Overview

NEF began its work in Egypt in the earliest years of its existence, resettling refugees and assisting with rural agricultural development. In recent decades, NEF has become best known in Egypt for its support of talented young people working in development-related fields. A generation of Egyptian professionals traces its inspiration to the 1970s and 80s when NEF began promoting committed, professional practices at both institutional and community levels. These activities culminated in 1990 with the creation of the Cairo-based Center for Development Services (CDS), NEF’s training and technical assistance facility. CDS has since expanded to become an independent and self-sustaining organization—one of our great successes in promoting sustainable local enterprise—that maintains close ties with NEF and subcontracts with us on the majority of our Egypt-focused projects (CDS website).

In 2005, NEF won the Agfund prize for its nursing project in Upper Egypt, funded by the Sawiris Foundation. The project encouraged poor, unemployed women to study nursing, improved the curriculum and teaching in nursing schools and enhanced the quality of nursing services in hospitals and health centers. It created a core team of nurses to continue the improvements and nursing quality measurement tools to enable ongoing project evaluation. Also in 2005, NEF issued the first report on corporate social responsibility in Egypt, reviewing the private sector's role in environmental protection and natural resource management and proposing strategies for cooperative partnership among government, industry and NGO's.

Today, NEF in Egypt works to support the growth of civil society, increase citizen participation, and develop stronger social institutions. We assist government agencies and non-governmental organizations in a wide variety of sectors including health, economic development, and agriculture. Advocacy and gender issues occupy a central place in all NEF programs. With more than a decade of urban experience, we emphasize the importance of urban poverty alleviation. NEF combines infrastructure improvements with innovative social and economic development strategies. At the same time, we also work in smaller communities as far away from Cairo as Aswan where our award-winning nursing education program was developed.