TakingITGlobal - Panorama - A Guide for...

Published on: Oct 1, 2004

Topic:

Type: Opinions

https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=4404

In the year 1952, and in the middle of the violent political events taking place in Egypt: the British colonization's violations against the Egyptian people; corruption by the royal regime; the suffering of lower classes in the Egyptian population and the increase in their poverty. A group of young officers in the Egyptian army succeeded in reshaping the future of Egypt and the Arab world, by having led a revolution against the royal regime, having some goals to implement the most important from it was freedom to Egyptian people and their well being.

Let me share with you some of the 1952 revolution?s goals in relation with development:
-Agricultural restoration (i.e., taking a part from the huge agricultural lands belonging to rich people and giving it to the poor people to seed it)
-Realizing social justice
-Free education for all Egyptians
-Improvement of the Egyptian economy (creating an Egyptian heavy machinery industry)

Now, and after 22 years, Egypt needs its youth again to participate in the process of development and work hard on making this country a better place for the sake of their future and their well being.

There are more than 120 NGOs (non governmental organizations) working in Cairo for development and human rights, aiming to eradicate extreme poverty amongst lower classes in the Egyptian population, achieve education for all Egyptians, improve Egyptians' health and well being and raise awareness about their political, economic, social and cultural rights.

Unfortunately there;s a lack for networking and communication between those NGOs, and between them and millions of Egyptian youth willing to volunteer their time, their efforts, their energies and their skills to enrich the process of development in Egypt.

Since the year 2001, the International Year for Volunteers, I started working along with the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) program in Egypt with a number of volunteers on strengthening and coordinating the communication between the different parties of the development process, through the International Volunteer Day known in Egypt as the Open Volunteer day.

Admist preparations for the next Open Volunteer Day in December 2004, we started this project called "Cairo Guide for Volunteers". It's a joint project between the UNDP and the NGOs service center in Cairo. This guide should include the most 100 active NGOs in Cairo and the volunteer opportunities in those NGOs, classified by field of work through its relations with the Millennium development goals. This guide aims to help youth and volunteers who are willing to volunteer and participate in the process of development but they don?t know their way. This guide for volunteers should be available to all youth during the next Open Volunteer day in December 2004.

"A guide for volunteers by volunteers"--that was our motive. We selected a group of field researchers that I'm supervising, mainly students and fresh graduates with experience in volunteering--so they'd understand the efficiency of this project for their peers, and work with passion on providing this guide with all possible volunteer opportunities- to research NGOs using volunteers in Cairo.

We divided the 120 NGOs between us through geographical areas and we designed a questionnaire that the contact person in each NGO should fill, which contains the information we need to include in the guide and most importantly the volunteer opportunities for youth and the areas in which they can help.
Jos頎avarro, the UNV program officer in Cairo, talks about the idea for the guide: the headquarters of UNV in Bonn had asked me to do a catalogue for NGOs to be ready during the next OVD (Open volunteer day), but to tell you the truth, I didn't like the idea of a catalogue. What I had in mind was a user friendly guide, exactly like the Cairo dining guide. When I feel hungry I look at this guide and the type of food I want to eat. Then I browse the contacts of the restaurants and go for it. It's exactly the same here: a volunteer browses this guide by the field of work of the NGO he wants, then gets its contacts and contacts them to volunteer.

Personally, I had a very interesting experience during the field work, even though my work was focused in Northern Cairo, which is considered one of the most difficult areas to research as it contains a lot of popular and poor areas, a lot of slums as well as some sophisticated places.

On my first day, I had an appointment in an NGO working on the development of a local community in Shubra ElKheema in the city of Kalyoobiya (which is considered a part of Greater Cairo: Cairo, Guiza and Kalyoobiya). It actually took me an hour on the subway as it was the last station.

And on the subway, in the middle of that suffocating crowd, it's hard to move, to breathe and even to think, but I got the opportunity to observe and analyze, looking at those faces: people from all standards, mothers, workers, beggars, students.

And I was really amazed to see that huge number of youth, no wonder they represent approximately 70 percent of the Egyptian population. And I was even more amazed when I had a deep look in their faces, their eyes, and saw a lot of energy in their eyes, a lot of frustration as well. And I couldn't help but think about how efficient it would be if we used this energy properly to build up a developed country and help make it a better place, instead of letting them get dragged by those aimless brainwashing groups and let them use this negative frustration and distract those youth by turning them away from any useful act. I truly believe that those youth need to be aware of their problems, and our problems, and then focus on working on them, knowing that together it will not be hard to develop this country as youth like us succeeded to develop it 22 years ago, making the sixties of the last century a period of the most prosperous periods in modern Egyptian history.

Through field work, we've seen a lot of types of NGOs: there are NGOs working on the development of local communities which is the most common model among NGOs, especially those working in popular and poor areas and slums. As well, there are those small NGOs that are mainly a mosque, along with a small school for kids that work for the neighboring families in some slums, and there are NGOs working on the development of education and especially primary education. A lot of other NGOs are working in the field of women's rights and enhancing their chances to work as well as their social opportunities. There arel a reasonable number of human rights NGOs and groups working against torture, discrimination and racism, working for the rights of prisoners and refugees and for democratic development, and finally there are NGOs working on saving cultural heritage for cultural education.

And as the project is about to end, Lamia Mohamed, one of the field researchers, is talking about her experience in the field: "I?ve been through a lot of interesting encounters during my field work in Mid-Cairo; it certainly added a lot to me, I was actually amazed by the diversity of my NGOs: as you can find a very sophisticated office for an NGO and another extremely poor one for another NGO, maybe on the same street. I also enjoyed the diversity of their field of work; from development to human rights, there was that NGO called 'Democratic development' that I liked the most. They'd recently started and they?re so active I even wish I can volunteer with them sometime. I also liked a lot that NGO called 'AlMahroussa development'; they work on documenting cultural heritage and saving Egyptian folklore. That one was really interesting. I wish I could?ve documented all of this. It's one of the most interesting experiences I?ve ever had."

I believe that this field work with NGOs was not only very interesting but very fruitful as well. It actually added to all of us, each in a different way.

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by Yara Kassem
Published on: Oct 1, 2004
Topic:
Type: Opinions
https://www.tigweb.org/express/panorama/article.html?ContentID=4404


In the year 1952, and in the middle of the violent political events taking place in Egypt: the British colonization's violations against the Egyptian people; corruption by the royal regime; the suffering of lower classes in the Egyptian population and the increase in their poverty. A group of young officers in the Egyptian army succeeded in reshaping the future of Egypt and the Arab world, by having led a revolution against the royal regime, having some goals to implement the most important from it was freedom to Egyptian people and their well being. Let me share with you some of the 1952 revolution?s goals in relation with development: -Agricultural restoration (i.e., taking a part from the huge agricultural lands belonging to rich people and giving it to the poor people to seed it) -Realizing social justice -Free education for all Egyptians -Improvement of the Egyptian economy (creating an Egyptian heavy machinery industry) Now, and after 22 years, Egypt needs its youth again to participate in the process of development and work hard on making this country a better place for the sake of their future and their well being. There are more than 120 NGOs (non governmental organizations) working in Cairo for development and human rights, aiming to eradicate extreme poverty amongst lower classes in the Egyptian population, achieve education for all Egyptians, improve Egyptians' health and well being and raise awareness about their political, economic, social and cultural rights. Unfortunately there;s a lack for networking and communication between those NGOs, and between them and millions of Egyptian youth willing to volunteer their time, their efforts, their energies and their skills to enrich the process of development in Egypt. Since the year 2001, the International Year for Volunteers, I started working along with the United Nations Volunteer (UNV) program in Egypt with a number of volunteers on strengthening and coordinating the communication between the different parties of the development process, through the International Volunteer Day known in Egypt as the Open Volunteer day. Admist preparations for the next Open Volunteer Day in December 2004, we started this project called "Cairo Guide for Volunteers". It's a joint project between the UNDP and the NGOs service center in Cairo. This guide should include the most 100 active NGOs in Cairo and the volunteer opportunities in those NGOs, classified by field of work through its relations with the Millennium development goals. This guide aims to help youth and volunteers who are willing to volunteer and participate in the process of development but they don?t know their way. This guide for volunteers should be available to all youth during the next Open Volunteer day in December 2004. "A guide for volunteers by volunteers"--that was our motive. We selected a group of field researchers that I'm supervising, mainly students and fresh graduates with experience in volunteering--so they'd understand the efficiency of this project for their peers, and work with passion on providing this guide with all possible volunteer opportunities- to research NGOs using volunteers in Cairo. We divided the 120 NGOs between us through geographical areas and we designed a questionnaire that the contact person in each NGO should fill, which contains the information we need to include in the guide and most importantly the volunteer opportunities for youth and the areas in which they can help. Jos頎avarro, the UNV program officer in Cairo, talks about the idea for the guide: the headquarters of UNV in Bonn had asked me to do a catalogue for NGOs to be ready during the next OVD (Open volunteer day), but to tell you the truth, I didn't like the idea of a catalogue. What I had in mind was a user friendly guide, exactly like the Cairo dining guide. When I feel hungry I look at this guide and the type of food I want to eat. Then I browse the contacts of the restaurants and go for it. It's exactly the same here: a volunteer browses this guide by the field of work of the NGO he wants, then gets its contacts and contacts them to volunteer. Personally, I had a very interesting experience during the field work, even though my work was focused in Northern Cairo, which is considered one of the most difficult areas to research as it contains a lot of popular and poor areas, a lot of slums as well as some sophisticated places. On my first day, I had an appointment in an NGO working on the development of a local community in Shubra ElKheema in the city of Kalyoobiya (which is considered a part of Greater Cairo: Cairo, Guiza and Kalyoobiya). It actually took me an hour on the subway as it was the last station. And on the subway, in the middle of that suffocating crowd, it's hard to move, to breathe and even to think, but I got the opportunity to observe and analyze, looking at those faces: people from all standards, mothers, workers, beggars, students. And I was really amazed to see that huge number of youth, no wonder they represent approximately 70 percent of the Egyptian population. And I was even more amazed when I had a deep look in their faces, their eyes, and saw a lot of energy in their eyes, a lot of frustration as well. And I couldn't help but think about how efficient it would be if we used this energy properly to build up a developed country and help make it a better place, instead of letting them get dragged by those aimless brainwashing groups and let them use this negative frustration and distract those youth by turning them away from any useful act. I truly believe that those youth need to be aware of their problems, and our problems, and then focus on working on them, knowing that together it will not be hard to develop this country as youth like us succeeded to develop it 22 years ago, making the sixties of the last century a period of the most prosperous periods in modern Egyptian history. Through field work, we've seen a lot of types of NGOs: there are NGOs working on the development of local communities which is the most common model among NGOs, especially those working in popular and poor areas and slums. As well, there are those small NGOs that are mainly a mosque, along with a small school for kids that work for the neighboring families in some slums, and there are NGOs working on the development of education and especially primary education. A lot of other NGOs are working in the field of women's rights and enhancing their chances to work as well as their social opportunities. There arel a reasonable number of human rights NGOs and groups working against torture, discrimination and racism, working for the rights of prisoners and refugees and for democratic development, and finally there are NGOs working on saving cultural heritage for cultural education. And as the project is about to end, Lamia Mohamed, one of the field researchers, is talking about her experience in the field: "I?ve been through a lot of interesting encounters during my field work in Mid-Cairo; it certainly added a lot to me, I was actually amazed by the diversity of my NGOs: as you can find a very sophisticated office for an NGO and another extremely poor one for another NGO, maybe on the same street. I also enjoyed the diversity of their field of work; from development to human rights, there was that NGO called 'Democratic development' that I liked the most. They'd recently started and they?re so active I even wish I can volunteer with them sometime. I also liked a lot that NGO called 'AlMahroussa development'; they work on documenting cultural heritage and saving Egyptian folklore. That one was really interesting. I wish I could?ve documented all of this. It's one of the most interesting experiences I?ve ever had." I believe that this field work with NGOs was not only very interesting but very fruitful as well. It actually added to all of us, each in a different way. « return.