The Minister of Planning and Economic Development reviews the initiative of “A Decent Life” in Cairo University's seminar

Dr. Hala El-Said:
-         “A Decent Life” initiative is a historical one that will change life in the Egyptian countryside
-         The Egyptian state now possesses unified base maps as a product of the centers of spatial variables

Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, participated recently in a seminar held by the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University to discuss issues that occupy the economic arena.The seminar came under the title "Dialogue on the President's Initiative to Develop the Egyptian Countryside (A Decent Life)", in the presence of Dr. Mohamed Othman El-Khasht, Head of Cairo University, and a group of the university's elite university professors and academics.Dr. Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development reviewed the plan for developing the Egyptian countryside within the framework of the presidential initiative, “A Decent Life” during the seminar.El-Said explained that the Ministry of Planning has developed a medium-term plan over three years, from which the government’s work program will emerge, taking into account some governing matters represented in achieving inclusive growth and balanced regional development, in addition to the localization of sustainable development goals at the governorate level.El-Said referred to the new changes emanate from the plan, such as the trend towards green recovery after the Covid-19 crisis, which represents a special priority, explaining that all of these determinants are taken into account when developing the annual or medium-term plan.
Regarding the government's work program, El-Said explained that it includes a set of goals, which are building the Egyptian human being, the goal of economic development, raising the efficiency of government performance, protecting Egyptian national security and Egypt's foreign policy, improving employment levels, and improving the citizens' standard of living."The Ministry of Planning includes an automated system to follow up on what has been achieved from these goals every quarter," El-Said explained.El-Said added that 2018 is the first year in which efforts and investments are intensified that affect poverty rates, as investments in education in the poorest villages have been increased, as well as investments in health programs, social protection programs, and employment in the informal sector.El-Said pointed to the beginning of work in the intensive distribution of investments in a group of the poorest villages, to contribute to solving the problem of multidimensional poverty.El-Said highlighted the objectives of the initiative at its inception in terms of improving the standard of living, improving the level of services in terms of sanitation, drinking water, and road drainage, as well as improving classroom density about educational services, as well as improving the quality of health units, increasing youth and sports centers, and integrating work for small projects.El-Said explained that when the initiative began in 2018, the goal was achieving integration in terms of intensifying services in many villages.El-Said explained that the assignments of the political leadership came to implement the initiative within 3 to 4 years and to achieve all services at the level of 375 villages, by intensifying efforts and directing all resources with great capabilities from all state institutions to enter the 4,500 villages targeted by their affiliates within three to four years.El-Said added that when developing the plan, efforts were focused on 50 centers to be able to provide service to 55 million people in 20 governorates over the next three years, following up that according to the achieved percentages of the population benefiting from the initiative out of the total population, the target percentage was in the first period. 4.7% of the population.El-Said explained that with the completion of the 375 villages this year, the coverage rate will be 17% of the population, and that next year the coverage will reach 35%, up to 57% in 2023/2024.El-Said added that the planning process follows the scientific methodological base that relies on evidence-based planning and relying on databases that are compiled to determine the data used to control targeting.El-Said pointed out the sources that are relied upon, including the income, spending, and consumer research that was conducted on 17-2018 and 19-2020, the economic census data in the year 2018-17, as well as the comprehensive survey of local community characteristics at the end of 2020."This survey includes a comprehensive description of the characteristics of each village and the state of all services available in it." She said.El-Said explained that the comprehensive survey of the characteristics of the local community is the most important intervention required.The survey highlighted that 68.8% of villages require paving roads and constructing bridges, 63.1% of villages require the establishment of a sewage network, 53.1% of villages require basic schools, 30.5% of villages require the establishment of a youth center, 22.3% of villages require to Establish literacy classes, 21.9% of villages require the establishment of bakeries, 27.9% of villages require the establishment of a cultural club.El-Said referred to the main spatial variables center at the Military Survey Administration and the exchange center at the Ministry of Planning, as there are now unified base maps for the Egyptian state.The basic maps include various information about residential communities and buildings, networks of public utilities, industrial, agricultural, and service facilities, as well as all surveys prepared for the population or economic census.El-Said pointed out that a committee was formed by Prime Minister Decision No. 2700 for the year 2020 to set controls and determinants for selecting villages, listing the priority projects that each village needs, and following up on the executive position on the level of reality.El-Said added that through the governorates that have been worked on and through the Quality of Life Index, the recently prepared mid-term report revealed a decrease in the average poverty rate by about 14 percentage points in the governorates that were targeted, in addition to an improvement in the rate of access to basic services by 20 percentage points.El-Said pointed out the launch of the first integrated electronic system to prepare (A Decent Life) initiative plan, follow up the implementation of projects, and measure the development impact of the initiative on the level of 375 villages of the first phase.Regarding what was accomplished in the first phase of the (Decent Life) initiative, El-Said pointed to the completion of the implementation of 255 medical convoys, as the focus is on the governorates that need health services more than what supports the idea of the integration process.Concerning educational services, El-Said pointed to the availability of educational services in 3 deprived villages, the eradication of illiteracy of 3000 citizens, and the completion of the development of 8 nurseries.El-Said noted that the density of classes in the targeted villages decreased to 41 children compared to 47 children after the establishment of 942 classrooms.On the rate of sanitation coverage in some targeted villages, El-Said pointed out an improvement in the rate of sanitation coverage by about 64 percentage points and the completion of the construction of 46 sanitation projects.El-Said added that loans worth about EGP 896 million were provided; about 123,000 job opportunities were provided in the targeted villages.“Technical and vocational training was provided to youth in the villages, and houses were being more efficient and some local services were targeted in the first phase of the initiative,” She clarified.El-Said also pointed out that the United Nations (UN) put the (Decent Life) initiative among international best practices, as it is specific, verifiable, has a time range, and is measurable, and converges with many global (SDGs) sustainable development goals.