The Egyptian decentralisation project, which began in 2006 and lasting a total of 7 years, was recently announced to have been completed by Adel Labib, Minister of State for Local Development.
The initiative was part of the second cooperation project launched between the Egyptian government and USAID.
Labib said in a press conference that the initiative’s basic priorities were to improve the standard of living for citizens, going on to express his deep appreciation for USAID having provided funding for the initiative. He further stated that he hoped such cooperation would continue in the future.
He stated that the initiative was implemented over a period of seven and a half years in close cooperation with the Decentralisation Support and Local Administrative Reform Unit within the Ministry of State for Local Development in all provinces throughout Egypt. The project’s first priority would be to improve the standard of living for citizens by providing better and improved government services, saying that a number of suggestions were made on ways to improve the country’s local administrative law, in a way that would grant local governments more power and responsibility in the need to manage their internal affairs and meet the immediate needs of their citizens.
He added that “support for the initiative took many forms, including direct technical support, material aid, creating an appropriate environment for dialogue with citizens, including women and children, in addition to helping to expand the production capabilities of workers operating within the local administrative sector.”
From 2006 until July 2013, Labib said more than 50,000 public employees from the federal and local governance sectors participated in capacity building training sessions organised by the decentralisation initiative, in provinces throughout all of Egypt. These sessions addressed issues related to public finance, future planning, and information technology.
Translated from Al Borsa newspaper
