UNFPA Egypt and Care Egypt launched a joint project titled, “Ending Violence against Women and Girls in Egypt,” on June 4, supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the National Council for Women, and with UN Women as a partner agency.

The launch event was attended by Dr. Neveen Kabbaj, Minister of Social Solidarity, Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women, Germaine Haddad, UNFPA Representative a.i., Evyenia Sidereas, U.S Embassy in Cairo Chargé d’affaires, Sean Jones, USAID's Mission Director in Egypt, and Vivian Thabet, CARE’s Chief of Party for the Violence against Women and Girls program in Egypt. It was attended by Elena Panova, UN Resident Coordinator in Egypt and Christine Arab, UN Women Representative in Egypt.

This project will contribute to the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030. Egypt has taken strides in establishing mechanisms to combat and respond to gender-based violence against women and girls, on which this joint project aims to build, and expand services on the local level complemented by community-based interventions to promote zero tolerance to all forms of violence against women.

This comes to build on UNFPA’s interventions to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in Egypt, and to provide prevention and protection for women and girls from all forms of violence through enhancing the capacity of relevant government entities, civil society, youth-led initiatives, and community members to prevent and respond to gender-based violence against women and girls.

Dr. Maya Morsy said that the National Council for Women’s interest in this project "comes to reflect the Egypt’s efforts to eliminate violence against women, and out of support for its objectives, which focus on two very important approaches: prevention and response."

“Harmful social norms perpetuate the normalization of violence against women and girls, that is why community mobilization is at the heart of our work to combat it,” Haddad said, “and this has to complemented with strong response and protection services to care for women subjected to violence.”  

“This new program to end violence against women and girls builds on shared Egyptian and American values, honoring the dignity of all people and working towards the full equality of women and girls in our societies.  We are honored to support this partnership in the coming years to help end violence against women and girls,” Sidereas said.

"We are advantaged in this program to have the commitment from all parties and the political will to reach the maximum impact. All partners are keen to coordinate between the government, UN, INGOs, and NGOs to ensure building on existing efforts and previous successes, leveraging resources for maximum impact, and ensuring sustainability towards ending violence against women and girls," Thabet said.

The project will focus on the governorates of Cairo, Giza, Qaliubiya and Daqahleya.