On Saturday, April 16, 2016, the Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) held a joint community event in a primary school in El Warraq area, in cooperation with Giza Governorate.
The event was very successful, drawing a large number of El Warrak residents around 250 residents mostly youth, women and children in addition to natural leaders, representatives of the District Staff and others. The event introduced projects that will be implemented by 5 NGOs contracted by PDP and funded by the European Union and the German Government to implement 6 projects in the fields of environment and education.
The opening address was delivered by Dr. Wehenpohl, PDP Programme Coordinator, in which he thanked the Governorate of Giza for its efforts and welcomed the residents and the NGOs to the event. At the top table he was joined by the Deputy Giza Governor, Dr. Manal Awad, and General Abdel Kader Bassiouny District Chief of El Warraq. Both commended the PDP’s efforts in El Warrak, a priority area for the Governorate. Dr. Manal provided an overview of the upcoming medium-scale infrastructure projects in El Warrak that will be implemented by the Governorate. Addressing the residents of El Warrak, Dr. Manal said, “the Giza Governorate and the PDP are cooperating closely to improve your living conditions and fulfill your needs. The projects in the fields of solid waste management and road paving will begin next month and you will witness many changes in your area.”
The grant beneficiaries presented the projects they will be implementing in the next two years, in order to, improve the services provided to the local residents of El Warrak. The speeches were followed by a development market, where NGOs set up booths and organised activities for the residents (i.e. CEOSS provided a medical convoy for eye check-ups for 100 patients and Sawiris Foundation for Environment and Development set up models for biogas units and solar panels). COSPE, the Egyptian European Association and Handicap International were among the NGOs to have booths during the event.
These community events are part of a series of events that are taking place in four informal areas in Cairo and Giza to introduce the communities to the grant beneficiaries, to activate community participation in the implementation of measures by fostering networking between the grant beneficiaries and the residents. In addition, it serves as one of the ways PDP maintains its linkage to the communities.
The PDP is a German-Egyptian development measure that receives core funding from the German Government (BMZ) and co-financing by the European Union. It improves living conditions of poor urban populations by funding soft measures in the fields of health, transportation, education, employment, youth recreational services, environment and climate change. These measures are selected through grant schemes in accordance with EU procedures. The PDP also funds the Governorates of Cairo and Giza to upgrade infrastructure in the informal areas through direct awards.
On Wednesday March 23rd the PDP in cooperation with EEAA held the 6th Advisory Board on Climate Change in Cities (AB-CCC) in Cairo House (the cultural and educational center of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency “EEAA”). The meeting was attended by representatives from government bodies, local authorities and academia as well as experts from GIZ headquarters in Germany. The theme of the 6th meeting tackled the health problems associated with climate change in the Greater Cairo Region (GCR).
The meeting included presentations on the climate change effects with the biggest effects on the health of GCR residents. A case study from Cairo illustrating the ways in which to improve the thermal comfort of residents inside buildings as an adaptation to heat stress which is the main impact of climate change on GCR was presented. This was followed by presentations from experts from the Ministry of Health and researchers in the health sector who explained the effects of heat stress on diseases and the health sector in Egypt. They also presented the measures that the Ministry of Health is taking to combat the diseases related to environmental factors including climate change.
In a fruitful discussion following the presentations participants identified the threats faced by the health sector in Egypt arising from climate change and avenues for collaboration to develop coping and adaptation mechanisms and interventions which could help PDP to implement some pilot adaptation measures to improve health conditions of urban informal areas residents. In addition, those could help EEAA and the Ministry of Health to better understand the vulnerabilities of health sector and their role to help citizens to adapt with climate change impacts through improved institutionalization, capacity building and allocate required funding.