The National Council for Women is launching a “Safe City” initiative in the village of Shakshouk in Fayoum

The National Council for Women in Fayoum opened the first activities of the “Safe City” initiative at a symposium held by the Council in the village of “Shakshuk” in the center of “Ibshway” in Fayoum.

The initiative aims to support women working in the field of traditional and local crafts and their children, and to provide them with a safe place away from all forms of violence and abuse, and to act through participating agencies while maintaining the upgrading of women’s crafts. and cultural competence, and defining the tasks that each party carries out in accordance with its specialties in order to achieve knowledge and cultural integration and to achieve the maximum level of well-being for the target groups of the initiative.

Layla Taha Qassem, the reporter of the National Council for Women in Fayoum, confirmed that the safe city provides all services for the target groups, including literacy courses, educational classes, a clinic to provide medical services, pavilions to improve their skills in traditional and domestic crafts as an activity and economic empowerment, and places to hold exhibitions on the market of their products. In addition to providing recreational services and practicing sports through a social club for women, and a pavilion for the provision of social solidarity services.

She added that the symposium discussed a number of issues related to the nature of the village and women in it, including issues of reproductive health, presidential initiatives in the field of health, as well as raising awareness of the need for family planning, the health risks of early marriage, as well as the legal risks that the girl’s family could be exposed by marrying before the legal age.

The symposium also dealt with the dangers of using plastic for the general health of people and fish, given that the village of Shakshuk is located on the shores of Lake Qarun.

It was held under the patronage of Dr. Ahmed Al-Ansari, Governor of Fayoum, Dr. Mohamed Imad, Deputy Governor and Dr. Maya Morsi, President of the National Council for Women in Fayoum, in the presence of Dr. Hatem Gamal. , undersecretary of the Ministry of Health in Fayoum, and Dr. Ahmed Al-Abbadi, director of the Department of Motherhood and Childhood, and in the presence of Eng. Heidi Samir, reporter. Deputy of the branch of the National Council for Women in Fayoum, Dr. Nahair Al-Shushani, Deputy Rapporteur of the Council, Dr. Rasha Gomaa, Member of the Council, Assistant Director of the Department of Motherhood and Childhood at the Directorate of Health, Dr. Nashwi Jalal, Director of the Department of Public Relations at the Directorate of Health and journalist Mohamed Talaat Taye, council member.

Engineer Mohamed Sarhan, consultant of the Nouran Foundation, which launched the “Better Fayoum without plastic” initiative, confirmed that the harmful effects of plastic use on human health and living organisms in general are very serious.

He explained that the initiative aims to raise awareness about the dangers of using plastic, especially “single-use plastic”, especially plastic bags, pointing out that Egypt has almost 12 billion plastic bags in which up to 80 percent of imported materials are used, which makes them very expensive. in addition to harming the health of people, animals and the environment.

The initiative calls for the need to reject plastic bags and replace them with cloth bags, especially bags used in pharmacies and supermarkets.

And Dr. Ahmed Al-Ansari, Governor of Fayoum, issued Decree No. (190 of 2022), which prescribes a ban on the use of plastic in the food and pharmacy sector, as well as a ban on the use of single-use plastic bags. and tools in all activities related to drinks and food in all hotels, restaurants, shops and supermarkets within the village of Tunis and nature reserves The decision was implemented last May.

Governor Fayoum developed a plan for a series of initiatives and projects in the village of “Shakshuk” to achieve integration between all initiatives and achieve maximum benefit for citizens. And pavilions to improve their skills in traditional and local crafts to be an activity and economic empowerment and places to hold exhibitions to market their products, in addition to providing entertainment services and doing sports through a social club for women and a pavilion to provide social solidarity services.

It also implements the Learning Cities initiative with the support of UNESCO, as the initiative aims to include more than one city in the global network of UNESCO Learning Cities, namely Aswan, Giza, Fayoum and Damietta. The initiative aims to create an environment for lifelong learning through technical support through capacity building workshops, development of a specific strategy for lifelong learning mechanisms.

And the application of the monitoring and evaluation system, along with the role of these workshops in the transfer and exchange of experiences. We also work to spread knowledge through the studies we present to countries to create opportunities for new partnerships in this area.” Fayoum Governorate is preparing to select 6 villages in “Shakshuk, Metoul and Qasr al-Jabali” to present to UNESCO for selection as part of the initiative.

The initiative “Child-Friendly Village” is followed by the village “Shakshuk”, which is the first village in the Republic to implement this initiative, the goal of which is to empower children and women and provide them with all economic and social services that provide them with a decent life, while knowing their rights. and commitment and skills development Children in collaboration with UNICEF, the Italian Cooperation Office and the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood.