The Population Council established a regional office in Cairo in
1978 to foster interdisciplinary approaches to population
studies in West Asia and North Africa.
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Photo credit: Nadia Zibani |
Between 1978 and 2003 the Council successfully implemented
the Middle East Research Awards (MEAwards) program to strengthen
the capacity of junior researchers through seminars, workshops,
awards, technical assistance, and fellowships. In consultation
with partner institutions and social scientists from the region,
the Council is exploring the possibility of establishing an Arab
social science research council to support research in the Arab
region.
More recently, the program agenda has been broadened to
address issues related to reproductive health, health-care
reform, transitions to adulthood, gender-based violence, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), and capacity
building. Increasingly, the Council in Egypt provides technical
assistance to the government, NGOs, and community-based
organizations engaged in delivering social services. This work
has strengthened the Council’s position as an objective
evaluator of major national programs.
Council staff members in
Egypt have broadened the scope of work on poverty, gender, and
youth to address issues related to urban poverty, labor markets,
unemployment of the young, and access to education. The Council
also is exploring initiatives related to HIV and AIDS, solidifying
its experience in monitoring and evaluation, and scaling up
successful interventions to national and regional levels.
- Fostered the skills of generations of scholars in the Middle East
through the MEAwards program.
- Tested the first comprehensive intervention in Egypt for
empowering out-of-school adolescent girls, one of the most
marginalized populations in the country. Following the successful
pilot phase, the project, known as Ishraq, is preparing to
expand nationally with the support of Egypt’s Ministry of
Youth.
- Translated more than 100 Council publications into Arabic to
help narrow the information gap and provide vital
evidence for program and policy improvements.
- Conducted a series of operations research studies
between 1994 and 1998 to improve understanding of the
problem of induced abortion in Egypt, assess caseload of
postabortion cases in public hospitals, and examine the
feasibility of introducing improved postabortion care in
university, teaching, and Ministry of Health and Population
hospitals.
- Conducted the first nationally representative survey of
adolescents in 1997, which provided a comprehensive profile
of transitions to adulthood in Egypt. The survey remains an
influential data source for policy and program design and is
the major source of information about adolescents and young
people in Egypt to date. The Cairo office is actively
raising funds to conduct a follow-up survey to update the
state of knowledge concerning adolescents and young people
covering issues of education, work, health, sexuality, and
civic participation.
See Also
Offsite Link
- INTACT Network (a
Population Council initiative to enhance communications and research
utilization in the FGC field.)
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Fast Facts |
| Population (millions)
|
73 |
| Total fertility rate |
3.1 |
Infant deaths per
1,000 live births |
37 |
Maternal deaths per
100,000 live births |
130 |
Girls aged 20–24 married
by age 18 (%)
|
17 |
| HIV/AIDS prevalence (%) |
<0.1 |
| Living below US $2 per day (%) |
44 |
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What's New |
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The Population Council’s plans to scale up its Ishraq program
were featured at an event in Cairo on Wednesday, 1 July. (more)
Safaa El-Kogali is the new director of the Council's West
Asia and North Africa region. (more)
The Population Council is pleased to announce the launch of a collection
of Council resources in Arabic.
This library of documents and explanations of key research topics and
project descriptions is meant to enhance access to research findings for the
world’s 270 million Arabic speakers. (more)
Stay Informed
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Publications/Resources |
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"Using operations research to enhance delivery of
postpartum/postabortion family planning services in the Arab region"
(2008) (PDF)
"Unemployment and youth insertion in the labor
market in Egypt" (2008)
“Linking family planning with postabortion services in Egypt: Testing the feasibility, acceptability and effectiveness of two models of integration”
(2007)
(PDF)
"Providing new opportunities to adolescent girls in
socially conservative settings: The Ishraq program in rural Upper Egypt—Full
report"
(2007) (PDF)
More
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