Our Projects
Since 2006, the EFG Hermes Foundation has been supporting innovative, high impact projects that are assisting those most in need in our local communities. Our financial support and validation of these campaigns has played a vital role in both their early successes and their ongoing efforts to maximise the positive social impact of each project.
Our programme focuses on underserved communities, directing grants to projects that are operating in one of three focal areas:
Focal Area: Poverty Alleviation
The EFG Hermes Foundation supports a number of projects aiming to provide disadvantaged communities with the essentials needed for them to build and sustain a brighter future. Fundamental to poverty alleviation efforts are sustainable models that provide affordable housing, clean water, and safe and efficient waste disposal. These essentials allow individuals, families, and communities to focus their energies on income-generating activities.
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Our Aim
Project Naga’ El Fawal and El Deir Village aims at improving the lives of 60,000 under-privileged citizens through development of infrastructure, educational opportunities and economic empowerment in Luxor governorate.
How it Works
Markaz Esna, El Deir village suffers from poverty, high rates of unemployment, limited access to healthcare, and poor housing conditions attributed to rapid population growth, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of opportunities for economic independence.
Project goals include upgrading housing, sanitation conditions, renovating a local school and establishing a bakery, a nursery for early learning and a community service centre. Furthermore, literacy programmes are offered in conjunction with economic empowerment projects to women and youth.
This project will be implemented via partnerships with Sawiris Foundation for Social Development, the local community, civil society and local and centralized government entities.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The initiative is funded by EFG Hermes Foundation for Social Development, the Kuwaiti Initiative Group for the Support of the Egyptian People, Sawiris Foundation for Social Development and Orascom Construction with an amount of EGP 70 million.
Status
On-going
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Our Aim
Project Al-Makhzan aims at alleviating the poverty level of local residents of the Makhzan Village in Qena governorate.
How it Works
Abiding by the holistic development approach, this one-year initiative focuses on three main pillars based on a comprehensive participatory needs assessment study done by the EFG Hermes Foundation and the beneficiaries.
The first pillar will be rebuilding and / or renovating 362 houses for the residents of Al-Makhzan Village. Houses in poor condition will be restored, and the project also intends to provide a renovated sewage system for the residences.
The second pillar of the initiative is to build a bakery inside the village to facilitate access to bread as well as to provide employment opportunities for the residents.
The third pillar of the project revolves around education. As it currently stands, the village has one school for basic education to accommodate 1,700 students; the school is thus required to work mornings and evenings. The Foundation will renovate the current school and will build additional classrooms to better accommodate the student population.
This project will be implemented via partnerships with the local community, civil society and local and centralized government entities.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The initiative is funded by the Kuwaiti Initiative Group for the Support of the Egyptian People through the EFG Hermes Foundation for Social Development with an amount of EGP 9 million for a period of one year.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
Project Ro’ya aims at alleviating the poverty level of local residents of Ezbet Yacoub, Beni Sweif governorate.
How it Works
Recognising that economic independence and social responsibility are the main pillars for sustainable development, and based on a holistic approach to alleviating poverty, this two-year project aims to rebuild 370 houses for the residents of the village of Ezbet Yacoub, complete with all necessary infrastructures (running water, electricity, sewerage, and a waste water treatment plant).
The project also provides the residents with several income generating programs and a community services centre that includes a health clinic, a bakery, a dairy facility, a rehab centre for children with special needs, as well as vocational training centres for local youth.
This model of integrated development is implemented in partnership with the Together Association for Development and Environment.
After taking an active role in implementing the project and undergoing a training program, the local residents will be in charge of running the project through an elected committee.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 30 million over three years to complete the project.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The Nazlet Hussein Housing Project aims at improving the quality of life for individuals living in one of the communities of the Minia governorate.
How it Works
The project will be implemented in association with Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development (BLACD), a non-governmental, non-profitable organisation. The Foundation will provide the money to BLACD, who will, in turn, lend it to needy families to build / re-construct their own homes. These families will then repay the loan amount over a period of one or two years. At the end of the project duration, the repaid loan amounts will be used to build/re-construct additional houses.
This will be accomplished through providing 1,000 healthy, safe houses (either by building new ones or by reconstructing existing ones) using locally-available building materials. Training will also be provided for the home owners as to how to build their own homes.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation has provided a grant of EGP 2 million to be disbursed over a three-year period.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at improving the health of the families living in the Minia governorate by installing water taps and latrines in 3,000 houses. The project also aims to promote gender equality among residents.
How it Works
The project was executed in association with Better Life Association for Comprehensive Development (BLACD). It provided water and latrine facilities to 3,000 houses located in the Manshyet Samalout and Bani Khaled communities. This included a connection from the main government lines to the houses, and all necessary connections inside the houses. The project also involved educating residents on how to use can use and care for these facilities.
A pilot project was first be conducted with a total of 200 homes, 100 in each community. Lessons learned in implementing the pilot project were incorporated into the designs and execution of the full-blown project.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 500,000 to cover the expenses of the pilot project.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims to increase the income of women micro-entrepreneurs in the poor neighbourhoods of Greater Cairo, improving their quality of life through providing access to sustainable and diversified financial services which suit their needs.
How it Works
The project’s target client group is women micro-entrepreneurs, below, at and just above the poverty line in Egypt, who have existing economic activities, including home-based ones. Through the project, peer groups of women micro-entrepreneurs from the same geographical area receive loans and then make regular bi-monthly payments. Groups are small and their members share collective responsibility providing mutual guarantee of loan repayment.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation donated EGP 2 million to Al Tadamun, one of the leading microfinance programs in Greater Cairo. The grant allowed the organization to increase the number of women benefiting from their services.
Status
Completed
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Focal Area: Disease Prevention
The spread of preventable diseases continues to exact a grave toll on local communities, particularly residents of urban and peri-urban slum areas. The key to disease prevention is public health education. The EFG Hermes Foundation funds a number of disease prevention awareness campaigns, which are effectively limiting the spread of the most devastating preventable diseases in targeted communities.
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Our Aim
According to the World Health Organization, a minimum of 3% of Egypt's population must donate blood in order to meet the country's demand. Currently, Egypt is only at an estimated 1%.
Affirming our commitment to the area of public health in Egypt, the EFG Hermes Foundation will be implementing the Triple Effect campaign which seeks to triple the number of voluntary blood donors in Egypt.
How it Works
Doctors and nurses from the National Blood Transfusion Services will be available to facilitate employee’s blood donations.
Status
Ongoing
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Our Aim
The project aims at assisting Assiut University Hospital in its medical treatment facility by providing the necessary equipment for arthroscopic operations.
How it Works
The medical staff in the Arthroscopic Department in Assiut University Hospital performs around 700 arthroscopic operations per year, ranging from knee to shoulder and hip operations. For hip arthroscopy in particular, the Department is considered to be the leading unit in Egypt. However, due to the high cost of the needed equipment to conduct the surgeries, and the limited Department budget, EFG Hermes Foundation dedicated a fund for the Assiut University to make sure the needs are met and fulfilled.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 900,000 to cover the cost of purchasing the required equipment
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
In light of the worldwide outbreak of the A/H1N1 virus, this project focuses on raising awareness of A/H1N1 prevention for teachers, students and their families.
How it Works
In partnership with the Egyptian Ministry of Health (MoH), USAID and Johns Hopkins Bloomberg, the EFG Hermes Foundation was able to provide 50,000 schools in Egypt with a “Fight the Virus” package containing a variety of awareness material. The awareness materials included a CD titled ‘How to protect yourself and your family from the virus’, a teacher’s guide for raising awareness, brochure on the procedures that must be taken in schools to limit the risk of the virus, and various posters depicting means of prevention such as hand washing, disposing of used tissue, etc.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 400,000 for A/H1N1 awareness in schools.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at controlling medical infections through improving health practices, behaviours and attitudes inside Al Kasr Al Aini Hospital and at increasing awareness about the prevention of spreading of Viral Hepatitis and other blood-borne viruses through various media campaigns.
How it Works
The project was executed in 2007 association with local NGO Nahdet El Mahrousa. It provided the hospital with medical supplies, including two Endoscope disinfection machines, critical care monitors, 350 new beds, mattresses, pillows, sheets and hospital gowns, as well as a two-years’ supply of gloves, detergents, masks, cannulas and syringes.
The project also educated nurses and patients about how viruses are spread and how to prevent this from happening. Training seminars will be conducted during working hours to cover all health workers at the hospital.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 2,092,000 over a period of two years for this project.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at preventing the spread of the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) by providing vaccinations and raising awareness of the disease.
How it Works
The Foundation is sponsoring the National HBV Campaign, launched by the National Committee for the Control of Viral Hepatitis and the Ministry of Health and Population. The campaign aims to provide free HBV vaccinations to medical, dental and nursing college students who are at high risk of contracting the virus. The project also includes awareness-raising workshops to increase knowledge of the HBV virus and its risks, as well as the means of prevention.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 360,000 over a one year period to help cover the costs of vaccination for the target group in Ain Shams, Tanta, and Assiout Universities.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project provides four medical convoys in two of the most poverty stricken areas of Greater Cairo: Manshiet Nasser and Masr El Qadima.
How it Works
The project dispatched four medical convoys consisting of 12 staffed and fully-equipped and medical vans to the target areas. Each convoy served over 1,000 patients, providing free check-ups and medication. In addition, health awareness sessions were conducted for all patients.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of EGP 100,000 for the four medical convoys.
Status
Completed
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Focal Area: Youth Development
The MENA region is experiencing a “youth bulge”, a term population experts use to describe a demographic phenomenon where a disproportionate percentage of the population is under the age of 30. Publicly-funded educational institutions throughout the region are struggling to serve the needs of this youth demographic, with resulting high unemployment. The EFG Hermes Foundation is supporting a number of organisations that are engaging disadvantaged youth to unlock their true potential, offering them quality opportunities to build their skill sets and secure a better future.
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Our Aim
The EFG Hermes Foundation and UNICEF entered a partnership in September 2006 to support the protection of street children in Egypt. The project aims at helping prevent children from living in the street and protecting children who are actually living in the street.
How it Works
Prevention actions included working with primary schools to become more child-friendly through training of teachers on active learning techniques and tackling the issue of corporal punishment in schools, in addition to putting a referral system in the schools for the abused and abusers. At the same time, the project offered the necessary educational, psychological and health services needed for the children and their families. This was implemented with the support of governmental agencies.
Concerning protecting children living on the streets, support was provided to reception centers (drop-in centers) in Greater Cairo and Alexandria. Children, boys and girls, were free to come and go at their own choosing and the contact established with the social workers at the centers allowed ultimately returning the children to their family environment. The centers also ran outreach programs in the gathering spots of street children. Support was also for the Young Street Mothers Shelter. This was the first ever shelter in Egypt, established May 2005, catering for pregnant and young street mothers. It was a rented building and through partnership with EFG Hermes Foundation, a permanent building was constructed in Mokattam.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation funded the project with an amount of EGP 3 million.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The EFG Hermes Foundation’s Youth Sustainability and Viability Fund aims to support and contribute to the growth and sustainability of an effective and vibrant Egypt youth civil society.
How it Works
The fund invited youth-focused or -led NGOs through a competition to submit Request for Proposals (RFP) for grants / loans to support their financial institutional sustainability via supporting innovative social ventures / enterprises. In very limited cases, support was provided to NGOs facing emergency / crisis situations.
On an ongoing basis, the fund acted as a liaison to match needs of youth groups with know-how from the corporate sector and specialized training entities. The fund was used to design mechanisms to enable corporate and non-corporate supporters to identify and contribute resources such as premises, skills, expertise, relationships, volunteers, etc.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided the Fund with a total of EGP 250,000 over two years to cover the costs of feasibility studies, capacity building and training activities for the youth and emergency loans to NGOs, along with part of the set-up and running expenses incurred by the Fund.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims to conserve natural resources and create employment opportunities for dozens of underprivileged young people in Egypt by creating a Paper and Graphics Centre. The Centre will contain two units: the first is a paper recycling facility, and the second is a graphics design facility.
How it Works
The project involved establishing a recycling unit that trained between 10 and 13 local community members in the art of paper making. It established a Design and Graphics Unit to produce high quality, marketable designs, as well as organizing workshops and seminars for visiting artists, who worked to transfer their skills to local staff. As part of the project, a website was developed that can be accessed by creative artists everywhere, to share their ideas and activities.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of about EGP 450,000 over a two-year period to cover part of the set-up and running costs of the Centre.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at promoting education and reducing poverty and food insecurity in Upper Egypt by investing in human potential through supporting access to, and improving the quality of, basic education facilities for at-risk children through in-school meal support and take-home food rations.
How it Works
The project complements ongoing in-school meal support by providing take-home rations to at-risk children attending schools in four governorates of Upper Egypt: Sohag, Beni Sweif, Assiut and the Red Sea. Children at risk will include those engaged in or at risk of engaging in exploitative child labour and also will include children, especially girls, participating in community schools.
The project allows for the enrolment and regular attendance of 9,250 boys and girls in targeted schools; 9,250 families (approximately 46,250 beneficiaries) will receive take-home rations every month as an incentive to keep their children in school for the entire year.
An example of the growing relations between the public, the private, and the business sectors, this project is implemented by the United Nations World Food Programme.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of $500,000 to allow for the feeding of approximately 9,250 children with monthly take-home rations throughout the school year.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at broadening the cultural dimension of youth through exposure to art, workshops and field trips to museums, concerts and exchange programs. The intention is for participants to embark upon a learning journey that both inspires and informs them, to provide them with new tools that enable them to better their living conditions, both socially and economically.
How it Works
Alwan wa Awtar is an NGO that offers all forms of visual and performing art classes to children, using art as a tool for social development. The project allows students to learn various topics through an array of performing and visual arts: acting, painting, photography, producing documentaries, learning foreign languages, and performing puppet shows, among other activities. Using arts processes to teach academic subjects not only improves understanding of content, but also enhances creative and analytical thinking. As such, the project also aims to develop a non-formal education curriculum to develop the fusion of art, drama and technology for a solid and lasting learning experience. The program also includes the establishment of a Montessori pre-school, the first of its kind in the area.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation provided a grant of approximately EGP 400,000 to cover the development of a non-formal education curriculum combining both art and academia.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
The project aims at supporting the Egyptian Paralympics Committee, the only entity in Egypt responsible for managing all national and international activities related to handicapped athletes and those with special needs.
How it Works
EFG Hermes will be the main sponsor for the Egyptian Paralympics Committee. The proceeds of the grant will be used to purchase special equipment required by the athletes, and to cover part of the cost of the activities in which they participate.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation donated a total of EGP 3 million for this project.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
Together with the MOVE Foundation, we want to improve the overall quality of life for children with Cerebral Palsy and for the people who care for them.
How it Works
The Foundation is currently providing support to the MOVE Foundation for children with Cerebral Palsy (CP). CP is a non-curable, but treatable, condition caused by birth trauma or birth injury, most often the result of a lack of oxygen to the infant brain during childbirth.
MOVE's program helps handicapped children and adults with severe disabilities sit, stand and walk. MOVE has successfully graduated ten children from its program, all of whom have subsequently been integrated into the public school system or special education centres.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
The EFG Hermes Foundation committed EGP 900,000 for this project, in addition to EGP 2,000,000 to expand the current premises.
Status
Ongoing
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Our Aim
Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international non-profit organization. SIFE's aim is to create improved sustainable life standards for people in need by applying business concepts they learn at university, and developing their leadership, team work, presentation, communication and other interpersonal skills.
How it Works
The programme consisted on two components. The first was the special competition theme on "Financial Literacy". It involved SIFE students from 28 universities, who implemented projects in selected communities to encourage tertiary SIFE teams to educate financial independence. The second was a National Competition Word Cup, which was held in Washington DC, September 30th - October 2nd 2012.
Financial Contribution by the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation donated a total of EGP 260,000 for this project.
Status
Completed
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Our Aim
Under our mandate to support education, the EFG Hermes Foundation has partnered with KidZania to offset the cost of an exciting new initiative the organization has entered into with the Ministry of Education to support 400,000 students in public schools.
How it Works
KidZania - as popular education attraction that exposes children to potential professions and teaches them important life skills including how to use a bank account - signed an MOU with the Ministry of Education to create an opportunity for 400,000 students of public primary and middle schools to visit KidZania and participate in the activities offered. The children will receive the ticket to enter KidZania, transportation to and from the venue, and a meal for free. This initiative will require a total investment of EGP 16 million annually. To help Kidzania cover the cost, the EFG Hermes Foundation signed an MOU agreeing to fund part of the initiative.
Financial Contribution of the EFG Hermes Foundation
EFG Hermes Foundation contributed with a donation of EGP 1.6 million for a period of 4 years to sponsor 20,000 students.
Status
Completed
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