ADEW Background

The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW) is an independent Egyptian organization that works directly with the female heads of households (hereafter referred to as FHHs), their families and lately with the youth in some of the most impoverished squatter areas in Cairo and other governorates. Additionally, ADEW works in 4 other governorates including Qalioubiyah, Gharbiya, El – Fayoum and South Sinai. ADEW’s overall objective is to enhance women’s conditions on both the national and global level.

ADEW was first registered as a non-governmental organization with the Egyptian Ministry of Social Affairs in 1987 under the registration number of 3528, and was re-registered in 2002 under the same number in compliance with the requirements of the new NGO Law 84/2002.

ADEW’s History

ADEW is the first Egyptian feminist organization to work for FHHs and their families in squatter areas. ADEW was founded in 1987 by a group of idealist women and men in their twenties who discovered this cohort of women through their field work in Misr El-Qadima and Mansheiet Nasser. This was the first time a light was shed on the plight of FHHs, specifically FHHs in squatter areas who are considered to be the most marginalized group in society.

ADEW Today

- ADEW is the first organization to serve in Mansheiet Nasser where high rates of poverty and below-average livelihoods are rampant, making it a pioneer NGO in the Egyptian development sector for more than 33 years.

- ADEW first launched its Micro-Credit Program in one room in Mansheiet Nasser, later expanding to 16 office around Cairo, Qalioubiyah,Helwan and Fayoum.

- ADEW began with 10 employees and currently employs 100 qualified and well-trained female and male personnel who work towards fulfilling ADEW's mission through its activities and programs.

- ADEW started off serving 10,000 female beneficiaries and has now reached more than 500,000 female beneficiaries and their families.

ADEW’s Programs

ADEW offers a variety of programs that cover the needs of FHHs and their families including a Micro-Credit Program (MCP), a Legal Program, a Health Program, a Literacy Program, the Arab Women Speak Out program (AWSO) and the Community Mobilization Program (CMP). For the programs that serve FHHs’ families, ADEW offers the Girls’ Dreams program (GD) that targets female school drop-outs between the ages of 12 and 18, with the aim of providing them with the life skills deemed necessary for their survival; the Legal Program that, amongst other things, provides assistance in the issuance of legal documents for FHHs and their families; the CMP which aims at creating natural leaders who have the ability to identify and solve their community’s problems by learning to convey them to the relevant decision- and policy-makers; and finally, based on the needs of the FHHs’ daughters and sons, ADEW runs an Individual Loans Program and to an initiative involving medical convoys.

ADEW has found, through its decades-long field experience, that unemployment is one of the most critical problems across the areas in which it works. Consequently, it kicked off a Training and Employment Program that aims at reducing unemployment rates among young women and men by providing them with training opportunities that match the needs of the job-market.

ADEW's Field Work

Over the last 33 years, ADEW has been working in the most impoverished squatter areas and districts of Cairo, namely: Ezbet Abo-Qarn, Gamee Amr Ibn El-Aas, Khartt El-Sheikh Mubarak, Kom Ghorab, Ezbet Khair Allah, Dar El-Sallam, El-Basateen, El-Gayara, El-Madabegh, Ein El-Seera, El-Manyal El-Qadeem, Establ Antar, Akshak Abo Soud, El-Emam El-Shafee, E-Khaleefa, Souk El-Salah, El-Emam El-Lethy, El-Sayeda Ayesha, El-Sadat, El-Gabasa, Fom El-Khaleeg, El-Sokar w Alamon, Qualet El-Kabsh, Gezeerat El-Dahab, and Ezbet El-Nasr.

ADEW has also worked in many areas in Helwan, including: Ezbet El-Walda, Arab Ghanem, Masaken El-Zelzal, Abu Dahroug, El-Maasara, El-Barawe, Kafr El-Elw, Ard El-Ganna, Ein Helwan, Masaken Salah-Salem, El-Malaa, El-Masaken El-Ektesadeya, El-Mashrou, El-Zamreke, Masaken Atlas, Manshey Gamal Abdel-Nasser, and Arab Rashed.

As well as some of the most impoverished places in Al-Qalioubiyah, including: El-Kanater, El-Shalkan, Arab El-Hareth, Arab El-Tal, Abo El-Ghet, Ezbet Ahmed Saed, Ezbet Ahmed Fawzy-, El-Shemy, Ezbet Seif El-Deen, El-Baradaa, El-Kharkanya, El-Wakf, El-Hadtha, and Ezbet Ayate.

Adew has also worked in 11 villages in EL- Fayoum.