Minister of Planning and Economic Development meets the delegation of Coptic Orphans Foundation to discuss ways of cooperation in the "Decent Life" initiative

Hala El-Said, Minister of Planning and Economic Development, met with Eng. Nermin Riad, founder, and CEO of the Coptic Orphans Foundation, to discuss ways of cooperation between the "Decent Life" initiative.

 The meeting witnessed the presence of Dr. Jamil Helmy, Assistant Minister for Sustainable Development Follow-up Affairs, Dr. Heba Mogheib, Head of the Regional Planning Sector at the Ministry, Dr. Nevin Wahib, Director of the Development and Training Department, and Dr. Maged Ragai, Head of the Strategic Participation Department.


During the meeting, Dr. Hala El-Said indicated that Egypt prioritizes addressing development gaps at the governorate level to eliminate poverty, inequality, and unemployment at all rates.


She added that Egypt is also focusing on improving the quality of life in rural communities for sustainable rural development by supporting the presidential initiative “Decent Life”.


El-Said stressed that the presidential initiative “Decent Life” is an unprecedented development project.

El-Said explained that the first phase of the “Decent Life” initiative appeared in January 2019, as part of the state's efforts to continue efforts to provide the necessary investments to improve the quality of life for citizens.

El-Said clarified that the initiative achieves the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), targeting 375 villages.The initiative has contributed to reducing poverty rates in some villages by 11 percentage points.

It has also resulted in an improvement in the rate of access to basic services by about 50 percentage points in some villages, in addition to its contribution to alleviating the severity of the situation.

El-Said continued that the "Decent Life" initiative succeeded in reducing poverty rates and providing services in the villages covered by the initiative, which contributed to its inclusion on the electronic platform of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) among SDG Good Practices in achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

El-Said also referred to the launch of the second phase of the initiative within the framework of the "National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Rural", to target all the villages of the Egyptian countryside with 4,584 villages, in which more than half of Egypt's population live, about 50 million citizens, at a total cost of more than EGP 700 billion.

El-Said added that the initiative promotes economic, social, environmental, and cultural interventions through 4 main goals, which are to improve livelihoods and care for the human element, such as decent housing, social and financial inclusion, and community awareness, in addition to upgrading infrastructure services such as sanitation, water, and sewage networks.


For her part, Engineer Nermin Riad confirmed the interest of the Coptic Orphans Organization to benefit Egyptian families so that they can live a better, healthier, and more prosperous life.
Coptic Orphans Organization was established in 1988.

The organization implements its programs in more than 700 villages across Egypt to unlock the potential of children, preparing them to break the cycle of poverty. It works with key partners and volunteers to strengthen local communities to achieve a sustainable impact in the community.