CAIRO – Head of the National Council for Women (NCW) Maya Morsi stressed on Thursday that improving the conditions of the Egyptian family in terms of education and finding jobs is one of the main factors behind the strength of the Egyptian State.
Morsi, who is the current president of the eighth session of the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation (OIC)’s ministerial conference for women, said the National Project for Egyptian Family Development, which is supported by the political leadership in an unprecedented way, is one of the biggest comprehensive development projects in the history of modern Egypt.
Morsi gave the remarks during a high-level online seminar on the role of family policies in empowering women and girls inside the family.
The seminar is part of the activities of the 8th session of the OIC’s ministerial conference for women and aims at shedding light on the pivotal role of family in the development process.
Morsi expounded Egypt’s efforts in improving the conditions of the Egyptian family, citing the National Project for Egyptian Family Development which is considered the cornerstone of building a strong state that secures a decent life to all citizens.
She said the project consists of five axes; namely women economic empowerment, ensuring free of charge access to birth control, promoting awareness, promulgating legislation, and offering monetary incentives.
She said all development partners, including the government, NGOs and the private sector will be engaged in implementing the project.
She added that the project includes training two million females on running projects in addition to carrying out one million small-sized projects and establishing production units.
As for access to birth control, 1,500 female doctors have been trained to assume the responsibility for fulfilling that mission at healthcare units nationwide and co-operation with 400 NGOs was enhanced to offer needed productive health services.
With regard to awareness, it will be carried out through rural female community leaders who speak directly to women, and through movies and TV series.
Regarding the monetary incentives programme, which targets married women, a total of LE60,000 will be allocated to each female beneficiary of the programme. To be eligible, the woman has to be aged between 21 and 40.
The beneficiaries will be regularly screened for breast cancer and non-communicable diseases, and are required to have no more than two children, among other requirements.
