Community Development

Communities are the heart of sustainable development. Through cultural, communication and professional activities, people work together, share resources and expand their creativity, generating new opportunities for human development. COSPE Egypt helps them to grow, supporting grass-root associations and strengthening social networks, contributing to human development and poverty alleviation and conditions of the vulnerable groups.

Communities in rural and sub-urban areas are the main core of development actions in Egypt. Such communities are often marginalized and underrepresented to higher instances. The high-centralised organization of the Egyptian state and the lack of advocacy skills prevent civil society actors to meet quick and appropriate answer to their needs. For this reason, COSPE Egypt works to strengthen local organisations to offer services in multiple sectors and guarantee flexibility for the future. The direct involvement and empowerment of the partner is, therefore, the main intervention method.

COSPE Egypt previous experiences proved the collaboration with Community Development Associations – local NGOs - as local partners to be very fruitful. COSPE Egypt mainly works enhancing the services CDAs provide to the community and empowering the existing capacities and available resources. Working with a participative approach encourages local development workers to pursue their aims in the economic, cultural, political and social sectors and promotes their participation to decision-making processes. That means taking care of sustainability, networking, capacity of facing new challenges and widespread awareness on social inclusion themes.

COSPE Egypt’s projects include rehabilitation and enhancement of the Educational Services, Capacity Building actions, Socio-cultural activities promotion, New Technologies introduction, Job Orientation Services, Vocational Trainings and Environmental care plans.

One of Egypt main feature is the great gap given by Gender and Age relations. For this reason, a main focus is set on Gender Awareness raising and Youth Activities development in order to give further visibility to women and youth as important actor of local development.

In conclusion, community development contributes to the development of human potential and raises life quality and local associations visibility at the local level enhancing their advocacy power.