Dr. Maya Morsy, President of the National Council for Women (NCW), met with Ambassador Eric Chevallier, French Ambassador to Egypt, and Ms. Christine Arab, UN Women Egypt Country Representative in light of a new partnership with the French government and UN Women Egypt to support national efforts to establish the “Assembled Unit for the Protection of Women Against Violence”. Through this partnership, the Egyptian government will enhance the unit’s accessibility for women and girls with disabilities, who have been subjected to violence.

UN Women Egypt engages with the private sector in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment (GEWE), particularly in the workplace. The main tool used for private sector’s engagement is the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs), established by UN Women and the UN Global Compact. The WEPs are a set of seven principles that offer guidance to business on how to advance gender equality in the workplace, marketplace, and community.

UN Women Egypt in partnership with the Egyptian Red Crescent delivered desperately needed humanitarian aid to Palestinian women and children in Gaza. The ERC/UN Women nine-truck convoy that entered Gaza includes 7,000 kits for Palestinian women and children, including commodities to address their essential needs.

As a passionate adventurer who lives in a land of ancient wonders and modern marvels, Samia ElKhodary found an untapped market in culture and art tourism. Eager to showcase Egypt’s rich heritage and vibrant art scene, the 32-year-old entrepreneur launched Qahrawya, a unique tourism company that offers a different perspective on the country. With the support of Rabeha joint programme, Samia is now able to scale up her business and contribute more to Egypt’s tourism sector.

Naglaa is a dedicated wife and mother of three living a rural village. As a young girl, she completed high school but when she realized that the same opportunity might not be available to her daughter, she decided to take action. Through a friend, Naglaa was introduced to the program and determined to join.

With several articles and books published in her name, 28-year-old writer Amany Zayed was starting on her newest book but facing writer’s block. When she came across UN Women’s scriptwriting training, she joined in the hopes of refuelling her creativity, and gained so much more.

Sara is one of the students currently enrolled in the first professional training programme in Egypt for psychosocial support and case management for service providers to address violence against women and girls. This training programme, launched in June 2023, is being implemented by the National Council for Women (NCW), represented by the Women’s Complaints Office (WCO), in partnership with the Department of Psychiatry at Al-Kasr Alainy Hospital, Cairo University and in collaboration with UN Women Egypt and the European Union Delegation to Egypt. The development of such a training programme falls under the framework of national efforts to continue strengthening the services provided to women survivors in line with the National Strategy for the Empowerment of Egyptian Women 2030.

Amal was leading the traditional life. She would wake up in the morning and do her household chores, take care of her three children, and wait for her husband to come back home from work. However, when she took the bold step of participating in the programme she did not realize that her life would change drastically.

With her camera in-hand, 36-year-old Doaa Adel sets out on the streets of Egypt with a passion to photograph life, as she sees it.

Despite having 12 years of experience as a professional photographer, 32-year-old photographer Shimaa Moneer wanted to learn more about the field and continue to develop her skills. She also had big dreams of empowering Egyptian female photographers and believed that joining UN Women’s photography training would help her do just that.

After graduating from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Lilianne Rando got sidetracked from her creative passion when she joined her family business. However, even after four years, Lilianne, now 28, still wants to return to the creative field. She took her first step towards this by joining UN Women’s copywriting training.

The National Council for Women (NCW), Damietta Governorate and UN Women Egypt participated in UN Women’s Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Leaders’ Forum (sixth edition) in Quito, which aiming at advancing the international knowledge base and programme action on ending sexual harassment and creating safe cities and public spaces for women and girls worldwide through highlighting the main lessons learned and supporting new partnerships.

Lamees El-Shamy, a 25-year-old woman who has suffered from anxiety since childhood, found solace in watching online videos and movies. She fell in love with the film industry and tried using many different online tools to learn everything she could about the field, even trying to produce her own short film, but she found the road more difficult than expected, until she applied for UN Women’s film-directing training.

Vivian Makram, 32, a mother of two, put her career on hold for several years to focus on raising her children. As her son and daughter grew older and became more independent, she began rediscovering herself and her passion to revive her career.

With her passion for filmmaking, 26-year-old Asmaa Mohamed wanted to enrol in the High Cinema Institute, but unfortunately, she did not pass the entry exam. Still, she didn’t let that stop her from pursuing her dream. Asmaa sought out freelance projects for video and documentary production alongside her full-time job at a marketing agency. In addition, Asmaa worked on developing her skills through self-learning and by enrolling in different training courses and workshops related to the field of her passion, one of which was UN Women’s scriptwriting training, which she came across through a social media announcement.

Mona Mamdouh, 35, dreamed of having a career in media. She was always reading and learning about this field and exploring her chances for a full-time job. However, she faced challenges and difficulties in securing a job in the career she loved – that is, until she got accepted into UN Women’s training on video editing and colouring.

UN Women’s Executive Director, Sima Bahous, concluded a two-day visit to the Arab Republic of Egypt to speak of the dire crisis in Gaza, where she welcomed the crucial work of the Government of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the Egyptian Red Crescent and other humanitarian actors in Egypt and reiterated the urgency of immediate and unhindered humanitarian access, including the provision of fuel.

Mona is a shy woman who kept to herself inside her house with her three sons and husband, with little interaction with those around her. Although she would occasionally volunteer at the local community development association, she had never had a paid job before. When she first heard about the programme and ventured to join, all those around her objected.

Mona lives in a remote rural village with her husband and three daughters. As a child, she was pampered as the youngest in her family. But that changed when she was married off at the age of 18 to a man 12 years older, whom she barely knew. A year after her suffered a brutal attack that left him bedridden and unable to work. Once he had recovered, she started working odd jobs, but it wasn’t until she joined the programme that she truly found her calling.

The Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS) in partnership with the National Council for women (NCW) and UN Women Egypt launched the "National Review of Gender Statistics in Egypt" report. The National Review of Gender Statistics is part of Egypt's plans to prepare the National Strategy for the Development of Statistics and to enhance Egypt's statistical capacity in the field of gender statistics.