and sexual abuse, perpetuating a vicious
cycle of violence.
The majority of the organization’s volunteers were ex-harassers trained to peacefully intervene on
behalf of sexually assaulted women. It was reported that a “conflict zone” between men and women has
increased since the January 25th revolution, with men attempting to retain what they see as historical
rights and women challenging them. To that effect, Banat Masr Khat Ahmar has tried to bridge the
peace between the two genders, but noted “[their] voices are not very high.” In fact, the organization
faced a number of obstacles in this regard.
31
Visual Mapping
Category
Scoring
Score
Nature of engagement with men
and boys
4.5
Degree of community-centricity
5
Influence among target groups and
peers
1
Explanation
Men were directly engaged, albeit – at the
time of engagement – as instruments of
change for women. The leadership
understands, however, the importance of
engaging men directly on a broader platform
of gender-based programming, including the
need to start a dialogue about what it
means to be a man and how that affects
men violent behaviors towards women. To
that effect, she has a strong desire to
reactivate Banat Masr Khat Ahmar to
include a rehabilitation center for exharassers.
Banat Masr Khat Ahmar is a community
based movement.
Volunteer were
physically present in the streets of Cairo to
educate and intervene, as well as to partner
directly with shopkeepers, street vendors,
boat owners on the Nile Corniche.
Currently inactive, Banat Masr Khat Ahmar is
a small movement with a relatively low
influence. It is, however, part of a strong
coalition of groups and organizations that
has been fighting the legal battle to
introduce harassment as a criminal offense
in Egypt. The organization’s inactivity limits
its ability to be involved in such activities.
32
Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR)



Established in 1996
Registered as an NGO in 2004
Based in Cairo, with activities that span all governorates
The Egyptian Initiative for Women’s Rights is an NGO that specializes
in female political empowerment. Its mission is to provide training
and technical assistance to all women running for public office across
all governorates in Egypt.
The Egyptian Initiative for Women’s Rights (ECWR) has over a decade of experience working on female
political empowerment in Egypt. The organization is highly structured, and it includes a three-member
board of directors, a chairwoman, an executive director of the office, and 10 other employees who work
on the field and develop programs or provide administrative support. Moreover, the organization
sometimes hires external support, including lawyers and activists, on a project-by-project basis. ECWR’s
vision is focuses solely on female empowerment so that women are able to control their own lives and
make their own decisions. As an extension of this, the organization ensures that women can participate
effectively in the political realm and have access to justice by engaging in law drafting, legal aid and
awareness campaigns, and ultimately through its program “Women’s Voices.”
Major Activities
Female political empowerment: The core of ECWR’s activities
‘Women’s
Voices,’
ECWR’s
centers on female political empowerment. Its main program,
flagship program, deals primarily
“Women’s Voices”, involves young female activists in all 27
with female political participation
governorates, aged 21 to 33, who are willing to run for office.
in local councils. Each governorate
The program is divided into three different phases. In Phase I,
has its own council that is
four women are chosen in each governorate and taken to
responsible for overseeing the
Cairo for skills training on political issues and campaigning.
region’s budget and services
Once they have acquired a sufficient level of training, the
provision (e.g. schools, hospitals,
women return to their governorate and are given training
infrastructure, etc.). Currently,
materials to teach other women. Phase II focuses on this
Article 180 of the Constitution
replication aspect of the program, as each woman is expected
reserves one quarter of the seats
to recruit 10 other individuals (females aged 21-45) for
for women in elected local
training. In this phase, the restrictions for participation are
councils. ECWR therefore views
more flexible and training occurs in each governorate over the
women’s involvement on this
span of two days. An ECWR representative is also typically
level to be an absolutely critical
present to give technical assistance to the participants. After
part of the country’s political
the training, the 44 women hold campaigns and seminars for
process.
the community to raise awareness on local issues. Finally,
Phase III deals with working with women who actually get
elected to their local council or even Parliament. ECWR assists them with policy writing, legislation, and
gender issues.
33
Awareness campaigns: From 2005 until 2010, ECWR also engaged heavily on awareness campaigns,
particularly those focused on sexual harassment. The organization conducted one of the first studies
focused on the prevalence of sexual harassment in Egypt and held events to call attention to the issue.
ECWR also made a short cartoon on the subject for kids, which was later adapted by other countries in
the region. Although its campaigning efforts on sexual harassment were brought to a close because of
funding shortfalls, ECWR has conveyed interest in moving towards domestic violence and economic
empowerment awareness projects in the future. It published a study in 2015 with figures relating to
domestic violence in Egypt, but it is waiting on funding in order to proceed with community
engagement. ECWR has further expressed its desire to work with the government on these issues,
particularly because there are lesser-known units that focus on violence against women in the Ministry
of the Interior.
Law drafting: ECWR works on legislation that deals with sexual harassment, family issues, and labor
standards. It was one of the organizations that assisted drafting the sexual harassment law that was
ultimately approved in Egypt in 2014. Nehad Aboul Komsan, the Chairwoman of ECWR, is part of a
committee that is lobbying for the implementation of education-related changes to the Constitution,
including the adoption of obligatory public schooling until the age of 18.
Efforts reach all of the governorates in Egypt:
ECWR has a reach that impressively extends to all
27 governorates in Egypt. Given the vast
geographic distance and idiosyncrasies that
inherently exist in each region, this is a testament
to the extensive capacity that EWCR has in terms
of its female political empowerment efforts.
Extensive network & partners: ECWR is part of a
coalition of 445 different organizations across
Egypt that was established in 2011. The coalition
was born after realizing the importance of
coordination, as these partners are often the first
points of contact when projects need to be
implemented in a particular region. The coalition
includes programmatic partners, as well as
members of political parties and people within
government ministries.
Legal expertise: Despite the fact that ECWR is
subject to project funding controls by the
government like other NGOs in Egypt, the
organization has the legal expertise to contest
any unjust ruling by the government. It has
successfully filed cases in court to get funding
approval, due largely in part to the strong legal
team within the organization.
Barriers and Gaps
Funding issues: ECWR has been restricted from
engaging in community-based campaigns
because of funding issues. Government control
over funding, which began in 2011, has
augmented the problem. Although ECWR
continues to enjoy relative good relations with
government organisms, it does cite funding
control as one of its largest barriers.
Cultural resistance/lack of political will: Because
the nature of ECWR’s work brings it to different
governorates and regions, the organization
sometimes encounters pushback from those who
believe that it is trying to instill the “values of the
West,” particularly with its work on educational
measures. Domestic violence issues are also met
with some resistance from communities and
there is a lack of political will, even with female
members of government, to directly address the
topic.
34
ECWR has no specific trainings or programs aimed at men and boys. Moreover, the organization’s focus
on gender roles in general is limited since it no longer does any type of awareness campaigns. Because
ECWR’s main focus is female political empowerment, its engagement of men is restricted to this
context. The organization is conscientious of the fact that Article 180—the article of the Constitution
that establishes a one-fourth quota for females in local councils—can be amended with a two-thirds
majority in Parliament. ECWR therefore engages men and works with them to ensure that this quota will
not be eliminated. If the organization is successful in turning towards issues of domestic violence, it has
spoken about the possibility of engaging men as agents of change since they are the major perpetrators
of violence.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
2
5
group and peers
4
Explanation
Although ECWR has slowly begun to realize the
importance of having men be agents of change, it
currently only engages men in a secondary manner in
order to ensure that the quota for female political
participation is not eliminated. The limited involvement
of men in its programming has lowers ECWR’s score.
The bulk of ECWR’s programming is concentrated on its
political empowerment activities, which it carries out
across the 27 Egyptian governorates. This organization
therefore has the ability to work on a community-level in
every single governorate, a feat few NGOs enjoy.
As a political empowerment organization, ECWR exhibits
an amazing ability to scale-up its programming so that it
reaches female political candidates in every governorate.
That being said, the organization has listed funding issues
as one of its greatest limitations when it comes to
expanding its programming to include secondary
activities like community awareness campaigns.
35
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)



Established in 2002
Registered as an NGO
Based out of Cairo and Alexandria
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights is a seasoned international
organization that focuses on human rights issues in general. Its
efforts on gender equality stem primarily from the organization’s
advocacy work to support litigation and policies changes in Egypt.
Established in 2002, EIPR had offices across Egypt until 2015, but is now confined to Cairo and
Alexandra. It currently employees 30 individuals in its offices in Cairo and Alexandria, but it has had to
scale down much of its outreach efforts after changes in the political environment made massive
community outreach impossible. EIPR is not a women’s organization per se, it but still attempts to
incorporate gender issues heavily into its work. Although it is co-founded Operation Anti-Sexual
Harassment in early 2012 and works on community awareness campaigns with Tadwein, El Nadeem,
and Nazra, EIPR now focuses on advocating for sexual and reproductive rights, including issues related
to gender-based violence and sexual harassment in the workplace. The group is also very active in its
support for the LGBTQI community.
Major Activities
Research and policy advocacy: EIPR’s core functions
currently revolve around research and policy advocacy in
regards to human rights in general. Under the scope of
gender, the organization targets issues related to
gender-based violence, sexual harassment, HIV/AIDS,
and sexual and reproductive health. EIPR has been
relatively successful in this realm—for example, it was
part of the movement that helped change the penal
code that outlined sexual harassment. According to EIPR,
prior to 2011, the Egyptian law used articles that were
morally charged and had a very narrow definition of
rape. The organization helped draf a law that has a more
inclusive definition, with gender sensitive wording.
EIPR’s advocacy and policy works have
been quite successful in many instances.
One of its greatest successes includes
drafting modifications to the Egyptian
constitution, recommendations which
were accepted during the interim
presidency of Adly Mansour. All
recommendations (with the exception of
one article) were incorporated into the
penal code, including a standing
definition of sexual harassment.
Community-based campaigns: EIPR used to be part of a coalition of 16 NGOs, which proved to be
extremely useful when it still active in community-based campaigns. According to Dalia Abdel Hameed,
the head of gender programming at EIPR, the organization realigned its focus to engage audiences on a
more grass-roots level after 2011. The co-founding of Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, for example,
was part of this effort. Community campaigns, which included disseminating a collection of testimonies
from women, helped EIPR call attention to critical issues like sexual harassment and gender-based
violence. Ultimately, recent changes in government policies regarding gathering in public spaces and
36
CSO activities in general have restricted EIPR’s work on a community-based campaigning to the extent
that it is no longer a priority for the organization. These new laws also affected the coalition of 16
NGOs—the coalition eventually died out when organizations could not agree on a single agenda and
were prohibited from holding events in public spaces.
Support of the LGBTQI community: EIPR is unique in its explicit support of the LGBTQI community.
Aside from advocacy, the organization works with males and coordinates trainings on cyber security.
Due to government monitoring and surveillance, members of the LGBTQI community were particularly
concerned with the prevalence of online entrapment. EIPR worked with experts to coordinate trainings
that could assist individuals to protect themselves online.
Coordination with other NGOs: During its peak
involvement in community-based programming,
EIPR was part of a strong coalition of NGOs that
worked together to develop campaigns. It even
helped found Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment.
Although the coalition has since been disbanded,
EIPR continues to maintain its partnership with
organizations like Tadwein and Nazra,
demonstrating its ability to work well with other
NGOs.
Extensive expertise in advocacy and civil rights:
EIPR has successfully worked on changing the
penal code and the Egyptian constitution in
regards to sexual harassment and other gender
issues. Its advocacy efforts have therefore been
able to bear fruit, showing that the organization
has the capacity to invoke changes overall.
Focus on LGBTI community: EIPR separates itself
from other NGOs by directly supporting the
LGBTQI community. Because EIPR is a human
rights organization, it has the ability to extend its
reach to other under-represented groups of
society.
Barriers and Gaps
Government policies and hostilities: Because
human rights issues continue to be a sensitive
and controversial topic in Egypt, EIPR has faced
extreme government resistance in the last couple
of years when attempting to carry out its work.
Although the organization insists on not letting
government intervention affect its work, it
acknowledges that it could be shut down at any
moment. Employees of EIPR have been detained
or imprisoned because of these issues in the past.
Public outreach eliminated: EIPR has had to
change its approach to public engagement as a
direct result of government policies. Its
relationship with the current administration no
longer allows it to carry out community-based
campaigns, restricting its impact and influence on
the general public.
Lack of resources: EIPR lists a lack of funding as
one of its obstacles that restricts it work on other
issues. Resources are spread thin, meaning that it
is difficult to concentrate its advocacy efforts on
every pertinent human rights matter.
EIPR’s approach to men and masculinity is limited to its work with males in the LGBTQI community. The
organization also does not currently conduct any of its own workshops on gender at the moment, but
supports other NGOs (e.g. Nazra) by providing a gender and sexuality perspective when it is invited to
do so.
37
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
4
3
group and peers
2
Explanation
EIPR no longer conducts its own workshops on gender
roles, but it works explicitly with men of the LGBTQI
community to address other pressing concerns, like
digital security. The organization is therefore able to
target men directly as targets of its programming, earning
EIPR a 4 on this scale.
EIPR’s outreach efforts are primarily focused on advocacy
work and legal reform; however, the organization has
been able to do community outreach occasionally. It also
has an extensive history of working with other NGOs on
an ad-hoc basis.
Despite the fact that EIPR has worked on human rights in
Egypt for over a decade, it is currently extremely limited
in its ability to work on the field due to government
pressure and other binding regulations.
38
El Madina for Performing and Digital Arts



Founded in 2010
Registered as a private company with the Ministry of Investment
Based in Alexandria, implements projects in governorates across Egypt
El Madina utilizes street performance and other artistic endeavors
in public spaces to bring light to social issues, including but not
limited to sexual harassment, projections of masculinity, and
women’s empowerment.
El Madina for Performing and Digital Arts is comprised of five full-time and five part-time employees,
with an associated network of 25 associated artists and five volunteer coordinators/filmmakers. The
organization’s central goal is the promotion of arts and culture, whereby they transform public spaces
and marginalized areas into fora where people can practice free expression and create a cohesive,
diverse social environment. El Madina aims to incorporate various artists, including youth groups and
women from a variety of social and economic backgrounds.
Major Activities
In each community within which El Madina aims to program, the organization partners with local
community based organizations that serve as ambassadors and help create trust between the company
and the community.
Street Carnivals: With financial support from the European Union, the Street Carnival project aims to
promote open-minded solutions and combat gender-based discrimination and harassment through
street theatre performances in conservative
and marginalized areas of Egypt – where At the time of our interview, the street carnival
tours for 2016 had yet to be planned. Al Madina is,
opportunities for arts and festivities are
reportedly few. The artists use joy, storytelling, however, aiming to expand through a new project
called “Space for Arts Welfare” in partnership with
modern dance, songs and theater to interact
the Alexandria Heritage Center and researchers
with the community and deliver their messages.
from Netherlands, Germany and France. The
More specifically, the carnivals aim to highlight
initiative focuses on the “creative economy,” in
the diverse traditions of (especially minority)
particular on creating new spaces in marginalized
communities in Egypt to incite solutions to
areas for women to lead through creative startsocial issues that should be considered local and
ups. At this stage, El Madina is mapping
arisen from resident histories. For example,
through their street performance, El Madina marginalized areas in which they would prefer to
most prominently advances the integration of work, including Karmous in Alexandria.
Nubian and Arab-Egyptian cultures to overcome social challenges through street theatre performances3.
Thus far, 45 performances have been held in 12 Egyptian cities – including Cairo, Alexandria, and
3
Largely concentrated in the south of the Egypt, at the border of Sudan, the Nubians are a minority in Egypt which has often
faced discrimination and oppression. However, the interviewee continually purported their having an open-minded and
gender-equal culture.
39
Domyat – reaching 15,000 people in all. In Cairo, artists performed for two weeks in the streets, at
primary public schools and clubs; across Upper Egypt, they toured for ten days. Using art as a soft power
to support the positive interaction of Syrians and Egyptians, El Madina reached 5,000 persons in their
performances across Alexandria alone. After the performance, an estimated five percent of attendees
are interviewed to assess recognition and agreeance with themes addressed in the theater.
Barriers and Gaps
Locally-grounded and relatable programming: Low levels of support: There is a lack of space in
Performances are rooted in the use of art and the which artists can train, as well as few cultural
policies that support theater and little
Egyptian culture, Nubian, to incite change.
government financial support. Need to provide
artistic avenues in marginalized areas, build
capacity for artists and enable sustainability
Broad network of partners: Increasing numbers CBO environment constrains further progress:
of artists, 20 community-based partner There are very few local organizations tackling
organizations, and a growing network of foreign gender equality outside Cairo and Alexandria,
actors continue to support the scaling of, and especially in small cities. The fact that El Madina
diversification of activities apart from, street relies on the community based organizations
carnivals.
(CBOs) for community entry means that low
levels of CBOs constrains its advancement.
Additionally, although some of El Madina’s
partners work in community development, they
do not always have the needed space to fully
function. This, at times, renders engagement with
the local community difficult.
Quantifiable reach: The organization, which
tracks attendance of and interviews across street
carnivals, thus far reached a diverse audience of
over 15,000 men, women, and refugees in 12
cities.
While the center’s main target audience is men and male teenagers, the events are opened for the
entire community. Young men are considered by El Madina to be potential harassers and are thus
targeted, as “they always think that women are the problem” and there is reportedly little
understanding among men of the lasting impacts of verbal and physical harassment and assault on
women themselves. Consequently, the performances are designed to be very interactive; they are
engaging in such a way that the artists can gauge the audience’s reactions to their messages while
performing.
40
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
men and boys
and peers
Score
4
4.5
4
Explanation
Street carnivals explicitly engage (young) men primarily as
key target audience of anti-harassment and behavioral
change messaging.
El Madina is present mainly in Alexandria, and engages with
an established network of local community based
organizations with whom they partner to offer
programming in disadvantage communities throughout the
country.
El Madina has launched street carnivals in 12 cities, built
out robust networks of artists and CBOs, and attracted
larger bases of financial support through broadened activity
plans. Although El Madina was not mentioned as being a
major player in the space by the organizations that we
interviewed, it has a strong capacity to scale its
programming into other governorates of Egypt.
41
El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation



Established 1992
Registered as a health clinic with the Ministry of Health
Based in Cairo
El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation is a center for research,
advocacy, psychological support, and rehabilitation for victims of
violence and torture.
El Nadeem works across a number of platforms and methods to curb combating of violence against
women and supporting torture victims. El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation is structurally split between
two departments: (i) the department for women survivors of violence; and (ii) the department for
torture survivors. The first work-stream comprises four full- and part-time employees including the
Director of El Nadeem, one listener, one psychologist, and one lawyer. The second department
comprises five psychiatrists and two administrative employees. The organization is present only in Cairo
and does not operate outside the city through CBOs or other means.
Major Activities
Bolstered by media engagements throughout the revolution, El Nadeem has built a significant presence
across media platforms including television (via interviews) and social media. Largely, though,
engagement across all clinical programs is conducted through partner organizations’ programs and
referrals. El Nadeem purports to be a part of a strong civil society sector with organizations that lean on
one another, maintaining formal and informal partnerships with CEWLA, Nazra, EIPR, and BASMA, for
example. When sexual assault took place throughout the revolution, various organizations would
immediately contact El Nadeem, who would then meet the victims at hospitals to provide psychological
support. Outreach by the organization itself is limited, due in part to staff capacity constraints and in
part to existing ubiquity; for example, it was noted that many refugees coming from Sudan knew of no
organization or resource for support besides “Nadeem”, and many consulted just for documentation.
Thus, Nadeem has become a central and reliable point of documentation and publishing of survivors’
stories. While El Nadeem had for a time attempted to train groups to conduct parallel programs in other
communities throughout the country, it was made apparent that the organization does not have the
capacity to scale such efforts and it was decided best not to attract government attention further.
Key components of the organization’s work include regular psychological support, e.g. to women in
shelters; El Nadeem is currently also the only group in the country working with torture victims. In
addition, key initiatives and prominent areas of work outside counselling include the following:
 Political advocacy and legal support: El Nadeem has been a firm proponent of criminalization of
family violence, having worked on a bill for ten years which was passed in Parliament (2010).
Unfortunately, the policy has not yet been implemented, as Parliaments have been successively
dissolved since. El Nadeem has also fought for amendments in the penal code related to legal
treatment of sexual violence. Although this culminated in the historic sexual harassment bill, El
Nadeem reports that advocacy efforts in this area can and should be taken further.
42

Documentation and legal support regarding institutional violence: El Nadeem staff is currently
conducting research and investigating perpetrators of state violence and the patterns they
present. However, this activity has been restricted to the point that El Nadeem has stopped all
field work and has stopped explicitly offering legal support.
Organizational credibility among CSO networks
and beneficiaries: El Nadeem was mentioned by
peer organizations as a leader in the space
multiple times. Although the center garnered
publicity across various media platforms
throughout the revolution, its reach has expanded
significantly due to the fact that it provided the
academic foundations for peer-reviewed reports
and articles and it found itself to be the sole point
of documentation and general recourse for
women in shelters and refugees, particularly those
from Sudan. The organization maintains
partnerships with a multitude of other key actors,
including CEWLA, Nazra for Feminist Studies, EIPR,
and Bassma.
Technical specialization in psychological support:
El Nadeem’s clinical status highlights a unique
point-of-entry to engagement of ground-level
beneficiaries, and naturally lends itself to
engagement of men alongside women. In this
forum, many are found to be willing to talk about
subjects they may not approach in public or with
fellow community members present. Additionally,
registration as a clinic affords the organization an
additional layer of security in its activities,
avoiding some of the approvals required of
NGOs/CBOs under the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
Barriers and Gaps
Pressure and distrust from government: El
Nadeem expressed that the government has
displayed a lack of political will for change. The
interviewee cited a “complicated relationship”
with the National Council on Women (NCW),
expressly disturbed by the fact that the National
Council did not include institutional violence
among its proclamation as a form of violence. El
Nadeem often shies away from research
projects focused on institutional violence,
however, anticipating a negative government
reaction. Distrust is sown by government
propaganda and insistence that El Nadeem is
influenced by a “foreign agenda.”
Political
Instability:
The
successive
Parliamentary dissolution experienced in Egypt
obstructs policy-making and advocacy efforts, of
which
El
Nadeem’s activities
feature
prominently. There is a perceived lack of
political will to focus on women’s rights (see
above). As previously mentioned, this has
crippled the organizations’ efforts in supporting
the development of a bill (over the course of 10
years) to criminalize violence within the family.
Although this bill was passed in 2010, it has yet
to be enforced.
Lack of staff capacity: The interviewee was the
only psychologist associated with the
department for women survivors of violence.
The 11-member staff– of which multiple are only
part-time employees – currently lacks the
capacity to scale out its non-psychiatry
programs.
El Nadeem has been one of the few and key players documenting cases and patterns of sexual violence
against men in Egypt. This is in addition to the documentation of stories and trauma of torture survivors.
Research and programming based upon its documentation has already contributed – e.g. through
reports and peer-reviewed articles – to the broader dialogue surrounding masculinities and gender roles
in Egypt and regionally.
43
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
5
5
group and peers
2.5
Explanation
Though psychological support is expressly offered to
women survivors of violence, El Nadeem has continually
documented cases and provided psychiatric services for
male victims of sexual violence in Egypt, as well as
documentation of male survivors of torture. Qualitative
research among El Nadeem’s clients have contributed to
academic understanding of politically motivated sexual
violence against both men and women, and how
masculinities affect both reporting and subsequent
coping mechanisms for male victims.
Psychological support and documentation services are
provided directly to the individuals that require them.
El Nadeem’s services are constrained by the availability of
staff and pushback from the government (at least for
activities oriented towards research and understanding of
institutional violence). While the organization had
attempted to expand the availability of its offerings
through trainings to other CBOs, financial and human
capital requirements were found to be too high to
successfully scale its programs.
44
Etijah: Youth Development Consultancy Institute



Established 2006
Registered as NGO with Ministry for Social Solidarity
Based in Cairo, but working across all 27 governorates in Egypt
Etijah is an institute specializing in capacity building and
volunteer management for youth-based and community-centered
development.
Two cross-cutting themes permeate Etijah’s varied engagements: (i) developing systems and curricula
for volunteer management and use by NGOs; and (ii) asset mapping for community-based partners.
Thus, to build a bridge between youth and its own communities, Etijah focuses on volunteerism,
fostering ownership, trust building, skill set improvement, and ultimately building and acknowledging
community-level needs and assets. As a volunteer-based organization, communities and volunteers are
empowered to design their own initiative, wherein Etijah provides trainings in support. This support
includes assisting organizations define “citizenship,” what it means to “tackle women’s empowerment,”
or how to engage others on the street with respect to such issues. The emphasis on capacity-building
reflects the organization’s core values of sustainability and replicability.
Major Activities
Engagement of volunteers – typically those between 18 and 28 years of age – is conducted at scale
through a number of channels, including social media campaigns, word of mouth, and the establishment
of official partnerships through which they may outsource volunteer aggregation. Etijah maintains (and
publishes yearly) a database of over 300 CBOs in Egypt, and it collaborates with more than 100 at any
given time across the country. The organization also established and maintains an online platform for
Egyptian CSOs to access and manage volunteers called JAWAR (jawar.org). JAWAR is unique because it
includes a “volunteer bank” within which participants and CSOs may be matched. Volunteers are
encouraged to participate by earning points for every volunteer-hour worked. These points can be used
to obtain non-financial, skills-based rewards from the private sector (e.g. internships, discounts on
productive materials, workshop opportunities, etc.).
Because the substance of engagements is driven by communities’ own needs – as articulated with the
assistance of Etijah and its asset mapping support – the matter of community-level interventions
supported by Etijah varies widely. A portion of these interventions does directly focus on gender issues,
with prominent subjects including reproductive health and female genital mutilation (FGM).
Active Citizens program: Since 2010, Etijah has partnered with the British Council to run the Active
Citizens program, which supports enterprising youth and respective CBOs in their efforts to set or scale
up their own social action projects. Etijah has served as the local civil society partner responsible for
conducting a set of trainings of trainers (ToTs) on citizenship, both locally and globally, followed by
design of social initiatives to address locally-identified issues. In Beheira governorate, for example, Etijah
supported volunteers in the development of a breast cancer awareness program, with a campaign that
brought together a group of local NGOs and opinion leaders and emphasized the need for sonograms
for women. Renewed in September 2015, Etijah has expanded its concentrated effort to equip young
45
men and women with debate skills, leadership attributes, and community initiative tools through ToTs
for youth from the Red Sea, Sohaig, and Aswan governorates.
Sohaig-Focused Gender-Related Programming: In the Sohaig governorate specifically, Etijah is
cooperating with 10 CBOs in five centers (Tema, Sohaig, Akhmim, Balyana, and Dar El-Salaam) to expand
initiatives focused on gender-based issues identified as central to community needs. In Dar El-Sallam,
volunteers have attempted to address gaps in prenatal care – especially for young mothers who married
as children – through an initiative comprised of awareness sessions, seminars, and home visits. In
Akhmim, volunteer-designed interventions target issues including reproductive education for teenagers
as well as information on prenatal care, sexually transmittied infections, and breast cancer.
Deep and varied cooperation with network of
CBOs: Etijah has built up a varied portfolio of
experience, working continually with 100+ youthand community-led CBOs across the country
towards the achievement of diverse causes. Etijah
can support the development of networks and
transfer programming between such beneficiary
groups; that is, it has the ability to introduce
partners with capacities related to gender-based
programming to those that had previously only
focused on civic engagement or economic
empowerment.
Clear approach, target, and methodology: Etijah’s
process is clearly-expressed and follows a general
stream for all communities with which it engages
This process includes ToTs and asset mapping, with
clear emphases on community-ownership, gapidentification, and replicability. This lends credibility
to Etijah’s approach and suggests sustainability.
Volunteer structure: Dedication to a structure
wholly geared towards community mobilization and
volunteerism internalizes community buy-in and
facilitates scale, even if the organization’s staff may
be limited.
Barriers and Gaps
Lack of clear definition of civil society: The
absence of an official delineation for what
constitutes “civil society” in Egypt makes it
such that there is a perceived lack of common
and/or neutral space for CSOs to discuss and
push forward initiatives together. An unclear
political atmosphere hampers the ability of
the organization to support the development
of programs around civic or political
engagement.
Inability to drive agenda: The organization’s
model inherently places a limit on its ability to
drive the priorities of programs with which it is
associated. Etijah therefore focuses on
community-initiated initiatives and programs
related to issues identified by community
youth themselves.
Etijah engages both male and female volunteers, for all initiatives, in the belief that gender (and any
volunteer-identified) issues are not just women’s issues, but “community issues”. Decision-making in the
private and public space is understood as coming at different levels, from any gender. The shift in
approach at the community-level, from understanding of gender impact as isolated to community-level,
required a high level of training and support from Etijah staff and trainers. Now, though, men from
respective communities have been heavily involved even in advocacy and support programs centered on
reproductive health and FGM projects.
46
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
4
4
group and peers
4.5
Explanation
Etijah sees both males and females within the community
as potential proponents of individual and communitylevel change by promoting the health and well-being of
community members holistically. Both males and females
are a part of programs to advance women’s and
communities’ empowerment.
Etijah does not directly carry out its programming at the
community-level, but regularly influences and supports
its network of over 100 CBOs in Egypt.
Working across all 27 of Egypt’s governorates, Etijah’s
influence on community-level programming is especially
pronounced and should enable on-ramping of
programming quite immediately. However, Etijah also
generally aims to hold back from overtly setting out
community-level objectives and was not expressly
mentioned by peers interviewed as particularly active in
programming related to different aspects of gender
equality and women’s empowerment.
47
HarassMap



Established 2010
Registration (pending, as of January 2016) as NGO with Ministry for Social
Solidarity
Based in Cairo, with a presence across 15 governorates
HarassMap is an advocacy, outreach, and training initiative
focused squarely on ending the social acceptability of sexual
harassment in Egypt
HarassMap was founded upon the realization of its four co-founders that Egyptianshave a high tolerance
for harassment, even as victims. The need for reform identified, however, was not initially on the
harassers themselves, but on bystanders. Thus, HarassMap’s central aim is to end the social and public
tolerability of sexual harassment. In its quest to put an end to social acceptance of sexual harassment in
Egypt, HarassMap has expanded its scope from being only an open-source, online mapping and
messaging platform, to providing outreach and training across the country through its team of staff and
volunteers. HarassMap leverages a large base of volunteers for support across campaigns, reporting,
and mapping, as well as research activities. This has included holding monthly workshops to teach
community members how to responsibly and safely intervene when sexual violence takes place, with an
initial focus on reaching those who work on the street (e.g. vendors and doormen). On an ad-hoc basis,
this even includes off-beat activities including displays of artwork – usually as a sub-grant component of
their work. However, in response to a funding “drought” and in an attempt to focus on quality over
quantity of services, HarassMap is scaling down public outreach and training activities from 15 to six
governorates. With six in-house trainers, HarassMap relies heavily on the use of training-of-trainers
(ToTs) to expand reach.
Major Activities
As previously mentioned, the expansion of
HarassMap’s activities is dependent on
effective and continual engagement with its
volunteer
network.
Many
volunteer
opportunities and needs are advertised on
Facebook – not through public tenders but
through trusted networks in broader
communities and existing volunteer bases.
Therefore, for every 300 or so applications
received by prospective volunteers, only 20 or
so individuals are invited to volunteer trainings.
For programs with individual institutions,
engagement is often a function of referral
and/or personal networks.
The organization published Towards a Safer City in
2014, collating comparative data from the mapping
initiative and traditional research methods on
prevalence, practice, and support required regarding
sexual harassment in Egypt. Key findings include the
following:
 Most harassment takes place in the middle of the
day, in crowded markets and areas where people
do not live, but spend leisure and active time;
 Online, women were more likely to report specific,
explicit terminologies (e.g. exact sexual
connotation directed towards them); when not
anonymous, victims used more formal phrasing;
 Comments anticipating disclaimers (e.g. “I was
wearing a veil and still…”, “I was walking with my
brother…”) reveal the societal push to blame
women for harassment.
48
Mapping: Using Ushahidi’s open-source mapping platform, HarassMap developed an incidencemapping system through which victims of sexual harassment could report their cases via mobile phone
or online. The map intends to show that the problem is one affecting the broader community, rather
than solely individuals. HarassMap also partners with Nazra for Feminist Studies, providing its hotline to
support victims’ reporting and redress on each of its maps, and is attempting to map service providers
throughout Egypt.
Trainings: To support volunteers and institutions aiming to expand their capacity in systematically
combating sexual harassment in public spaces, HarassMap counts with six in-house trainers. For
volunteers, overall training time depends on community and content specifics; nevertheless, training
generally targets “responding to excuses” which may be given for sexual harassment (this typically takes
2-5 days). University volunteers, for example, are trained on harassment policies already in place and on
methods to encourage reporting. In the end, the trainers aim to evaluate which trainees are truly able
to serve in an outreach and representative capacity on behalf of their communities and HarassMap and
invite them to join the volunteer network. It is worth mentioning that ToT manuals center on the varied
“resistance stages” offered by potential harassers, which trainers are taught to identify, deflect, and reorient. These stages include: (i) denial; (ii) minimization of the problem; (iii) comparison of suffering; (iv)
silence; and (v) tacit resignation.
The Safe Areas Unit campaign: The Safe Areas Unit campaign is a training program tailored to the
respective needs of particular institutions, corporations, and NGOs. Thus, the focus of trainings is
determined by an entity’s respective policies on harassment in the workplace. Most prominent
clients/partners in institutional training include Cairo University and Uber. HarassMap currently works in
universities across seven governorates, where it focuses on the development and adherence to the
university’s own policies by first clearly defining “what sexual harassment is.” Given that in Egypt
professors have often been viewed as untouchables, the space is especially sensitive and difficult to
penetrate. In order to reach such institutions, insiders need to be inherently interested. In private
companies, there either tends to be a denial of the problem or the belief that it has been adequately
addressed. The focus is placed on determining and understanding what sexual harassment is, how to
report it, and how not to get reported. Depending on the individual dynamics of respective companies,
training needs change – e.g. in a café, there is a need for employees to stand by those facing harassment
just outside; at Uber, rather, employees have clients’ phone numbers and could potentially follow up
with them outside of professional capacities.
Media Campaigns: HarassMap is constantly analyzing the data collected through its mapping platform in
order to observe trends and identify new marketing campaigns to fight the social acceptance of sexual
harassment. The organization aims to stay relevant and continually reassess its role in evaluating
societal needs this way. Its monitoring and evaluation efforts are also instrumental to respective
programming components. Most recently, campaigns have focused on shifting the burden of
responsibility and stigmatization away from women and victims to men and bystanders. For example, a
current marketing campaign (online and on television) focuses on the slogan “harasser = criminal” in
order to support a shift away from stigmatizing the victim.
49
Ability to quantify and publicize the problem in
real time: The organization’s well-recognized and
trusted open-source mapping platform enables
the sizing and triangulation of sexual harassment
in public places, and it is conceivable that the
mapping could be utilized for further research in
additional areas.
Adaptable to shifting environment and trends in
engagement: HarassMap has successfully
diversified its funding base by branching into
consultancy (e.g. its agreement with Uber) and
“incubation (start-up) support (e.g. from ICRC
and GIZ). It found areas in which it could provide
value-added within the space beyond an initial
mapping focus (e.g. in workplaces). The lean and
volunteer-based model allows for shifting in new
directions easily and regularly. For example, given
the high need found for intervention within the
private sector, economic empowerment and its
linkages to harassment will reportedly constitute
a larger portion of programming moving forward.
Public influence via heavy and localized
campaigning: Campaigning successes have
included the contribution to successfully shifting
the use of the word “flirtation” to “sexual
harassment.”
Barriers and Gaps
Security issues: Volunteers are restricted from
moving together in public in large groups and can
be especially vulnerable if wearing identifying tshirts. Local citizens may thus encourage
government officials to curb the organization’s
activities.
High volatility: As demonstrated by the intention
to scale down from 15 to six governorates of
operation, HarassMap’s non-mapping activities
remain especially vulnerable to registration
issues, lack of funding, and constraints to expand
its volunteer networks. The decentralized and
volunteer-based nature of its operations
constrain the organization further, as volunteers
are difficult to motivate without monitoring and
evaluation frameworks to suggest that their work
is taking root. The organization is thus
characterized by high levels of staff turnover.
Approach to Men and Masculinities
Some of the earliest volunteers and proactive community-level partners in HarassMap were men, who
were engaged just as all its other volunteers were (e.g. via social media). HarassMap found that if
women undertake training or outreach alone, they are often harassed themselves. When only men are
conducting the outreach, however, they are not as effective. Thus, the organization strives for 50%/50%
representation of males and females across activities (currently, the split is approximately 30%/70%, but
the organization is continuing to strive for balance in this regard).
With the support of the British Council, HarassMap has partaken in three-day ToTs with British NGOs
White Ribbon and MenEngage to replicate programs that engage men across the governorates in which
HarassMap currently works. The engagement of men in anti-sexual-harassment programming has been
identified as a focus for future messaging campaigns, and it has been acknowledged that it could be
made more pervasive throughout the organization’s work. HarassMap published a report with BASSMA
for the University of Sussex detailing existing work on men’s engagement and motivations for male
volunteers within this arena.
50
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
3
5
group and peers
3
Explanation
Men are increasingly viewed as potential participants in
HarassMap’s programming efforts, insofar as instruments
of change in the ceasing of sexual harassment.
HarassMap delivers ToTs and messaging directly to
communities. The primary targets of HarassMap’s
programs are primarily community members (potential
harassers, victims, and especially bystanders).
While certain elements of HarassMap’s programs present
platforms in which messaging and research programs can
be on-ramped quickly and directly, the capacity of the
organization to take on more work is largely dependent
on its ability to maintain and build out its volunteer
networks. This is due to the fact that HarassMap has
become increasingly strained for official funding and is
still hampered by its lack of registration with the Ministry
of Social Solidarity.
51
Nebny Foundation



Founded in 2011
Registered as an NGO under the Ministry of Social Solidarity
Located in Manshiyet Nasr, Cairo (2nd largest slum in city)
The Nebny Foundation is a social entrepreneurship initiative which
aims to improve the lives of underprivileged youth through
programming for advancement of education, health, and economic
outcomes.
The Nebny Foundation is oriented towards the broad socio-economic development of the Manshiyet
Nasr slum, with a focus on: (i) education (for residents up to 15 years of age); (ii) health (concerning and
targeting residents of all ages and roles); and (iii) economic empowerment (for residents of all ages).
Only their largest program, detailed below (“Educate a Child”) is staffed through full-time employees –
teachers who are given charge of curricula development and dissemination. All other programs are
administered through volunteers. On occasion, in collaboration with NGOs, the Nebny Foundation has
hired staff or solicited specialized volunteers on a project-by-project basis.
Major Activities
The Nebny Foundation’s engagement strategy is articulated through direct linkages with Manshiyet
schools, workshops, and families. The CBO often itself serves as a linkage for community residents to
access services and benefits through partner organizations, as detailed below.
Education: By far Nebny Foundation’s most prominent point of engagement, programming for youth
education is delineated through a stream of programs, within which individual students are filtered from
one activity to the next based on ability and experience.
 “Educate a Child”: The Nebny Foundation’s foundational education program piloted alongside
Wahed Min El Nas Foundation, provides literacy classes for children in grades four and five; 70
percent of program participants cannot read or write at the most basic level at program
inception. For three months, five days per week, 300-500 students are provided lessons outside
of school hours from full-time trained teaching staff. In a closely monitored iteration of the
program, 100 students who could not read and write even their name were enrolled into the
program. After two months’ completion of the intensive program, 60 percent were at a basic
reading and writing level.
 Specialized tutoring: Specialized tutoring across varied subjects is made available on a peer-topeer basis for graduates of “Educate a Child,” targeting both primary and middle school
students. For the past three years, the program has been offering private lessons in computer
programming/coding – mostly to girls, as boys often go to work as early as 10 years of age.
 “Our Children”: Participants for the “Our Children” program are filtered from the specialized
tutoring group. Each Friday, about 100 such students are rewarded for their work with extracurricular programming in arts and culture, as well as in social skills. The project engages groups
for approximately six months at a time.
52

“Young Inventors”: A program that offers courses in programming and building electronic
circuits using software called ‘scratch.’ The students, sourced from upstream education
programs, also learn how to use a computer lab, to code, and to pilot-test their creation. The
initiative has been running for three years, currently counts with 10 students – half of whom are
girls – between eight and 14 years of age. At the time of our interview, the “young inventors”
were preparing for an international robotics Lego competition.
Outside of this program stream, Nebny offers a diverse set of education programs targeting more
specialized topics. For example, concerning girls’ social awareness and empowerment, the Nebny
Foundation has partnered (on an ad-hoc basis) with Heya Misr to support girls with regard to character
and capacity building. Largely, the partnership focused on supporting girls in protecting themselves from
sexual harassment and on self-defense. The organization has also partnered with Safarni - a youth
engagement program targeted towards the broadening of cultural exposure to participants. For five
days at a time, for example, participant youth simulate being in different countries (e.g. adopting food,
culture, and clothing). Other education trips, such as those to farms and to ‘Kidzania,’ are conducted
with the intent to expand children’s knowledge of broader societal roles and occupations and to
encourage students to broaden their horizons and develop larger aspirations. In the future, the Nebny
Foundation intends even to bring groups of electronic engineers into their center to provide
entrepreneurial trainings – e.g. through a designed three month program, students would learn to
prepare business plans, to raise funds, to conduct feasibility studies, etc. Gender role allocations and
gender disparities are not integrated within the curriculum, but staff and volunteers may choose to
speak to them on an informal level. For example, this may be through raising questions with individuals
and/or parents, talking colloquially rather than paternalistically, and engaging on an informationprovision basis.
Health: Though a much smaller component of their current programming portfolio, the Nebny
Foundation staff and volunteers (which include doctors and medical students) aim to scale up their
activities in this area on multiple fronts. The Foundation has recently secured funding for a limitedcapacity local clinic which staff/volunteers will operate, and it is supporting the intended re-opening of a
large-scale health facility to serve Manshiyet Nasr. As the slum is known as ‘Garbage City,’ the
organization is keenly aware of respiratory and other diseases particularly acute among residents and
has initiated a funding campaign for its clean-up. The organization does partner with local NGOs to
provide health programming for youth on an ad-hoc basis:
 Nebny Foundation volunteers organize regular runs through Cairo and fitness workshops for
boys in girls in partnership with Cairo Runners. The girls are encouraged to wear pants and run
and work out with the boys;
 Nebny Foundation partners with Girl Power to teach girls to play basketball. While activities
were halted because of space limitations, some of the participants were accompanied out of
Manshiyet to watch “Africa Cup” games.
While family planning has been identified as a serious issue, and female genital mutilation is quite
prevalent through the slum, such topics have been largely approached on an informal, rather than
programmatic, basis in order to retain trust and avoid stirring up dissent within the community.
Economic Empowerment: The Nebny Foundation has been a part of a number of economic
empowerment initiatives across the community, from developing a needs assessment for the redevelopment of Luxor Street to updating particular workshops. The organization supports its local
workshops by marketing and even selling the final products produced through its own center. The
Nebny Foundation has also initiated a micro-loan program for women to start their own businesses,
53
though the level of loan provision is still small. The center collaborates with other local organizations to
provide training sessions for the women – e.g. in sewing – and workshops for men throughout the
community.
Quantifiable, visible, and continual Impact: The
Foundation has touched over 20,000 families and
educated over 1,200 students. Through the
education program in particular, the Nebny
Foundation has demonstrated the ability to form
deep and long-lasting connections to participants,
often programming with the same individuals for
projects spanning multiple years. Impact is
especially visible through stakeholder support, as
community residents have even involved
themselves in sit-ins to counter attempted site
confiscation by the local government.
Demonstrated ability to collaborate: The
organization has built programs on an ad-hoc basis
with other CBOs and NGOs into their core
curriculum. This has included organization’s
focused on women’s empowerment (e.g. Heya
Misr and Girl Power), even while Nebny
Foundation itself has avoided explicit focus on
gender inequities.
Well-Focused targeting and engagement strategy:
Located and focused squarely in Manshiyet Nasr,
Nebny Foundation has built out its engagement
strategy directly into local institutions such as
schools, workshops, and – soon – a health clinic.
Barriers and Gaps
Limited scope for programs on householddynamic issues: Perspectives reflective of
gender disparities are encompassed only
informally, for fear that awareness/advocacy
programs would not be well-received by parents
who may subsequently obstruct their children’s
partaking in activities. Even family planning,
acknowledged as a serious problem, is not
considered an appropriate programming target.
Government interference: While, the Nebny
Foundation is apolitical, it has often been
associated with political activity due to the
founders’ own activity in revolutionary efforts.
Local government has threatened, for example,
three different times to confiscate the space.
Financial constraints: Obtaining funds is a
constant effort of the Foundation, and has
limited the scale-up of other planned health
activities – e.g. clean-up of the area; provision of
nutritional education for parents; health facility
re-opening
and
(until
recently)
clinic
maintenance.
In general, the community is driven by a community development approach, wherein engagement is not
directed by gender targets; on average, estimated participant rations for boys and girls are
approximately sixty (60) percent and forty (40) percent. The culture in the slum makes it such that the
Nebny Foundation is attractive for women – the fact that, in the slum, women are often familial breadwinners generates the tendency for them to be more eager to look after their families. It is recognized
that men, on the other hand, are sensitive and potentially resistant to the receipt of social services and
donations. In general, though, gender roles are not integrated in the curriculums; Nebny Foundation
rather takes an informal approach to generating awareness of and discussing gender inequities and
gender roles with girls and boys. When a girl is asked for her hand in marriage (especially at a young
age), for example, volunteers will talk to her informally and give her advice.
54
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
1
5
and peers
3.5
Explanation
The education, health and economic empowerment
activities are directed towards the development of
Manshiyet Nasr slum, in general. Questions of gender
disparities are considered very sensitive in the slum; as
such, gender inequities and perceptions of masculinity
have not been explicitly targeted, or even formally
broached, despite men’s and boys’ participation across
programs.
The Nebny Foundation is a community-based
organization firmly placed within and with programs
directly targeting the development of the Manshiyet
Nasr slum. Engagement channels are firmly established
within local institutions such as schools and workshops.
The Nebny Foundation has demonstrated tremendous
impact on boys and girls in Manshiyet Nasr, yet its
potential to scale (especially outside of Manshiyet
Nasr) is limited by availability of funding, staff capacity,
and, potentially, preference. With only one team of
full-time staff directed fully towards youth education
initiatives, other volunteers and staff do not have the
capacity to provide broader programs to parents as
they may wish to reach parents and other community
members as they may wish. Additionally, with a clear
focus on Manshiyet and large scope for programming
there whenever funding is available, they may rather
not aim to build out programs beyond the walls of the
slum.
55
New Imprint for Development (Bassma)



Established in 2012
Recently registered as an NGO
Based in Cairo but carries out work in Alexandria and some other
governorates
Born out of the heightened level of sexual harassment cases during
the Tahrir Square protests, Bassma continues its outreach efforts by
hosting workshops on gender issues at public universities in Egypt
New Imprint for Development, known as Bassma for its name in Arabic, was founded in 2012 by Nihal
Saad Zaghloul, Abdul Fattah, and Hassan Nassar. Although it began as an anti-sexual harassment
movement during the Arab Spring protests, its main objective has evolved to include creating safe
spaces for under-represented groups, particularly women. Bassma consists of 15 employees and
approximately 50 volunteers, who work out of an office it shares with the organization Choice. The
majority of Bassma’s efforts continue to center around gender equality and women’s rights, focusing
explicitly on working with public universities and student groups. The organization enjoys a relatively
decent working relationship with government officials, particularly the Ministry of the Interior, and has
benefitted from a wide range of media exposure, both on a national and international front.
Major Activities
Workshops at public universities: Bassma’s outreach efforts at
public universities are divided into three phases which Although Bassma holds workshop
strengthen and build upon the organization’s main goals. These for 20 to 30 students at a time,
these students are taught how to
phases include holding workshops at public universities for 20 to
launch their own campaigns
30 people on topics related to gender roles, gender inequality
related to gender inequality and
and sexual harassment; thoroughly training volunteers in each
sexual harassment. It serves as a
location to launch their own community campaigns on gender
domino effect, since most of
issues; and ultimately evaluating and measuring the impact of
these volunteer-run campaigns
these campaigns and identifying areas of improvement. Team
leaders are usually chosen from these volunteer-run campaigns can reach 500 to 700 people.
so that they can replicate efforts in the future with other
students. These team leaders are put through six to eight days of
training, which is done in order to ensure that the programs are sustainable and maintained at a
particular university or community. Bassma is currently in the second phase of its outreach efforts; it will
move to the third phase later this year.
Public awareness campaigns: Current government policies have limited Bassma’s ability to launch largescale public campaigns regarding gender issues. One of its most successful campaigns was a media
project that involved posting a large comic strip at a subway station that depicted events in a typical
woman’s day, including sexual harassment. Although the comic strip was supposed to be posted in other
subway stations, government resistance restricted its distribution.
56
Volunteer network and extensive training: Even
though Bassma employs 15 individuals, the
organization relies heavily on its well-trained
volunteers because successful campaigns require
intense manpower. A heavy emphasis is placed
on training – students and volunteers are trained
extensively in the realm of gender issues and
sexual
harassment.
According
to
the
organization, “individuals have to truly believe in
the work they are doing, otherwise their
campaigns will fail.”
Relationship
with
government
officials:
Bassma’s work occurs mostly in public
universities, as such, the organization is forced to
maintain a steady working relationship with the
government. Although the group has had some
issues obtaining approval for on-the-ground
campaigns from the authorities within the last
year, its relationship with the government
remains relatively strong.
Barriers and Gaps
Expansion to controversial topics is limited:
Bassma has expressed a desire to focus more on
issues related to domestic violence and sexual
abuse of minors. Its programming is restricted,
however, due to the controversial nature of these
topics as well as by low levels of funding.
Incorporating cultural beliefs into its training
sessions is already difficult; expanding its reach to
more controversial topics would undoubtedly
add another level of complexity.
Limited scope: Bassma has done a terrific job of
hosting workshops and campaigns in public
universities like the University of Cairo and the
University of Alexandria, reaching approximately
3,000 individuals. Nevertheless, its work is
circumscribed to these institutions in these areas,
and to students in particular, because of current
political restrictions. Universities are typically
approached through a personal contact, but this
may change now that Bassma is registered as a
formal NGO.
High media exposure: Bassma has enjoyed
sizeable media support, both in Egypt and
abroad. For example, this exposure helped call
attention to the organization’s campaigns against
sexual harassment in 2012, allowing its work to
gain momentum and reach a greater audience.
Despite the fact that Bassma works specifically on gender issues, it is unclear whether it directly targets
men for programming related to masculinity. The organization’s workshops and campaigns are open to
both genders and typically attempt to address cultural believes which posit that men are the stronger,
superior gender. Given Bassma’s high capacity and experience for training students and volunteers,
however, the organization could certainly expand its reach to incorporate more activities that focus on
the role of men in Egypt and the rest of the region.
57
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
3
5
group and peers
3
Explanation
Bassma has always engaged both genders in all of its
initiatives. From its initial work in Tahrir Square, to its
community campaigns, and its workshops at public
universities, Bassma ensures that participation is open to
all interested parties. The organization’s strength,
however, comes from addressing sexual harassment
matters, not explicitly addressing men and masculinity.
Because Bassma’s main goal is to create a safe space for
women and other under-represented groups, it works at
public universities to do outreach. Since the organization
is present and works directly at this community level, it
earns a 5 on this scale.
Bassma has been able to impressively transform itself
from an anti-sexual harassment movement to a
registered NGO with 15 employees and a vast network of
volunteers. Nevertheless, its efforts are currently limited
to organizing workshops at public universities, showing a
moderate capacity to scale.
58
Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment



Now-defunct initiative
Originally founded in February 2012
Based in Cairo and completely volunteer-based
Operation Sexual Harassment was established to do groundwork
during the Tahrir Square protests in 2012. Due to the change in
government and restrictions on protesting, the initiative is currently
inactive
Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment (OPANTISH) was an initiative that was born during the Arab Spring
protests with the assistance of other NGOs, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and
Nazra for Feminist Studies. Although it started out with approximately 12 to 15 volunteers, the initiative
grew to include 100 individuals at its zenith. Volunteers included both men and women, who were
recruited through Facebook, personal contacts, and the assistance of Nazra.
Major Activities
Assistance for women in Tahrir Square: The main activity of Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment was to
assist women who were being harassed in real time, move them to a safe space, and help them seek
medical attention when necessary. Scouts were strategically placed throughout the Square to distribute
flyers with telephone numbers that could be called to report sexual harassment cases or to press for
legal action. The ultimate goal of the group was to make Tahrir Square a safe space for all. Volunteers
were sent out in groups of 12 to assist women who were being assaulted. Equipped with flares, electric
Tasers, and even sticks, the volunteers would pull the victim out of the crowd and take them to a
designated safe space. Afterward, the victims could choose to meet with volunteer doctors or receive
psychological care from Nazra. Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment, however, did not coordinate directly
with government authorities nor did the volunteers undergo any type of formal training before joining
the initiative. This made the use of excess force commonplace in Tahrir Square, spurring a backlash
against the group.
Experience on the field: Operation Sexual
Harassment was one of the first groups to
address sexual harassment at the very cusp of the
Arab Spring, during one of the most tumultuous
moments in Egypt’s history.
Teamwork with Nazra: The group’s coordination
with Nazra helped strengthen its mobilization of
volunteers. Offering counseling and psychological
support through Nazra was a fundamental part of
ensuring long run support for the initiative.
Barriers and Gaps
Lack of training and methodology: The fact that
volunteers underwent very minimal training and
were simply “explained the risks” made violent
outbreaks routine. In these situations, it is likely
that the group’s volunteers added to escalating
tensions.
Strained relations with government authorities:
Although the group had community support and
originally tried to work with the police, they found
that the policy were extremely apprehensive,
adding another level of complexity to their work.
59
Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment did not directly address masculinity issues or gender in depth. Its
involvement was limited to making the initiative open to people of both genders. And although there
were many men who signed up to work as volunteers, there appeared to be a superficial emphasis on
gender roles in general.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
3
5
group and peers
1
Explanation
Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment worked to address
sexual harassment directly and it involved men as
participants in the process, earning it a moderate score in
this category. Nevertheless, the initiative failed to
recognize the importance of incorporating other aspects
that relate to gender issues and masculinity directly into
its volunteer training.
This initiative was known for its hands-on approach in the
community, as it was one of the first groups to actively
work with victims in Tahrir Square. Although it is
currently inactive, Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment’s
trademark was to work directly at the community level.
Although Operation Anti-Sexual Harassment was able to
expand its influence by recruiting approximately 100
volunteers and working with Nazra at its peak, the
initiative is currently inactive which reduces its current
influence to the lowest level.
60
Population Council - Egypt



One of 15 offices across the world
Registered as an NGO under the Ministry of Social Solidarity
Based in Cairo but conducts field-work throughout Upper Egypt
The Population Council in Egypt focuses on the management of
large-scale research, advocacy, and technical assistance on family
planning, reproductive health, and youth issues – both at national
and (through community-based partners) local levels.
Population Council International (PCI) is an international NGO with fifteen offices across the world. The
organization is led by a cadre of post-doctoral and aspiring researchers, who have carry out large-scale,
nationally-representative research activities. Gaps identified in research activities are subsequently
targeted through community-level programming through systematic partnership with CBOs. PCI-Egypt is
aligned along two departmental pillars: (i) Poverty, Gender, and Youth; and (ii) Reproductive Health4.
The Poverty, Gender, and Youth department engages in research and implementation activities,
bolstered by partnerships with community-based organizations and NGOs.
Major Activities
For each location in which programmatic activities are to take place, seeking CBOs with which to partner
is considered a priority. Generally, and in the case of Nedqar Nesharak (see below), each CBO is
subsequently overseen by a “mother” NGO for the governorate as a whole. Partner NGOs and CBOs are
often already engaged in advocacy, information-sharing, and/or training related to intended project
areas. Women targeted for programs are identified broadly through CBO-reconstructed local censuses
at program inception, and then brought in through peer-referral as programs progress.
Panel Survey of Young People in Egypt (SYPE): First conducted in 2009 and re-initiated in 2014, SYPE is a
nationally-representative quantitative survey focused on the question of “how young people have
fared.” The investigation targeted 15,000 young people – in all governorates and in rural areas – to
garner an understanding of (i) personal transitions such as entry into and exit from schooling,
employment, marriage, and migration; and (ii) attitudes regarding gender norms, social values, and civic
participation. Central findings, upon which programmatic interventions and policy advocacy design have
been subsequently built, include the paucity of labor participation among young women in rural Upper
Egypt (about 6%) when compared to that of women in urban areas (30%) and men in general (60%).
4
Our conversation, and the subsequent analysis, focuses on the Poverty, Gender, and Youth
workstream – led by Dr. Rania Roushdy, with whom we spoke.
61
Ishraq: Commencing in 2001 and closing
in 2013, the Ishraq program focused on
the development and integration of safe
learning spaces for marginalized girls in
rural Egypt. Out-of-school girls across 30
villages in the Sohaig, Iwa, and Feyoum
governorates were supported and
encouraged in their efforts to re-enter
school through programs in participating
youth centers within the community.
Although local opinion leaders and the
personal
agendas
of
individual
community members within target
geographies made the functioning of the
program difficult or implausible at times,
the program was able to reach its target
of 208 out-of-school girls. Of these girls,
about fifty percent were re-integrated
into a learning atmosphere through the
Ishraq initiative.
The progressive inceptions of the Ishraq and Neqdar
Nesharak programs demonstrate PCI-Egypt’s penchant
for framing future engagement around gaps identified
during previous research and programming efforts.
Two key gaps were identified as those which may
frame PCI-Egypt’s programs moving forward:
1. Reaching women who have married early, rather
than solely those who may still re-enter school,
may be more effective in stemming the spread of
conservative attitudes among females themselves.
Such a program should include a component on
gender-based violence, especially.
2. In recognition of a lack of networks among women
in
Upper
Egypt
to
support
economic
empowerment, PCI-Egypt sees great value in the
development of informal unions within which
Neqdar Nesharak beneficiaries can establish
linkages. Such unions may represent different
elements
of
supply
chains,
based
on
complementary natures of respective vocational
programs.
Neqdar
Nesharak
(“We
Can
Participate”): Rising dually out of the
aforementioned key findings of SYPE and the initial achievements of Ishraq, Neqdar Nesharak aims to
enhance livelihood opportunities for young women in rural Upper Egypt. The program is built to support
women 16 to 29 years of age transition into school and ultimately into the labor market. The program
consists of (i) three months of in-class training; (ii) three months of vocational training; and (iii)
continuous follow-up support to beneficiaries until they are capable of gaining employment or starting
up respective enterprises. Participants are provided assistance to conduct their own feasibility studies
and work plans for project ideas, and are therefore treated as individuals with varied familial, societal,
and other obligations. A complementary life skills module is provided to ensure that participants know
their rights (e.g. in legal proceedings, for inheritance purposes, in civic participant, to non-discriminatory
employment), how to engage civically, and how to present an active voice. Specialized modules are
offered on reproductive health and child-rearing as well.
PCI-Egypt engages in a wealth of other research, advocacy, and programming efforts, often taking
leadership roles in their development dissemination – even at the national level. For example, the
country office is charged with general management and leadership of the International Network to
Analyze, Communicate, and Transform the Campaign against FGM/C (INTACT).
Close linkages to local networks: PCI-Egypt
maintains a consistent and systematic tiered
approach to work with CBOs across rural
governorates. This network is characterized by
partnerships with CBOs, communities, and even
individuals, which span multiple projects and
many years.
Barriers and Gaps
Issues surrounding participants’ security: In
times of transition, girls often expressed
unwillingness
(or
were
faced
with
discouragement) to leave their homes for
security reasons. Activities were usually
conducted in youth centers, to which travelling
was not always considered safe.
62
Demonstrated capacity for rigorous research:
The organization is led by a cadre of postdoctoral and aspiring researchers, who have
carried out multiple large-scale, nationallyrepresentative research activities (as detailed
above). They play a role in advancing national
research agendas.
Measurable impact in core competencies: Nearly
5,000 young women across 30 villages were
reached directly in the last three years. Though
only descriptive analysis is available thus far,
impacts of Neqdar Nesharak have been
significant with over 1,000 program participants
launching their own businesses and over 600
women obtaining employment in their villages or
nearby communities. Over 8,000 parents,
spouses, siblings, and community members have
been directly engaged and are increasingly
accepting of women’s work and engagement in
the public sphere.
Pushback on intended age of intervention:
Often, topics regarding women’s health and
rights discussed throughout the Ishraq and
Neqdar Nasharak programs – such as FGM – were
seen to parents as introducing “impolite stuff”.
Reproductive and sexual health are not formally
included within the public education system.
Authorities’
discomfort
with
specific
components of comprehensive programming:
While it was quickly and repeatedly stated that
religious leaders are most often seen as sources
of support and strategic engagement allies for
PCI-Egypt, it was also noted that individual
community leaders sometimes lend their support
to the overall aims of the program while
objecting to the modules discussing or
introducing issues closer to home (e.g.
reproductive health, FGM). This can chip away at
PCI-Egypt’s credibility amongst the communities
in which they work.
Constraints to effective randomization: In each
village, geographic representation necessitated
the participation of as many as 150 women
within the age and literacy requirements. In some
villages, however, there were only 150 women or
less registered within the locally-conducted
census, and estimated attrition levels for the
project were high as a result.
Men are generally engaged only informally, insofar as community role models (most prominently
religious leaders) lecture or lead discussions to encourage conversations with male and female
attendees on questions surrounding women’s rights, gender-based violence, and economic
empowerment (e.g. after a film screening). Usually, men do engage and respond. Husbands, brothers,
and (sometimes) parents were surveyed at the baseline and end-line of Ishraq, revealing shifting
attitudes and practices surrounding gender roles, but behavioral and attitudinal change components are
not utilized, nor are men engaged directly across programs to our knowledge.
63
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
2
4
group and peers
4.5
Explanation
Men are generally engaged only informally, largely as
community role models who lecture or lead discussions
with the broader community. Husbands, brothers, and
(sometimes) parents are engaged through base/end-line
surveys, but not as target beneficiaries of or direct
participants in any program.
The organization’s research and programming activities
are enabled through continual links with regional-level
and community-level NGOs and CBOs.
PCI-Egypt has demonstrated the capacity to develop
programs and community-level partnerships to scale.
Their direct and well-maintained CBO linkages suggest
that they have the capacity to on-ramp programs further
to engage the wider community. Among peer
organizations, though, Population Council was not
generally identified as a most-prominent actor and/or
thought leader in the field.
64
Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD)


Founded in 2001
Based out of Cairo, with projects in 23 different governorates
The Sawiris Foundation is a private family initiative that is dedicated
to social development and sustainable job opportunities. Initially set
up with an endowment from the Sawiris family, SFSD encourages job
creation by funding diverse projects throughout Egypt although it
does not explicitly work on gender topics.
The Sawiris Foundation for Social Development (SFSD) is a grant-making, non-profit organization that
employees almost 20 individuals in its offices in Cairo. Supervised by a board of trustees, SFSD’s main
mission is to contribute to Egypt’s development by creating long-lasting job opportunities and
empowering citizens to build productive lives that realize their full potential. SFSD works primarily by
allocating grants and donations to diverse NGOs; it is a highly autonomous institution that does not
accept outside funding unless it is part of an equal partnership.
Major Activities,
Grant-making and NGO funding: The Sawiris Foundation finances NGO projects on a rolling basis based
on strategic planning goals, community needs, and the Board’s own annual initiatives. Overall funding is
granted to programs that deal with vocational training for youth, health and community development,
microcredit and culture. Once a project is approved, NGOs receive contracts for up to two years with
SFSD. The NGOs are given both technical and financial support and SFSD follows up with the
organizations on a quarterly basis to ensure the proper development of the project. While there is no
limit stated on the amount of funding that can be granted to an NGO, SFSD thoroughly analyzes every
recipient organization to ensure that it has the actual capacity to administer funds and carry out the
project. If an NGO lacks the necessary experience or capacity to manage a project, it is paired up with a
larger organization that can provide it support. An NGO can receive funding for two projects at once
only if it has proven to be an effective and efficient partner; however, the NGO must wait at least two
years before it requests funding once again in order to prove its own sustainability.
Funding independence: Given its large
endowment from the Sawiris family, SFSD has
the privilege of not being bound by the same
funding constraints as other organizations. This
allows SFSD the opportunity to finance any
project of interest as well as enjoy great
autonomy and independence.
Barriers and Gaps
Establishing trust: SFSD has stated that obtaining
a high level of trust from the community can be
problematic. Program participants, particularly
young people, do not believe that they will be
able to receive gainful employment after the
project ends. SFSD notes that it is easier to see an
acceptance of trust in women and girls than it is
in men because females are more open to
training opportunities.
65
Job creation development approach: SFSD truly
believes that development should be
sustainable by creating long term job
opportunities for program participants. The
organization therefore also funds NGO projects
that come up with innovative job creative
initiatives that are relevant to their communities
and labor market needs.
Limited focus on gender: Gender mainstreaming
is not necessarily a topic that SFSD attempts to
address
through independent
programs,
although it does try to take on projects that have
a gender equality focus where there are an equal
number of male and female participants.
SFSD does not currently engage in gender programming nor does it finance NGOs projects that deal
explicitly with gender roles in general. Even though SFSD has stated that it has started to take gender
and gender equality more into consideration, demonstrating that perhaps it could be open to financing
projects of this nature in the future, it does not consider this a priority at the moment.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
1
1
group and peers
5
Explanation
SFSD does engage men indirectly through its NGO
financing, but the projects it funds do not generally have
any explicit gender focus.
SFSD is a macro-level actor that is involved in grantmaking and donations to other NGOs, limiting its
community-centricity engagement to the lowest level.
This foundation is one of the first family donor
foundations dedicated to social development in Egypt. It
is also one of the largest and most renown, with a large
capacity to scale and finance projects all over Egypt.
66
Tadwein Gender Research and Training Center



Established 2014
Registered as a private company with the Ministry of Investment
Based in Cairo
Tadwein is an evidence-led resource center for organizations and
projects supporting gender equality, whether concerning genderbased violence, use of ICT for development, or engagement of men.
The Tadwein team is small and carries a heavily anthropological lens. Amel Fahmy, an expert
anthropologist focused on sexual reproductive health, who was both a co-founder of HarassMap and a
contributor to the IMAGES survey, leads a team of four full-time and two part-time employees. Tadwein
is not an implementing agency – rather, it supports aspects of other organizations’ programmatic
activities for gender equality and women’s empowerment through research and advocacy.
Major Activities
Development of a Manual for Engagement of Men: Tadwein is utilizing both secondary (literature
reviews) and primary (field-testing) research to construct a theory of change which will support
programs challenging men’s concepts of masculinity. The literature review, in progress, points to a
number of organizations across the world which are effectively engaging men (see text box to the right).
Currently in phase two, Tadwein is fashioning
The review pointed to organizations (e.g. Sonke in
a range of potential modules, which it aims to
South Africa, CARE in Yemen) which have
test starting March 2016. Cultural sensitivity
successfully developed modules integrating men into
and age-appropriateness are key components
gender equality programs. While the literature
of this design. Pilot testing of various modules
will commence with a target 200 children in review did not indicate any specific ages for which
underdeveloped communities in Egypt, then intervention is most effective in challenging men and
boys’ concepts of masculinity, much success was
will be scaled up to the middle class through
found through engagement of youth in schools, e.g.
private schools (with which Tadwein has
initiated communication). Tadwein will through sports programs in Kenya. A key linguistic
finding was the persistent identification of
partner with Educate Me to develop the
quwamma – “superiority” in Arabic – in relation to
manual, which is intended to be open source
questions of gender equality and masculinity.
so that others can re-use, adapt, and scale
modules which work.
“NotAshame” Campaign for Sexual Education: In collaboration with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal
Rights (EIPR) and the Cairo Center for Development (CCD), Tadwein led a national campaign coinciding
with the 16 days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (GBV) in Egypt. A sub-them of the campaign
was “Sexual Education: A Need, Not a Luxury,” and it served as a channel to communicate to NGOs,
activists, governments, and other stakeholders the potential for sexual education to address many
issues related to sexual and reproductive health. The campaign proved to be representative of the
67
potential for positive and productive collaborations with government entities, as the Ministry of
Education was involved throughout the campaign.
Other activities have included the following:
 Conducting of a mapping for last 20 years of GBV programming in Egypt;
 Developing of an online platform for women in the parliament to address issues of political
participation;
 Engaging in policy advocacy and social marketing surrounding intimate partner violence.
Specialized research capacity: The team includes
anthropologists, a statistician, and political/legal
counsel to facilitate effective and specialized
research services.
Impact-oriented: Tadwein is developing progress
indicators and a monitoring and evaluation (M&E)
plan to work in conjunction with the proposed
manual, cognizant of country contexts (e.g. crime
of honor a large problem in Jordan but not in
Egypt; female genital mutilation [FGM] a big
problem in Egypt but not in Jordan).
Existing, though limited collaboration with, the
government: While it has been suggested that the
government is not fully aboard an “integration
approach,” it was suggested that the government
tends to collaborate when “you show them
evidence” – this has proved central to successes
such as the NotAShame campaign.
Barriers and Gaps
Translation: Translating words indicative of
masculinity from English/Spanish into Arabic is
not direct and/or well-received by communities.
Tadwein recognizes that messaging needs to be
simplified and localized.
Organizational Capacity: The team of six, which
contains part-time workers and team members
otherwise engaged with external projects, may
be constrained in their ability to take on further
projects while at their current size.
While many organizations in Egypt engage men through participation in gender equality programming
activities, Tadwein is the first which promotes approaching men specifically with respect to changing
views on masculinity. Two key issues have been identified in the development of its manual, mindful of
community-level concepts of masculinity: (i) issues of women’s agency, in that men are to be involved in
programming which holds women as a focus, and (ii) issues of protection, for both men and women
involved. Tadwein also aims to build a manual attentive to the burdens associated with masculinity, such
as the notions that men are not supposed to display emotion, or the financial burdens associated with
engagement and marriage expenses.
68
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
5
2
group and peers
4
Explanation
Among those organizations which we spoke to, Tadwein
is perhaps the most attentive to and focused upon a
multi-faceted approach to the engagement of men and
masculinity, at both personal and community levels.
While the organization’s tools are meant to be deployed
at community level, Tadwein is oriented towards building
the capacity of research and development organizations
to involve men productively, and thus focuses squarely at
the meso-level of engagement.
Although Tadwein is a small operation with programs
that have not been fully characterized or yet deployed,
the very nature of the intervention (in tool/manual
development) makes for the organization’s extensive
capacity to scale. It seems, however, that the
organization has yet to receive widespread recognition
from peers and potential target beneficiaries, which
indicates that Tadwein is not yet a major player in this
field.
69
Teens Club


Registered as an NGO
Based in Cairo, with its headquarters in the Greek Campus
The Teens Club is a non-profit organization that focuses on providing
and creating a community for teens. It coordinates workshops to
engage young people but it does not addressed gender issues
specifically
The Teens Club considers itself a non-profit project that seeks to help teens develop their skill sets. It
specifically targets those under 20 and coordinates workshops that span a wide range of topics. Its
ultimate goal is to provide and create a community for teenagers, who they feel are often underserved.
The Teens Club’s main outreach methods, however, are limited to its online presence and Facebook. The
organization has expressed a desire to work with student unions at universities, but at the moment its
main partners include the British Council and UN Women.
Major Activities
Workshops for teens: Coordinators establish a twoTeens Club has been very successful in
month plan in order to organize workshops at the
Greek Campus in Cairo. Most activities require building a captive audience for its
programming. Although some of the
participants to pay a fee, which is used to pay
events are capped and require a small fee
professors and teachers who lead the workshop. Topics
to cover costs, Teens Club events are still
include business and marketing, debate, writing, and
photography. The workshops tend to be three-day extremely popular. Its main outreach tool
is Facebook, with its presence expanding
intensive events that are capped at 25-30 participants.
from 23,950 likes in January 2016 to
To attend, teens are required to submit an application.
“Young Arab Voices”: In collaboration with the British 37,290 likes in April 2016.
Council, the Teens Club organizes Young Arab Voices, a
program which sets up debates and provides a platform for youth to meet and exchange views.
Participation in this program is free and youth are encouraged to participate in order to improve their
debating skills.
Expansive online presence: The Teens Club’s
online presence is impressive. Not only does the
organization engages with youth on a daily basis
online, it is able to successfully coordinate and
advertise its events solely through Facebook.
Unique target group: This appears to be one of
the few NGOs in Cairo which creates a space
Barriers and Gaps
Community perception: Parents provide much of
the push-back in regards to gender issues. The
organization also prefers to focus on providing
workshops on technical skills and has not
ventured into gender topics.
Limited reach: The Teens Club currently focuses
its attention to events in Cairo, which limits its
70
specifically for teens. Youth coordinators play an scope to youth in that particular region of Egypt.
integral part of the organization and select
workshop topics, which helps maintain a youth
perspective.
No government intervention: The Teens Club has
been able to stir way from issues involving
government intervention. Despite its status as an
NGO and involvement with foreign organizations
like the British Council and the UN, the Teen Club
reports not having any difficulty operating
despite increased government regulations.
Although gender roles are not explicitly addressed in the workshops conducted by the Teens Club, all
programs are open to adolescents regardless of their gender. Nevertheless, youth coordinators have a
feeling that young teenagers are not generally aware of issues such as gender equality because many do
not attend mixed schools and ultimately have a hard time understanding the gaps within the gender
spectrum at an early age. Roba Ashraf, one of the young students who help lead and organize the club’s
events, believes that parents themselves are the greatest source of resistance. Parents tend to hold
strong beliefs over what is appropriate to teach youth regarding gender roles and even biological
differences. Parents often stress that teens are too young to be learning about gender and that a greater
focus should be given to education instead.
Visual Mapping
71
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
1
5
group and peers
3
Explanation
The explicit engagement of men and boys is restricted by
the organization’s lack of willingness to tackle gender
issues specifically, possibly due to the barriers that
currently surround gender roles in programming for
teens. Instead, the Teens Club has chosen to target all
adolescents, regardless of their gender, in the hopes of
promoting equality between the sexes and fostering a
sense of community.
The Teens Club’s extensive, on-the-ground programming
demonstrates its high degree of community-centricity.
Although programs are directly solely at teens, this
organization is continuously present in this segment of
the community.
Although the Teens Club has a solid presence in Cairo, its
expansion is limited by a lack of resource and human
capital. The organization does have a solid network of
partners which help advance its programming goals, but
the Teens Club’s capacity to scale is still moderate and
limited to Cairo.
72
Women and Memory Forum



Established 1995
Registered as an NGO compliant with the Ministry of Social Solidarity
Based in Cairo
Women and Memory Forum is a research and advocacy center
dedicated to the collection, production, and dissemination of
alternative knowledge surrounding gender frameworks in Egypt.
The Women and Memory Forum (WMF) is a small, however well-established and well-networked,
organization that employs approximately 13 people. WMF resources are directed largely towards the
building of knowledge repositories for public access, as well as on the direct engagement of academia
and activists to support the incorporation of gender and feminist frameworks into their respective work.
Major Activities
A large part of WMF’s work is directly and freely accessible through its organized set of online
databases. With regard to workshops, staff often reaches out to administrators and researchers within
public universities directly, since the WMF founders and organizational leadership are academics with a
broad set of connections across these networks. The ability of WMF to publicize and disseminate its
work is, however, limited by constraints on public space.
Archive of Women’s Voices: The Archive project focuses on the generation and documentation of oral
history surrounding the lives of women in Egypt. The project was piloted through the archival of about
100 life stories of contemporary female pioneers over 75 years of age, across different fields of
achievement, culminating in the launch of the WMF Online Oral History Archive in 2015. With the
assistance of UN WOMEN, the project is being expanded to document the stories of women working in
the public sphere since and after the January 25th revolution, with the intention of solidifying and
maintaining the memories of these leaders. This activity intends to link the personal to the public,
creating a safe space for individuals who may be willing to share their stories while generating rich
source material for use by researchers, students, and activists alike.
Women and Memory Library and Documentation Center (WMLDC): The WMLDC is a library that serves
as a gender-focused resource for Egypt and the region, with a varied collection of published and
unpublished material written in both Arabic and English. WMF actively pursues the incorporation of
private collections (including personal papers, pictures, and diaries) from interview subjects, such as
those targeted in the Archive project. Additionally, the library contains resources from the manifestation
of feminist mobilization in previous generations, including the collection of rare magazines by and for
women. Other gray material – from theses to individual essays – is also heavily incorporated.
Gender Education Workshops: WMF provides workshops and advisory support to post-graduate
researchers in public universities with the aim of nurturing the base of Arabic-language knowledge
surrounding gender and feminist frameworks. WMF supports translation work directly and assists
73
researchers incorporate gender perspectives into their research. Thus far, 10 rounds of these workshops
have been held across multiple governorates in support of the academic community.
Other activities have included the following:
 Documenting and translating works into readers to assist academics in incorporating a
conceptualization of gender and feminist frameworks across various academic disciplines (6 or 7
readers have been created to date);
 Re-publishing the works of pioneering women from the 19th and 20th centuries;
 Building the “Who Is She?” database of distinguished female experts in various fields across
Egypt, in parallel with the Archives;
 Delivering oral history workshops (4 thus far, with 20 participants each) to support a broader
audience – activists, youth initiatives, NGOs, researchers, journalists, and filmmakers alike – to
develop alternative sources of knowledge.
Effective relationship with government: Because
of the inherently political nature of information
and knowledge that WMF intends to display and
disseminate, approval from government is
continually required. WMF has effectively
engaged the government directly, e.g. through
the inclusion of government representatives in
oral history workshops. The founders have
demonstrated the ability to liaise directly with
the government through successful participation
in a constitutional referendum for articles related
to gender-discrimination in the Constitution.
WMF also led efforts for the public school system
to integrate lessons highlighting young feminist
pioneers in elementary school curriculums.
Extensive set of existing online resources:
WMF’s resources extend across public, private,
and academic life and include personal papers
and diaries, grey material in Arabic and English,
as well as oral histories. Rare books, magazines,
and manuscripts also date back to the 19th
century.
Well-networked amongst varied networks:
WMF maintains active linkages with universities
(e.g. holding grey material which cannot be
found elsewhere), political stakeholders (e.g.
through referendum-based activity), activists
and filmmakers (e.g. through oral history
programs), and NGOs and youth initiatives (e.g.
through workshops).
Barriers and Gaps
Staff under-capacity: Though some elements of
its work are less constrained by the number
staff employed (e.g. management of the online
database of resources), the ability to scale out
workshops and to compile subject-specific
readers is limited. Amongst the 13 or so people
employed, not all are full-time workers; the
development of a reader focused on sexuality,
for example, has been postponed due to
researcher unavailability.
Pushback against ‘alternative history’: While
there is certainly a pushback surrounding the
primacy of the state narrative in Egyptian history,
some academics have themselves provided
pushback to narratives they see as promoted by
WMF. In the public sphere, these activities have
been associated with a “foreign agenda.”
74
While the central focus of WMF is intently on women’s history, workshops are made open to both men
and women. Seminars involve and discuss the role of men in such work, and there are many male
participants who are open to and interested in promoting and supporting the generation of women’s
history. WMF has published a report on sexuality and considers it an open topic for exploration in the
organization’s future. It is currently attempting to develop a reader on sexuality, though it is currently
on hold due to copyright issues, maternity leave for the main researcher, and administrative red tape.
Visual Mapping
Scoring
Category
Score
men and boys
3
3
group and peers
3
Explanation
Although WMF involves men in workshops and solicits
their participation in knowledge creation, women are the
focus of oral histories and documentation and men are
not involved on a purposive basis. While aiming to
publish on masculinities and alternative sexualities, WMF
is still working outside the lens in regards to men’s
health, etc.
WMF does maintain channels and programs to connect
with CBOs and communities on an ad-hoc basis (e.g.
through digital access to libraries and oral histories), but
the organization is more focused on meso-level
engagement through its support to academics who
leverage their own community-based networks for
research purposes.
As demonstrated by the stalling of the proposed
development of the alternative sexualities reader due to
shortcomings in staff availability, WMF’s capacity to scale
(beyond digitally, it may be argued) is visibly moderated
by their human capacity.
75
Annexes
Annex I: Stakeholder Mapping: List of CSOs Interviewed
January 12, 2016
Meeting Day 1
Participants:
1. SAIS (Justin Ahmed, Tchi Sogoyou, Laura Saiki Chaves)
2. UN Women (Rodwa Tarek – translator; Rihad – intern)
3. Banat Masr Khat Ahmar (Dina Farid)
4. Etijah (Karim Shawer – Program director; Fatma Zaka – Coordinator)
5. Anti-Harassment Movement (Donna Albert)
6. Teens Club (Roba Ashraf)
January 14, 2016
Meeting Day 2
Participants:
2. HarassMap (Reem Wael – Director)
3. Operation Sexual Harassment (Tarek El Mokadm)
January 17, 2016
Meeting Day 3 – Telephone Interview
Participants:
2. Agora (Reem Kasem – Founder)
January 18, 2016
Meeting Day 4
Participants:
2. El Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation; Ahead of the Curve (Farah Shash)
3. El Madina for Performing and Digital Arts (Mohab Saber ED – Executive Director)
January 19, 2016
Meeting Day 5
Participants:
2. New Imprint for Development (Nihal Saad Zaghloul – Fundraising Officer)
3. Population Council (Dr. Rania Roushdy)
4. Tadwein
January 20, 2016
Meeting Day 6
Participants:
76
1.
2.
3.
4.
SAIS (Justin Ahmed, Tchi Sogoyou, Laura Saiki Chaves)
Women and Memory Forum (Diana Magdy)
EIPR (Dalia Abedel Hameed)
Nebny Center (Ahmed, Waleed)
January 21, 2016
Meeting Day 7
Participants:
2. ECWR (Nehal Ali)
3. Alashanek Ya Balady (Rama Maher)
4. Sawiris Foundation (Randa Khalifa)
Annex II: Key Informant Interview Guide
Key Informant Interview Guide
Purpose
Introduction and
Informed Consent

Gathering information from civil society organizations across Egypt
working with men and boys (e.g. health, security, legal, psychosocial,
gender-equity related)
 Further understanding of key nuances on characterization of or means
to engage men and boys with regard to health and gender-equity
programming
 Identifying organizations (especially new and youth-based) who
maintain innovation in community engagement at the core of their
activities, for targeting for deployment of small grants towards agents
of change
 Supporting in framing of qualitative research component for IMAGESMENA and related programmatic activities in Egypt for Promundo and
UN Women
Our names are Justin Ahmed, Tchi Sogoyou, and Laura Saiki-Chaves, and we
have come at the behest of UN Women as representatives of Promundo. We
are here to learn from you about engagement of men and boys in gender
equality and health related programs and activities. The information discussed
will be provided to Promundo and UN Women to support the development of
partnerships and programs intended to expand the level of engagements with
men and boys in Egypt.
I would like to now introduce my team. Our note takers are ________.
Please know that your participation is voluntary. No one is obligated to respond
to any questions if she (or he) does not wish to do so. Participants can leave the
discussion at any time. No one is obligated to share personal experiences if she
(or he) does not wish to do so. Please be respectful when others speak. The
facilitator might stop the discussion, but only to ensure that everyone has an
opportunity to speak and no one person dominates the discussion.
77
We will ask if each of you provide your agreement to be a participant in this
discussion, and also request permission to record everyone’s responses. We will
keep all discussion confidential. Please do not share details of the discussion
later. If someone asks, explain that you were speaking about the health
concerns of men and boys.
Your voice will represent your community/organization, but there will be no
benefit to you directly for participating in this discussion.
Do you give us permission to begin the discussion?
Questions/Topics
Do you give us permission to take notes?
Administrative
 Date of interview
 Name of institution/agency
 Name of person interviewed and contact details if provided
 Their position in the institution/agency
Institutional Overview
 What is your organization’s role in the community?
 What programs are you implementing/supporting/initiating? With what
goals in mind?
 Where are these programs situated/serving?
 How many people and through what channels are they operating?
 What are the central problems that your institution face(s) in operating
and reaching out to the community effectively?
Alignment in Gender Equity and Health Programming (and theory of change)
 What is your community’s and institution’s attitude about supporting
efforts to support the engagement of men and boys in gender equity
and health programming?
 Are gender (equality) concerns in specific addressed through any of
your programs? If so, how?
 What do you see as the major gaps in terms of supporting gender
equality (e.g. in gender equality policies; sexual and reproductive
health; gender-based violence; men’s health; economic stress)?
 What do you see as the local strengths in support of such programming
in your community/by your institution?
 What do you see as the most prominent barriers to such efforts –
whether from parts of the community, authorities, or others?
Partnerships (and Snowballing)
 Do you work with other civil society groups, institutions, or agencies
directly?
 Are you aware of any other programs or initiatives, either in your
community or nearby, that address the engagement of men and/or
boys in gender equity and health related issues?
78

To whom else should we be asking these questions in order to get a
more complete sense of programming concerning working with men
and boys for gender equity and health?
Special Thanks
We would like to thank all the people who assisted us during our trip to Cairo and in the development of
this stakeholder mapping tool, including Dr. Natko Gereš and Dr. Shereen El-Feki of Promundo, Sarah
Brun, Emad Karim, and Radwa Tarek of UN WOMEN, Salma Abou Hussein of Population Council-Egypt,
Dr. Tanvi Nagpal of SAIS-IDEV, and Dr. Jennifer McCleary-Sills, our trusted advisor.

Final Deliverable

Transcription

Similar documents

CV - Zahran

1)What is meant by “assimilation”?

EGYPT Infographic English

The history - Jardin des Dominicains du Caire

Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace

Online Advertisement

Small-Talk can lead to Big Things

The Year in Review - Homegrown Communications

financial report

Page 12