The Professional Development Foundation (PDF) announced that 14 non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are qualified for the final round of the NGOs Award of Excellence, following the evaluation of the judging committees.
A total number of 1012 of NGOs applied to take part in the competition earlier this year and only 300 have passed the first stage.
This year, the launch of the Excellence Award comes under the slogan, “facing societal crisis,” aiming at finding solutions to problems facing Egyptian society in an effective, creative, and innovative way.
Egyptian NGOs willing to apply for the award must be restricted in accordance with the provisions of the law on associations and non-governmental organizations, should focus their activities particularly on development, should spend the grant funds on the submitted project, and must obtain a minimum of 80% in the evaluation of the judging committees according to the set criteria.
Four financial grants are given to the best four NGOs; 150 thousand pounds for the first-place winner, 100 thousand pounds for the second place winner, 75 thousand pounds for the third place winner, and 50 thousand pounds for the fourth place winner, in addition to in-kind prizes represented in training courses to raise the level of professional capabilities and stimulate innovation, as well as the information technology support program Techsoup Egypt.
Furthermore, PDF presents a new award for the best NGO to raise awareness. The newly added award aims to spread the ideas of development projects through social media platforms, in order to benefit the largest number of users and motivate them to engage in volunteer work.
For his part, Mohamed Farouk Hafeez, PDF Chairman, stated that for the fifth year in a row, we seek, through the NGOs Award of Excellence, to spread the culture of excellence and raise the efficiency of the work of NGOs to become more effective in addressing various societal problems and playing their role in national initiatives.
Hafeez added that over the decades, civil society has proven its willingness to alleviate the suffering of large segments of society, especially the marginalized and the most needy, with a focus on women and youth. Throughout these decades, it has been a true partner alongside the Egyptian state in promoting sustainable development and raising societal awareness in the governorates of Egypt. In the forefront of which are rural communities deprived of services, which doubles the importance of supporting this sector and developing its tools on a permanent basis.
It is worth mentioning that awards are given to representatives of the winning NGOs in an annual ceremony during the month of October to which representatives of civil associations, development experts, specialists and public figures interested in development issues are invited.
The NGOs Award of Excellenece launched by PDF in 2016 under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity is an initiative to develop and support the civil society sector with a focus on providing the right measures to raise the level of their professional and administrative capabilities as well as stimulating innovation, and enhancing the role of NGOs in addressing the challenges facing the Egyptian state.
