Egypt

00

Address: 1, rue Mahmoud Sedki, Khouloussy, B.P. 11231 Cairo, Egypt
Telephone: +202 243 10 201 Fax: +202 243 10 213
Email: cariteg@link.net
YouTube: CaritasEgypte
www.caritasegypt.com

Founded in 1967 after the Six-Day War, Caritas-Egypt was recognized by the Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs in the same year. Caritas-Egypt first humanitarian aid was to help the displaced people during the evacuation of 3 cities in the Suez Canal: Port Said, Ismailia and Suez.

The work of Caritas-Egypt is spread different areas.

Edution: With the 18-month training program, “learn and free yourself”, participants learn how to read and to write and additionally some skill on healthcare and hygiene. Over the years, peer education and economic awareness components have been added, and village libraries have also been set up. This program registers around 10 000 new learners each year. Caritas Egypt also registers girls from slum areas in Cairo into a school run by the Sisters of St. Vincent de Paul. First groups of girls will enter the university in 2021.

Social: Caritas Egypt works with street children. There are centres in Cairo and Alexandria which seek to have them reintegrated within their families, and providing them with schooling or vocational. There is also a service for refugees which aims to improve the social conditions of refugees in accordance with the standards lay down by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Health: Caritas Egypt funded SETI centre deals with mental disability among children and adolescents. It also provides management training, rehabilitation programs and vocational training for certain adults.

Five medical and social centres in Cairo include clinics, crèches, pre-schools and vocational training centres for women. Caritas-Egypt also provides a mother and child protection service, including a program to fight malnutrition.

Since 1979, Caritas-Egypt has been active fighting against leprosy, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the German NGO GLRA (DAHW). Although leprosy disease is definitely decreasing, it is a permanent threat. At first at a
number of 60 000 ill in 1979, there are nowadays 3000.

Fight against drugs and substance addiction: Caritas-Egypt has been involved in the national detoxification campaign since 1982 by founding the “Oasis of Hope”. This project aims to inform people about the harmful effects of drugs and to ensure that drug addicts have the best means of detoxification. This work is done by a team of psychiatrists and social workers.

In 1989, Caritas-Egypt introduced professional training. Its programs were designed to meet an increasingly pressing need among young people in search of a means of subsistence. After a technical internship, candidates receive a certificate of competence issued by Caritas-Egypt and ratified by the Ministry of Solidarity. Another sector is microcredit. Its program aims to meet the needs of the unemployed and operates in Cairo, Alexandria, Minia, Assiout, Sohag, Faioum, Damietta and Quena.

The services of Caritas-Egypt are offered to all members of the Egyptian society, nearly all Muslims (90%) and Christians (10%).

Caritas-Egypt’s main partners are: Caritas Germany, Misereor, Secours Catholique (Caritas-France), UNHCR, Ford Foundation, Caritas Salzburg, German Leprosy and Tuberculosis Relief Association (DAHW), Plan International, Italian Raoul Follereau Association (AIFO), Codegaz, Italian Solidarity Centre, Catholic Relief Services (CRS), KindermissionWerk, National Population Council, UNDP, UNICEF, Sister Emmanuelle Association – France, and Catholic Committee Against Hunger and for Development (CCFD).

Updates from Egypt

egypt