The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR) in cooperation with Fund for Gender Equality-UN Women (FGE), held a closing conference on Sunday 1 October 2017 at the Pyramisa Hotel, to share the end outcome of their programme “A wave of Women’s Voices … 1000 and Counting” and to announce the programme’s continuous contribution to the Government goal in empowering Egyptian females in the political life.
The Article (180) of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution guaranteed 25% of local council seats (15,000 seats) to women and another 25% of seats for youth (young women and men) , as a first precedent in the history of local councils. In this context, “Women’s Voices” aims to support a new generation of young women leaders to be able to participate effectively in the public sphere, especially in the local councils, as an effort to respond to the directions of Egypt Constitution.
“Women’s Voices’Programme” is a model of the tripartite cooperation between the partners of development in Egypt; the Egyptian government represented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the National Council for Women as a national mechanism and the civil society represented by ECWR and international bodies represented by the FGE-UN Women which is funding this programme. A fourth partner has been joined this cooperation which is “Al-Qahira W Al-Nas” TV channels, which has embodied a practical application of the concept of corporate social responsibility through the adoption of the first episodes of the TV program “Hekayat Nehad”.
A big number of attendees participated in the workshop: 11 deputies from the Egyptian parliament and 69 media representatives representing satellite channels, radio stations, newspapers and various websites including: “AlQahiraW Al-Nas Channel – MBC Egypt – DMC-CTV- ABC- Egyptian Television –On Live- Extra News- CINLive- Middle East News Agency Nile News – Maspero News – Life Today – Egyptian Satellite Channel- Greater Cairo Radio – Radio General Program – Nile News”. For the newspapers: Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar, Al-Gumhuria, the Seventh Day, the Egyptian News, Al-Wafd, Al-Bawaba News, Al-Hilal, Al-Massa’a, Gate of the Week, Al-Fajr, Rose Al-Yousef, Knights of the Field, and other news sites as Face Misr and Media Window.
In addition, 40 political parties have also attended, namely: “The Democratic Union–The Egyptian Democratic Social – Tahia Misr – Homat Al Watan – Al Wafdand Misr AlQaweya”. And a number of civil society organizations were: Arab Women’s Alliance, Hawa’a Future Association, The Egyptian Association for Comprehensive Development – Al-Saud Association for Development – Egyptian Union of Local People’s Councils – My Mother of Rights and Development Association – The International African Union for Women – Al Ezza for Social Assistance – Writers Union of Egypt – International Union of African Women Egyptian- the Egyptian Foundation of Dar El Ensan for Development – Fustat International Association and the therapeutic International Law Center “
Moreover, attendees also included a number of international organizations working in Egypt and professors from universities, namely, Cairo, Ain Shams, the British and the American, in addition to the National Center for Social and Criminal Research and a number of representatives of various ministries “Ministry of Social Solidarity – Ministry of Youth and Sports – Ministry of Industry – and Ministry of Culture “.
The conference was conducted over three sessions:
The opening ceremony included speeches of : Ms. Nehad Abu El Qomsan, ECWR’s Chairwoman, Her Excellency, Dr. Ghada Wali, Minister of Solidarity & Social Affairs, Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, Ms. Rana El-Houjeiri, Regional Programme Specialist for Arab States and Europe Central Asia Region- UN Women’s Fund for Gender Equality,Ms. Blerta Aliko- Deputy Regional Director, UN Women, and Mr. Jorg Schimmel UN Women Egypt Country Director a.i. and Mr. Tarek Nour – Director of Tarek Nour Advertising and Owner of”Al-Qahira W Al-Nas” TV channels,
A Documentary Film about the programme was presented during its opening ceremony, in addition to the announcement of the promo of the 3rd season of the TV program “Hekayat Nehad” or ” Nehad’s Stories“, which is a result of the success of “Hia w Akhawatha” radio show also supported by FGE-UN Women, is a media awareness campaign of Women’s Voices.
ECWR and FGE-UN Women have honored the partners of the success; H.E.DR. Ghada Wali, Dr. Maya Morsi and Mr. Tariq Nour for their technical support.
ECWR also honored Ms. Rana Al-Houjeiri and Ms. Blerta Aliko for their fruitful and constructive cooperation.
The second session addressed the lessons learned from the project, which presented the experiences of a number of young women leaders who were trained under the umbrella of the programme and its impact on their lives.
The conference concluded with a graduation ceremony for the female coordinators of the “Women’s Voices” programme and they have been awarded certificates of appreciation.
