أخبار

As part of world bank appraisal to the efforts of the Egyptian government to enhance public participation, world bank forums have appraised the idea of ‘public consultation forums’ adopted by the ministry of local development and the ministry’s plan to expand these forums to all governorates as part of this year agenda through an article published in both English and Arabic under the title ‘How local development forums have changed those who were left behind the scenes for so long’. World bank forum is considered a main platform to publish success stories of the projects funded by the world bank and is an indication on the progress status of the developing countries. 

Major General, Mahmoud Sharawy, commented that ‘local development project in Upper Egypt’ that is implemented in Qena and Sohag is one of the main development projects between the world bank and the Egyptian government. His excellency also added that this project aims to improve the status of the habitants of these two governorates in a way that would raise the competitiveness, provide job opportunities and improve the quality of public services provided to citizens. 

Further, Minister Sharawy said that the article published on the world bank forum is not only the first success story to be published on the project but it is also, an indication of the world bank appraisal to the project activities and the efforts of local development ministry in promoting public participation in the planning and implementation of development projects. Minister Sharawy also pointed that the published article spots the light on the substantial change that the project reached by improving the public participation in the development project such as Taha’s story from Sohag that were highlighted in the article. 

Dr. Hisham El-Halbawi, the project manager further added that public consultation sessions and local development forums were one of the main achievements of ‘local development in Upper Egypt’ project and is a fundamental step in setting and following up the development plans for both Qena and Sohag. Dr. El-Halbawi said that the project has established 23 forums in the two governorates till now and it includes around 1200 member: 30% of them are women and more than 50% are youth. The main purpose behind these forums, according to Dr. El-Halbawi is to provide a sustainable forum for the main beneficiaries (i.e. habitants) who were neglected for years especially women and youth and promote their participation in the planning, implementation, and following up of development projects.