Egypt’s family development plan to improve citizens’ quality of life, population characteristics: Planning Minister

One million projects to be launched by women in various governorates: Hala El-Said

Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, said that the state’s interest in the development of the Egyptian countryside and community is reflected in the development of the family and the characteristics of the local population.El-Said referred to the Egyptian family development plan, explaining the general strategic goal of this plan is to improve the quality of life of the Egyptian citizen and family by controlling the accelerated growth rates and upgrading the characteristics of the population.She added that the proposed executive plan for the National Project for Family Development (2021-2023) was presented to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. The most important features of the proposed plan are service, cultural, and awareness intervention; digital transformation; and legislative development.With regard to the target groups of the plan, El-Said explained that it targets women from 18 to 45 years old, university students, schoolchildren, village children, rural communities, clerics, and preacher. She stated that the geographical scope of the plan includes all country, and that the time range to implement the plan is three years.El-Said pointed out that the main axis is the economic empowerment of women, and it aims to empower women in the age group of 18 to 45 to work and have financial independence. The government will launch units for family health, and one million projects to be led by women, in addition to training 2 million women on project management.With regard to the service intervention, El-Said explained that family planning methods will be available free of charge to everyone.She highlighted that the plan also aims to raise the citizen's awareness of the basic concepts of the population, and the social and economic effects of the overpopulation, through mass media campaigns. As for digital transformation, El-Said stated that Egypt aims to establish a unified electronic system to automate and link all services provided to the Egyptian family, including: marriage, family planning, social solidarity, and Takaful and Karama services.With regard to the legislative axis, the Minister of Planning and Economic Development indicated that it aims to lay down a legislative and regulatory framework governing the policies taken to control population growth. For instance, the Child Marriage Law criminalises underage marriage, and toughens punishment. The Child labour law stipulates severe punishment for the guardian who forces his child to work.The Minister also reviewed the Egyptian Family Insurance Fund, explaining that it will provide direct financial incentives to the women who commit to family planning rules. With regard to the basic criteria for obtaining the incentives, El-Said indicated that each woman must only have two children to benefit from the programme, provided that she had one child during the first five years of marriage, and her age was not less than 18 years old at the time, in addition to the couple attending training to qualify for marriage.