Mar 20, 2023

Monday 3/20/2023 Yesterday morning, the Misr Al Kheir Foundation organized a round table on “The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Draining the Sources of Grief in Egypt.” It was organized by the Al-Gharmin Program and the National Associations Development Program in the presence of a number of concerned parties and members of the House of Representatives. Counselor Mohamed Al-Qamari, advisor to the Minister of Social Solidarity for legal affairs and head of the National Committee for Debtors and Debts, revealed that we are working on the debtors’ file with presidential directives to reduce the phenomenon, indicating that the number of debtors is not a phenomenon and that it reaches about 5,000 debtors annually. He reviewed the axes of the National Committee’s work and that work is underway to create an electronic platform to be a real coordination mechanism to achieve governance controls, expressing his thanks to the “Misr Al-Khair” Foundation for its role in the file. Algarmin. He said that a media plan had been prepared to deal with the delinquent file and raise awareness of its seriousness under the name “On White,” and the President of the Republic had approved it, noting that the committee’s strategy depends on providing social protection and economic empowerment with attention to community guidance, in addition to periodically updating the database and providing awareness programs while modifying consumer behavior. Dr. Salah Hashem, Advisor to the Minister of Social Solidarity for Social Policies, said that we cannot succeed in reducing fines unless we have a strategy to reduce poverty, noting that the higher poverty rates lead to fines issues. He also praised the role of the Misr El Kheir Foundation in the issue of debtors, noting that it is one of the most professional institutions working in the field of development. He saluted Dr. Ali Gomaa for paying attention to the issue of creditors and launching many activities to serve this cause. For his part, Mohamed Mamdouh, head of the NGO Development Program at the Misr El Kheir Foundation, said that the aim of the round table is to open dialogue with development partners and develop a community vision on the issue of fines in cooperation with NGOs. Mamdouh pointed out that Misr Al-Khair was one of the first civil society organizations and one of the first institutions in civil society to pay attention to the issue of debtors, stressing that the issue needs work to dry up the sources of debt, stressing that it is necessary to study all aspects related to the phenomenon in order to comprehensively address it and formulate public policies to deal with it. Representative Hiyam Al-Tabbakh, member of the Social Solidarity Committee in the House of Representatives, stressed the importance of raising awareness and drying up the sources of grief, as we have a favorable legislative environment. She pointed out that it is important to develop a strategy to solve the problem of fines while having oversight mechanisms and tools to reduce the phenomenon. For her part, Manal Shaheen, Head of the Debtors Program at the Misr El Kheir Foundation, said that the Foundation has been making efforts for more than 12 years to dry up the causes and sources of debt and confront the phenomenon with new mechanisms and rules, within the framework of its constant endeavor for development and its keenness to keep pace with the successive changes and to be compatible with the state’s strategy 2030 AD. The Foundation was early alerted to the seriousness of the debtors’ issue and its effects and risks on family and community formation and cohesion, as the Foundation’s mission depends on leadership in the initiative to empower those in debt. Economically and socially, reducing the entry of new debtors into prisons, reducing the number of debtor cases in the courts, and developing a comprehensive awareness vision that achieves sustainable development and financial inclusion. She pointed out that the organization’s strategy depends on achieving economic and social empowerment for the debtor, both male and female, to protect them from slipping into the path of debt again, so that the selection processes are closely scrutinized, and criteria have been set for not selecting creditors, such as the multiplicity of cases, the large size of the debt, the seizure of public money, the debt linked to a dishonorable case, and anyone who owns any property such as real estate, etc., this is not subject to the fine. She added that the distress of 72,314 debtors, male and female, was relieved over the course of 12 years from 2009 until July 2022, and the percentage of males in debtors reached 68%, numbering about 49,000 63 females. 32%, numbering 22, about 898 thousand. Giza Governorate ranked first in cases of fines, reaching 7,994 cases, while the Red Sea Governorate ranked last with 32 cases. During the first quarter of this year, the distress of 1,500 debtors was relieved. For his part, Dr. Youssef Al-Wardani, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Qudrat Misr Foundation for Development and Advisor to the “Misr Al-Kheir” Foundation, presented the proposal submitted by “Misr Al-Kheir” to prepare a general policy paper on the role of civil society organizations in drying up the sources of debt. He stressed that there is no accurate number of the number of debtors in Egypt, calling for a review of the media discourse on the issue of debt. He added that there is no accurate classification of the causes of the fine issue in Egypt, noting that the decline in economic conditions is the main cause, and that poverty increases with the increase in population. The meeting aimed to open the door to discussion and dialogue between representatives of the concerned parties in light of three axes: • The first axis: the issue of fines and the reasons leading to it • The second axis: policies to confront the issue of love in Egypt • The third axis: Institutional and legislative interventions to confront the issue of fines in Egypt At the end of the dialogue and discussion, a number of important recommendations were agreed upon on “the role of civil society organizations in drying up the sources of grief,” to be formulated in a policy paper as soon as possible to be published and sent to the relevant authorities. A number of (40) experts and representatives of various parties participated in the meeting.