Two CA$14m grant agreements, covering health, socio-economic support and empowerment of women, have been signed between Egypt and Canada, according to Egypt’s Minister of International Cooperation Rania Al-Mashat.
The grants were signed by Minister Al-Mashat and the Canadian Ambassador to Egypt, Jess Dutton, under a bilateral development assistance programme.
The first programme, implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and which comes with Canadian funding, is a project entitled “Addressing Gaps in Reproductive Health and Rights in Egypt”.
The programme aims to support women by increasing awareness of family planning services and providing access to health services. It will be run in partnership with Egypt’s Ministry of Health and Population, as well as the Ministry of Youth and Sports.
The second project, implemented by UN Women and UNIDO, focuses on women’s economic empowerment and will run in conjunction with key partners such as the National Council of Women (NCW) and the Ministry of Trade & Industry. The project is expected to serve up to 36,300 beneficiaries, whether directly or indirectly.
“Empowering women can both transform lives and society, and strengthen a country’s local economy in several ways, notably by supporting growth, social inclusion, and economic resilience through greater gender equity,” Minister Al-Mashat said. “Our bilateral development assistance programme with the Government of Canada accelerates Gender Equality and inclusive sustainable growth,” she added.
Dutton noted, “We hope Canada’s bilateral development assistance programme, with its partners, will support Egypt’s health and socio-economic response to the pandemic and beyond.”
The ambassador added, “The agreements serve Egypt’s inclusive sustainable growth by enhancing health services, as well as creating new job opportunities for women and enabling a healthy and resilient environment that promotes women entrepreneurship in growth sectors such as those of agriculture and energy.”
