UNFPA and the National Council for Women conducted a field visit to Assiut to follow up on the progress of the Noura Framework on September 17, accompanied by President of the National Council for Women Dr. Maya Morsy, Governor of Assiut, Major General Essam Saad and UNFPA Representative in Egypt, Frederika Meijer, and UN Women Country Representative Christine Arab.
The “Noura” Framework was launched under the leadership of the National Council for Women, in partnership with UNFPA in 2021 as a girls’ empowerment initiative, adapting a global best practice named the Girls Assets Building Framework to Egyptian context.
The Girls Assets Building Framework: Noura, is a tailored 40 week program where girls, through a guided curriculum, are trained to build their social, health and economic assets.
The program empowers adolescent girls by providing them with health, social, economic, and digital assets to make their own choices. It also works to create positive social and gender norms towards adolescent girls within their households and communities and strengthens systems to ensure quality and accessible services responsive to adolescent girls.
The delegation attended a simulated session of the Noura Framework, where a number of adolescent girls discussed with the mentors what is considered a “safe touch,” and an “unsafe touch.” The girls then reflected on their experiences and explained the impact that the program has had on them.
The Noura Framework comes under the umbrella of the Investment Framework for Girls in Egypt, and gained the patronage of the First Lady of Egypt, Ms. Entissar El-Sisi, under the flagship National Project for Development of the Egyptian Family. It is supported by the Netherlands Embassy in Egypt, the Norwegian Embassy in Egypt, KOICA, the Sawiris Foundation, the Export Development Bank of Egypt and the Body Shop.
