Programme description

Title: Participatory development programme in urban areas (PDP)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Egypt
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Planning
Overall term: 2004 to 2015

Context

Egypt’s cities are growing rapidly, most of them without the benefit of governmental or municipal planning. Well over half the population of greater Cairo lives in informal districts that are overcrowded and undersupplied with services. There is a lack of open spaces or social services and facilities. Many residential areas have no direct access to clean drinking water, and their sanitation and solid waste disposal systems are inadequate. Extremely high population density places considerable strain on the environment. In many cases, the people living here are poor with a low level of formal education. They often develop housing areas for themselves, without planning permission and usually without connections to the public infrastructure. They also avoid contact with local authorities. Most of these unplanned districts are built on valuable agricultural land. The public sector does not provide sufficient services to improve living and environmental conditions in these poor urban areas.

Objective

Public administration and civil-society organisations are working to improve environmental conditions for, and the provision of services to the urban poor.

Approach

Through its multilevel approach, the programme provides advice to decision makers in ministries, governorates and local administrations on how to deal with informal urban areas. The main focus is on introducing and disseminating concepts and methods for participatory urban development. This is done by processing experiences gained from community work carried out in the districts and devising training concepts which are then integrated into the work of the national training institutions. At the same time, the programme provides support for networking activities of public sector, civil society and private sector actors in urban poverty areas. Up to the end of 2011, KfW Entwicklungsbank financed complementary infrastructure measures, such as drinking water and sanitation systems in the programme areas, and small-scale civil society projects throughout Greater Cairo. To a limited extent, this area of support is being maintained by the Egyptian Government with its own financial contributions.

The issue of climate change adaptation in urban poverty areas is being addressed for the first time in Egypt through the work of the programme in Greater Cairo. Its innovative component contributes to greater awareness of the growing need for measures in this field. The implementation of pilot projects that use participatory approaches helps raise awareness.

In a number of districts, with co-financing from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the programme is introducing an integrated, community-based waste management system that takes informal actors into consideration and promotes communication with the public sector.

With financial assistance from the European Union, the programme is currently developing further measures of support for four more districts in the Greater Cairo area. This will include planning and implementing local initiatives and interventions, with the involvement of civil society and private sector groups. Overall, these measures should reach some 1.6 million residents in the governorates of Cairo and Giza.

Results achieved so far

At the local level, more than 200 NGO-based self-help initiatives have so far received support. This produces self-determined solutions to the problems facing the poorer population. The earlier wariness that existed between residents and the local administrations has been replaced by trusting cooperation, and the most urgent needs of the local people satisfied.

At municipal level, the administrations in the poorer districts in the Greater Cairo area now use participatory processes to improve the way they provide services. The people who live in these urban areas are included, not only in needs analyses, but also in formulating and designing projects to improve their living conditions. Thus, in one of the poorest and most densely populated districts of Cairo, the programme has sustainably improved the clean drinking water supply as a shared responsibility of residents and the local authority.

Departments for the development of urban poverty areas have been set up within the organisational structures of three governorates in the Greater Cairo area, and their staff have received relevant training. These departments are responsible for coordinating measures to improve service provision. They have filled a void and act as an interface between local administrations, ministries and non-state actors. The approach enhances the role of the governorates and is an important contribution to Egypt’s decentralisation efforts.

The idea of participatory development has gained credence in policy discussions at the national level. The need to improve services in poor urban areas is one of the urgent policy matters that Egypt needs to address. Due to its years of experience in this field and its clear recommendations for action, the programme is now a popular reference point for all national and international actors. The EU, French development cooperation and the European Investment Bank are all currently building on experiences gained by the programme as they plan their own projects in this sector. In the spirit of the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness, different donor organisations exchange information with national partners.

Further information

• Local programme website
  The participatory development programme in urban areas
  www.egypt-urban.de