ambassador berger concludes his first visit to New Valley governorate                                                                                                                                                              

By : Heba Abdel Fattah

Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the European Union Delegation to Egypt, completed a three-day visit to the New Valley Governorate as part of a wider tour of Egyptian governorates in 2023. Berger met with New Valley Governor General Mohamed Al Zamaloot and New Valley University President Dr. Abdel Aziz Tantawy, in addition to visiting EU-funded projects, implementing partners, and beneficiaries. These projects aim at empowering young people and women. The itinerary also included stops at cultural and historical heritage sites in Dakhla, Kharga, and Baris.

“I’m delighted to have had the opportunity to visit the New Valley” Berger said at the end of his visit. He added “The European Union-funded projects there aim to support local communities and authorities, particularly women and youth, in this environmentally friendly governorate, and we were pleased to see the excellent positive results on the ground.”

Berger also acknowledged the New Valley’s progress in rural development and recognized the area’s high cultural tourism potential. The archaeological research project “LIFE-Living in a Fringe Environment,” funded through Horizon 2020, exemplifies this potential for collaboration.

Background:

The European Union supports several projects at the New Valley Governorate:  

1.Developing youth and women employment partnership in rural and remote area of Fayoum, Minya and New Valley

The project seeks to strengthen Egyptian civil society organizations’ capacity to improve the livelihoods of disadvantaged groups in rural and remote areas of the governorates of Fayoum, Minya, and New Valley.

EU contribution EUR 700,000.

2. New Education for rights achievement

The project aims to support the role of women in Egyptian society and gender equality by raising awareness and empowerment about women’s rights and violence against women (VAW) in El Dakhalia, Cairo, Qalyubiya, and New Valley.

EU contribution: EUR 338,050.

3. LIFE – Living in a Fringe Environment

LIFE’s overall goal is to provide a comprehensive set of archaeological and environmental data that can be used to investigate Late Roman settlements along frontier desert areas and reconstruct the empire’s underlying strategy for controlling the empire’s desert edges.

EU Contribution: EUR 1.9 million grant from the European Research Council through Horizon 2020.

4. Increasing Women Participation in Public Life

        The National Council for Women (NCW) is in charge of implementing the National IDs initiative. The activities are carried out through mobile units or fixed locations in various governorates. So far, the project has enabled the issuance of a quarter million IDs. The EU previously supported the issuance of half a million IDs through a previous EU-funded project.

In New Valley:

3,000 IDs were issued in 2022,

2,000 IDs issued in 2021,

1,000 IDs cards issued in 2020.

                EU contribution: EUR 3 million Grant.

 ‘Women’s Empowerment and Financial and Economic Inclusion in Rural Egypt: COVID-19 Response’

The project aims to support the resilience of Egyptian rural women through socio-economic interventions focusing on prevention and response to violence against women as well as financial and economic inclusion and livelihood support. Activities in New Valley will start soon and.

EU contribution: Grant of EUR 3 million.

TVET II project

The project was carried out at the Balat and Farafra Secondary Agricultural Schools

providing and installing equipment for a modern irrigation network on an area of 40 acres using sprinkler and drip irrigation.

EU contribution: EUR 190,000