The National Council for Women and UN Women Egypt visit the national “Ta7wisha” programme in Assiut

The National Council for Women (NCW) in partnership with UN Women Egypt organized a field visit to Assiut under the National Financial Inclusion Programme “Ta7wisha” within NCW’s official visit to Assiut yesterday, in the presence of H.E. Dr. Maya Morsy; President of the National Council for Women, H.E. Major General Essam Saad; Assiut Governor; Parliamentarian Sanaa El-Said, Member of the National Council for Women; Ms. Christine Arab; UN Women Country Representative; Ms. Frederika Meijer, UNFPA Country Representative and Mr. Amr Soliman, Member of the National Council for Women.

A key component of the field visit was to see the Ta7wisha national programme’s work, which among other services offers a fully digitalization comprehensive operation for the well-known saving groups methodology, also known as ‘Digital Village Savings and Loans Associations’(DVSLA), via the newly developed mobile application “Ta7wisha”. The digitalization of the VSLAs ensures accurate and safe bookkeeping, and secure collective savings unlike the classical model that depended on cash and manual bookkeeping, moreover, women members of Ta7wisha will be financially included into the banking system from the first day they join the programme and will enjoy the benefits of the prepaid Meeza cards.

During the visit, the representatives engaged in an interactive discussion with women from an active DVSLA in Assiut. The women shared their views about the programme, its immediate impact on their livesand its work to enhance their financial independence; and shared their experience in the banking simulations and what they have learned about banking services.

In her remarks, Dr. Maya Morsy expressed her happiness that “Ta7wisha” programme is being implemented in the villages across the governorates covered by the Presidential Initiative “Haya Kareema” (Decent Life) such as the Selim Coast Center in Assiut. Dr. Morsy added that women in the villages can save their money electronically through Ta7wisha application, which was launched by the National Council for Women in partnership with the Central Bank of Egypt and development partners.

Ms. Christine Arab; UN Women Country Representative highlighted that “The programme has contributed to significant innovation in advancing rural women’s financial inclusion through the development of a digital banking technology and banking procedures never before used in Egypt. This technology is uniquely inclusive as it was designed to respond to challenges that rural women may face and offer them a comprehensive empowerment toolkit to accelerate women’s financial and economic inclusion. Thank you to the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the partnership and support to implement this programme, particularly in Assiut and Sohag under the leadership of the National Council for Women and the Central Bank of Egypt”.

The National Financial Inclusion Programme “Ta7wisha” aims at reaching 1.2 million rural women in 20 governorates to establish around 60,000 digital-VSLAs. The programme works on strengthening formally registered and digitized savings groups, establishing individual and group bank accounts; increase access to Meeza national e-payment cards, improving women’s integration into profitable value chains and markets; and boost women’s business and leadership skills as well as digital and financial literacy. UN Women Egypt, with the generous support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the European Union, works in partnership with the national partners to support 160,000 women in 10 governorates.

The National Council for Women’s official visit to Assiut included the meeting with beneficiaries of the NCW’s work on the National ‘Girls Assets Framework Initiative’ (Noura) under the overall umbrella National Investment Framework on girls in Egypt, implemented in partnership with UNFPA.

For more information, please contact Maha Rateb; Communication and Advocacy, UN Women Egypt at [ Click to reveal ]