Institute of Development Studies

Women at the Heart of Egypt's First Conditional Cash Transfers Scheme

25 May 2009 – Joslyn Massengale and Kristina Hallez

The Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Consortium are supporting the design and implementation of Egypt's first conditional cash transfers programme - and women are at the heart of the scheme.

What are conditional cash transfer programmes?

Conditional cash transfer (CCT) programmes are a form of social assistance designed to break the cycle of inter-generational poverty in poor families. For decades, governments and non-governmental organisations have given money upon fulfillment of health and educational conditions.

Egypt’s first CCT

Dr. Hania Sholkamy of the Social Research Center at the American University in Cairo and her team are collaborating with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to implement Egypt's first CCT programme. The Egyptian CCT pilot was launched in March 2009 with support from the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment RPC, in the Cairene slum of Ain es-Sira with support from an international council of poverty specialists and economists.

What’s different about the Egypt CCT?

Egypt's programme differs in that the cash transfers are given to female heads-of-households in exchange for their attendance at gender and life-skills workshops as well as adequate health care and schooling for children. The gender, health, and education components are linked to the primary female caregiver because she is often the family member that promotes comprehensive development of the family and community. The CCT pilot will be handed over to the government after two years and replicated in two Upper-Egyptian rural villages starting in Autumn 2009.

As beneficiary families will be self-selected, the call for applications for families to receive transfers has been open since 5 April 2009. The cash transfer component will be launched in May 2009. The pilot presents an opportunity to involve multiple innovative elements pertaining to education, gender and health within the CCT scheme.

Improved education

Although public education is free in Egypt, the quality of education received in Ain Es-Sira is poor and students are expected to pay for expensive mandatory private tutoring by school teachers (a common occurrence in Egypt). Children may drop out of school to save money spent on tutoring or to pursue paid work, as in the case of male children, or perform domestic tasks, as in the case of female children. In efforts to improve educational acheivement, the Ain Es-Sira programme is exploring options on how to deal with the drawbacks of the education system and is considering the creation of an after-school programme.

Improved health

Residents of Ain Es-Sira experience high rates of disease and/or disability. Preventable childhood problems such as diarrhea or respiratory infections and malnutrition as well as chronic disease among adults are characteristic health issues of the community. Free health care is provided by the government but a lack of trust in this system leads to low rates of preventative care and the use of services only when deemed absolutely necessary by the families.

The Ain Es-Sira pilot aims to combat disease in the neighbourhood by requiring regular visits to the doctor for all members of the family and ante-natal care for pregnant women. Additionally, the pilot will address the lack of trust in the medical services by placing conditionality on family attendance of monthly health awareness sessions on topics ranging from childhood diseases and nutrition to chronic diseases, smoking, first aid, family planning and household conflict resolution. Monthly meetings to discuss the availability and quality of health services with beneficiary families will also be a component of the pilot. By ensuring that families are aware of their rights and entitlements, the pilot encourages citizenship engagement and power to hold government bodies accountable for provision of services.

Gender sensitivity and equality

It is a common element of conditional cash transfer than the female heads-of-household receive the cash transfer and are responsible for the fulfillment of programme's conditions. To alleviate burdens placed on female beneficiaries, the Ain Es-Sira pilot places emphasis on other interventions centred around gender awareness. The female head-of-household will be compensated for any time spent fulfilling programme conditions and female children will receive more money for staying enrolled in school than male children. Promoting a sense of citizenship within female beneficiaries is crucial to the creation and maintenance of a pilot that promotes gender sensitivity and equity.

Joslyn Massengale is the American Presidential Intern at the Social Research Center at the American University in Cairo. Kristina Hallez  is Communications Officer at the Social Research Center at the American University in Cairo.

Photo: ‘Cairean woman participating in the Conditional Cash Tranfers scheme’ by Heba Gowayed.