The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has organised an expert digital dialogue on the Handbook for a Gender-Responsive Plan.
The handbook comes as a “conceptual guide for a sustainable development plan responsive to different social groups”, and was prepared in cooperation with the Macroeconomic Reform and Stability project funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The dialogue was held with the participation of more than 25 experts and representatives from ministries and agencies, most notably the College of Economics and Political Science, the National Council for Women (NCW), and the National Council for Disability Affairs.
Minister of Planning and Economic Development Hala El-Said explained that Egypt’s Vision 2030 emphasised achieving justice and equality in rights and opportunities, and empowering women, youth, and the neediest groups. It also provides support for the participation of all groups in the development process.
The minister said that public investments of about EGP 1bn have been directed over the past two years, fiscal year (FY) 2019/20 and FY 2020/21, to implement 96 development projects for people with special needs.
For his part, Assistant Minister Jamil Helmy will follow up on the sustainable development plan, and the efforts made to integrate gender issues into sustainable development plans. He pointed out that the guide is a reference document that aims to help ministries and agencies to understand and implement responsive planning for social groups, by identifying the needs of different social groups.
It will help monitor the development gaps between these groups, and thus direct public spending to meet these gaps, in a way that contributes to achieving Egypt’s Vision 2030 and the UN sustainable development goals (SDGs).
Helmy referred to the project life cycle, and mentioned that the guide organises all stages related to the planning and follow-up system. It covers preparing feasibility studies and indicating the impact of projects on these groups or in the stage of project design.
It will also take into account needs, as well as in the stage of financing and operation, through providing decent job opportunities for these groups.
The Assistant Minister of Planning stressed the need for initiatives and projects to meet the development gaps related to these groups at the governorate level, pointing to the efforts of some prominent private sector companies to take into account gender issues.
In the same context, Dr Ashraf Maree, General Supervisor of the National Council for Disability Affairs, supervised the importance of continuous monitoring and evaluation to ensure the availability of services.
These should be provided in an appropriate way for people with disabilities, and that the political leadership’s directives regarding counting the numbers of people with disabilities will contribute to providing and updating data.
Maram Hafez, Director of Finance Department for Medium, Small and Micro Enterprises Companies at the Financial Regulatory Authority (FRA), referred to the authority’s decisions related to encouraging gender in the private sector.
The most notable of these decisions was issued last January to amend Article 2, to ban companies licensed to engage in non-banking financial activities without promoting equality between men and women.
