The National Council for Women (NCW) in collaboration with UNFPA organized a workshop in Alexandria on 9 and 10 September 2018 as part of a series of capacity building workshops to support the process of establishment of Anti-sexual Harassment Units and unifying case management processes as per the legislation organizing related matters in Universities and the recently stiffened legislation addressing sexual harassment in the Egyptian Criminal Law. The workshop brought together interested universities from Lower Egypt; where the 3 Universities, namely Alexandria, Mansoura and Port-Said with recently established Anti- Sexual Harassment Units got to elaborate on their experiences and lessons learned and 6 Universities, namely Tanta, Domiat, Kafr El Sheikh, Damanhour, Suez and Zaqziq expressed interest to join the initiative and received the required technical support to roll-out the model of anti- sexual harassment units in their own campuses.

The workshop was facilitated by Mrs Nehad Abol Komsan, Chairwoman of the Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights (ECWR).

Through UNFPA’s comprehensive programme to combat GBV in collaboration with the National Council for Women, Units to combat on- campus Sexual Harassment have been estalished in  14 Universities throughout the last 3 years.

Safety, mobility and freedom of access to public spaces and services without being subjected to violence is a fundamental human right entitled to all including women and girls. The recent Survey entitled  “Egypt Economic Cost of Violence Survey 2015” uncovered that around 16,000 girls face violence yearly in educational institutions. Keeping girls in schools to pursue their education and careers is instrumental for harnessing  Egypt’s ability to combat early marriage, curb down the increasing population growth and support economic development.