Under the Auspices of The National Project for The Development of The Egyptian Family, Ta7wisha Program Concludes with A Rowing Challenge
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The National Council for Women, in collaboration with the Central Bank, UN Women, the European Union, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Agricultural Bank, and eFinance Investment Group, marked the end of a wandering journey with a rowing challenge in the Nile River at The Walk of Egypt's People.
The events were held in conjunction with the International Day of Rural Women as part of the Egyptian Family Development and “Hayah Karima” Initiative. Ta7wisha’s journey began with the challenge of rowing the Nile from Aswan to Ras El Bar, with the goal of reaching the greatest number of “Hayah Karima” villages and in boosting women's financial inclusion in these villages, as well as spreading environmental awareness of the importance of preserving the Nile River in preparation for the 27th COP27, which will be held in November.
Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women, praised all project partners, saying, "This fruitful effort is the result of the cooperation and solidarity of various parties who believe in the cause, and this great success would not have been achieved without this cooperation." "Through the National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family, our goal is to reach one million and two hundred thousand women. Egyptian women are a primary goal, which we seek to achieve through a variety of initiatives and projects, as well as by leveraging the benefits provided by the Egyptian government's digital transformation strategy to facilitate the provision of our services to women throughout Egypt."
"The combination of services provided to citizens and digital development mechanisms is the most successful way to implement financial inclusion policies that are among the Central Bank of Egypt's priorities," said Prof. Dr. Sherif Luqman, Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Egypt for Financial Inclusion.
"Ta7wisha" project is a successful model for achieving financial inclusion goals in a practical way that benefits all parties and encourages the spread of financial awareness among various segments of society," he added. The collaboration between the National Council for Women, eFinance Investment Group, the Agricultural Bank, and the United Nations is outstanding. It is a fruitful collaboration that embodies the Central Bank's efforts and interests, which include providing financial tools to empower women, particularly in local communities where access to services provided by Egypt's banking sector may be difficult.
Dr. Amira Tawadros, Director of the Demographic Center and the National Project for the Development of the Egyptian Family, confirmed that the project aims to improve the quality of life of Egyptian citizens and families, emphasizing that family development is synonymous with Egyptian state development. One of the most important files for the Development of the Egyptian Family project is the economic empowerment of women. She elaborated that, for the first time, the Egyptian state manages the population file from a developmental standpoint in light of the Development of the Egyptian Family project, praising the role played on the ground by the National Council for Women.
Ibrahim Sarhan, Chairman and CEO of eFinance Investment Group, expressed his delight with this collaboration, which enhances the dissemination of digital transformation solutions in Egyptian society and provides a new channel to deliver necessary financial services to the neediest groups. "The National Council for Women's interest in spreading digital financial services in Egypt's villages through the "Ta7wisha" project represents a very important step toward achieving the Central Bank's financial inclusion policies, and it also supports efforts to empower Egyptian women, particularly in remote areas, and we are excited to support these efforts. We are thrilled to collaborate again with the Egyptian Agricultural Bank, our strategic partner," says the National Council for Women.
For his part, Alaa Farouk, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt, stated that collaboration with the National Council for Women is the result of our collaborative initiatives to implement His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El- Sisi's, President of the Republic, directives. This is also consistent with the Bank's efforts to contribute to financial inclusion within the framework of the Central Bank of Egypt's financial inclusion strategy. According to him, the Agricultural Bank of Egypt is working to empower rural women by providing micro-enterprise financing programs to help them launch their own projects and establish small productive activities. The bank is also working with eFinance Investment Group to offer prepaid debit cards "Meeza" through Ta7wisha, which will allow lending and savings customers to automate their payments.
Ambassador Christian Berger, Head of the Delegation of the European Union to Egypt, said “Financial inclusion is an important contributor to women’s empowerment and to sustainable development at large. The European Union has been a longstanding partner to Egypt in supporting women’s financial inclusion. We are proud that with the strategic partnership with the National Council for Women and the Central Bank of Egypt, significant numbers of women are increasingly empowered. Through ‘Team Europe’, together with European Member States and European Financial institutions, we are privileged to make use of leveraged resources and climate smart interventions for women’s empowerment. “
In her remarks, Ms. Christine Arab; UN Women Egypt Country Representative stated that “UN Women is proud to join “Rowing the Nile Challenge” stating that “Equality in financial inclusion, and equity in terms of real and lived access, use and benefit is a key driver to global economic growth. UN Women, with the generous financial support of the European Union and the Kingdom of the Netherlands, is partnering with the NCW and CBE under the national financial inclusion programme “Ta7wisha”. This partnership supports 160,000 women in 10 Governorates to open bank accounts, access personal savings and micro-loans, increase their financial literacy, to take on greater leadership roles in their communities, and to be integrated into the formal economy through participating in digital savings groups”.
The "Ta7wisha" program is part of the financial inclusion for Egyptian women initiative, and it is the result of a one-of-a-kind memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 by the Central Bank of Egypt and the National Council for Women to collaborate to improve women's financial and economic inclusion. The program includes automating the digital savings and lending group management system through eFinance Investment Group application, as well as empowering financial facilitators (women in charge of project implementation in villages) to use financial technology and electronic payment techniques through mobile phones, Tap to Pay. In addition, the project distributes contactless "Meeza" cards to beneficiaries for use in savings and lending operations.
"Ta7wisha" project seeks to empower women in Egyptian villages by assisting women in establishing income-generating green activities or projects to improve the quality of life for their families. The National Council for Women is implementing the project through "financial facilitators," which are groups of women who have been trained to spread financial culture and raise women's capabilities through weekly sessions that tackled financial education and social and economic empowerment training for 52 weeks. The financial facilitators were approved as agents of the Agricultural Bank of Egypt under the Central Bank of Egypt's license.
The ceremony honored Egyptian rowing champions Hatem Kandil and Ibrahim Ayoub, as well as governorate supervisors and financial facilitators of ta7wisha program, for their contributions to program awareness.