أخبار

Minister of local development, General Mahmoud Sharawy meets with Dr. Randa Abu El-Hassan, UNDP regional director and Dr. Heba Abou El-Wafa, project manager of local development in Upper Egypt program at UNDP. The meeting has discussed potential cooperation areas between the ministry and UNDP in the area of decentralization and local development.

Minister Sharawy appraised the efforts of the UNDP in the last few years in the areas of local socio-economic development, upgrading the monitoring and evaluation system of the local development projects, adopting a decentralized financial system, and training thousands of employees working in the localities. He also appraised the significant role played by different UN entities especially in supporting the sustainable development in the governorates.

Minister Sharawy added that he is concerned in the meantime with raising the capacities of the employees at the ministry and the governorates level in order to be capable of implementing the ministry’s different projects in the governorates. This is aside the automation of public services to make it easier for citizens. The ministry is also seeking to ease the communication with the governorates in accordance with the direction of President El-Sisi and Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly and to adopt decentralization at the governorates level after the approval of local administration law in the parliament.

Hence, raising the capacities of the ministry’s staff is crucial to guarantee an effective implementation of the local administration law and to support the implementation of a decentralized system, said Minister Sharawy.

In the last period, the ministry has held a number of trainings for the ministry’s staff at the local development center in Sakkara and provided some training grants abroad as China and India in order to raise the capacities of the workers at the ministry and governorates and improve the quality of service provided to citizens. 

Minister Sharawy said that the new program between the ministry and UNDP aims to raise the institutional capacities of the ministry at the central level and the local level at the governorates. This is beside supporting the ministry in implementing the ministry’s strategy for 2030 and in reaching to a comprehensive development in Upper Egypt. He added that the first stage of the program aims to upgrade the institutional capacities of the ministry’s different units and raise the capacities of the ministry’s staff within the new ministry hierarchy along with, setting a framework for local development policies. This is aside supporting the ministry’s efforts in setting a new decentralized system and reaching to good governance and socio-economic development at the governorates.

Dr. Randa Abu El Hassan, UNDP regional director said that the UNDP is keen to support Egyptian institutions in dealing with the challenges they meet in order to set and adopt local development policies, upgrade local administration, and implement economic, administrative and financial decentralization in the governorates. She added that the UNDP has a long experience in the areas of local development, women empowerment and decentralization worldwide.

By the end of the meeting, the two parties agreed to set a date during this month to sign the contract of the new project between the ministry and the UNDP.