The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt visits WFP’s Programmes in Luxor

The United Nations Resident Coordinator in Egypt, Elena Panova, along with the World Food Programme’s (WFP) Representative and Country Director in Egypt, Menghestab Haile, visited this week the joint Government and WFP programmes in the city of Luxor in Upper Egypt, looking at projects promoting regional cooperation, women’s economic empowerment, rural development, and education.  

The visit included a courtesy meeting with H.E. Counselor Mostafa Elham, Governor of Luxor who expressed his appreciation to the multiple programmes implemented by WFP in Luxor City, especially the Luxor Center for Innovation and Knowledge Sharing that was recently established by the Government of Egypt and WFP for the purpose of exchanging lessons learned and success stories in resilience building, rural development, social protection and digitalization. The center has been acknowledged by the Government of Egypt, as a model for South-South & Triangular cooperation as it addresses the needs of local communities and helps build partnerships in the areas of innovation and technology.

Ms. Panova commented; “ I commend the partnership between the Government of Egypt led by the Ministry of Agriculture and WFP in establishing a sustainable people-led development initiative ‘Luxor Center for Innovation and Knowledge Sharing’ as it builds resilient communities through working on social protection, rural transformation, developing human capital, women empowerment and digital transformation of people living in Luxor which lays the foundation for south-south cooperation.”

Elena Panova: “the UN programmes in Upper Egypt are truly meaningful as they are improving lives and livelihood of people. They are aligned with Egypt’s national flagship initiatives that contribute to the advancement of Egypt’s sustainable development agenda, including the Decent life Initiative Hayah Karima. Our visit to Luxor showed us initiatives with lots of potential and results in the transformation of livelihoods of rural communities with focus on economic empowerment, food security and nutrition, education, rural development and regional cooperation. I am confident that with the support of our stakeholders, the entire UN family can further expand its development interventions to support Egypt in meeting its sustainable development commitments, reflected ‘Egypt’s Vision 2030’ and the African Union’s Agenda 2063.”

The delegation also visited El-Boghdadi village, one of the 174 communities supported under the rural development programme implemented by WFP and the Government of Egypt. The programme provides a holistic package of assistance to the entire household, including providing women with in-kind loans to finance off-farm activities such as animal keeping and simple agro-processing (e.g. tomato drying) with support from the village’s Community Development Association. The delegation also toured consolidated land plots and got to learn about improved agro-processing and irrigation techniques. Together, the interventions implemented have increased smallholder farmers’ income by 30 percent and significantly reduced crop-losses, as well as water usage by more than 25 percent. The programme has managed to empower many families and their communities in El-Boghdadi village to achieve a lasting positive change in the fields of agriculture, nutrition, food security, and education aligning with Egypt Vision 2030 in improving food security and resilience of vulnerable communities.

The delegation also visited El Boghdadi Community School –one of the 120 flagship ‘community hubs’ developed jointly by the Ministry of Education and WFP that have been technologically and physically upgraded (with internet access, tablets, projectors and show screens) into ‘Community Hubs.’ The hubs model promotes digital learning for students with access to the Egyptian Knowledge Bank, facilitates teacher trainings, and provides the community with access to awareness session on key topics delivered by local stakeholders

In addition, the delegation met with mothers benefitting from the ‘First 1,000 Days’ programme implemented by WFP in partnership with the Ministry of Social Solidary under the Takaful and Karama national initiative. Beneficiaries of the programme spoke of the positive impact the assistance has had on them and their families enabling them to provide healthy nutrition for their children under the age of two.

“This field visit to Luxor was a great opportunity to show Ms. Panova the results of our joint collaboration with the Government of Egypt. Under the Presidential ‘Decent Life’ initiative, WFP and the Government are expanding proven models in rural development, education, women empowerment and South-South collaboration. This is among the many notable advancements other UN Agencies are achieving in Egypt, which I believe will continue to grow as we further ‘Deliver as One UN’, creating synergies and optimizing our joint contribution to the 2030 Agenda, Egypt Vision 2030 as well as the upcoming 2023-2027 UN Partnership Development Framework,” said WFP Representative and Country Director in Egypt Menghestab Haile.