On International Women’s Day, NCW launches new project for women’s economic empowerment in rural Egypt

On International Women’s Day, NCW launches new project for women’s economic empowerment in rural Egypt

In celebration of International Women's Day on March 8, Egypt's National Council for Women (NCW), the Central Bank of Egypt (CBE), the European Union (EU), the Embassy of the Netherlands, and UN Women in Egypt launched a project to eliminate violence against women and advance women's economic empowerment in rural Egypt.

The project, titled "'Women's Empowerment and Financial and Economic Inclusion in Rural Egypt: COVID-19 Response“, will seek to overcome obstacles to women's financial inclusion by improving and digitizing an already existing initiative, Village Savings and Loans Associations (VSLAs) for women.

The initiative focuses on providing more financial services to over 120,000 women in the governorates of Minya, Benisuef, Assiut and Sohag. It also supports small, women-led enterprises in these ares.

Training women to be more digitally and financially literate is also a goal of the project.

The project falls in line with Egypt's National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030 (NSEEW), endorsed by Sisi as the official government working document for the next years.

Maya Morsy, NCW's president reiterated that women's economic empowerment is one of Egypt's top priorities. "[The government] sincerely believes that empowering women means empowering the entire community,“ she said.

Ambassador Raouf Saad, Chairman of the National Bureau for the Implementation