- Goal: Contributing to fight social exclusion of street children and youth in Egypt.
Social exclusion is a global phenomenon encountered in all major cities, all over the world, related to society’s mutation in urban contexts. As a matter of fact, traditional solidarities and social networks are not as strong in urban contexts as they are in rural areas; together with economic difficulties, social problems, anarchic urban development, all these global factors explain why some people are pushed to the margins of society and left without any support. When public protection and care policies are insufficient to anticipate this phenomenon, individual situations and histories (such as the lack of emotional support, psychological or behavior problems, family rejection, lack of self-confidence) explain why some of them gradually disconnect from society.
Fighting social exclusion therefore implies, both to offer an individual action to support those who are victims of social exclusion, and to work to influence the global factors that lead to this phenomenon: public insufficiencies and society’s rejection. Hence, fighting social exclusion is an ambitious goal that requires long-term strategies and actions so as to achieve an impact on the social exclusion process.
Specific Objectives of Project: to advance the rights and improve access to quality services for street children and youth in Cairo, Egypt
This objective is achieved by several missions:
Offering adapted and professional services. Ensuring the children and youth are offered medical, social and psychological care in their living environment is both a necessity to prevent the degradation of their state, and a decisive step to re-creating their confidence in society. Therefore, a presence in the streets of Cairo, offering professional adapted services that are tailored to their specific needs, is an essential part of all projects aiming at fighting social exclusion.
Transferring the expertise to other operational actors in Egypt. Developing partnerships with local actors and providing them with the adequate training and methodologies will contribute to a more solid intervention for street children and youth. It also contribute to a better mutual understanding and coordination between organization offering different services, from street level to rehabilitation services. Samusocial International, relying on a 14 year expertise working with street children and youth that was enriched with the 5 year specific experience in Cairo, will develop activities so as to transfer this expertise to other actors in Cairo and strengthen their capacities.
Networking and raising awareness among institutional partners and the public in general on the needs and obstacles faced by street children and youth in the process of building their links with society. Considering that fighting social exclusion implies an overall intervention, from prevention to rehabilitation, Samusocial International Egypt develops activities to raise awareness among stakeholders to meet the challenges faced during the process and to increase the possibility of tackling the root causes of this phenomenon. For this same purpose, Samusocial International builds strategic partnership agreements and participates in all relevant networks in order to develop joint actions to address the causes and consequences of the street children and youth phenomenon.
