The Association for the Development and Enhancement of Women (ADEW)

National Network
Égypte
Address

8\10 Mathaf El Manyal Street, 2nd & 5th Floor, Appt. 12, Maniel
Cairo
Égypte

Telephone
+202-2532558
Fax
+202-23636345
E-Mail
rasha.raslan@adew.org
E-Mail (2)
iman.bibars@adew.org
E-Mail (3)
adew@adew.org
Mobile Phone
+201001412132
Mobile Phone (other)
+201002107296
Organisation Type
Non-Governmental Organization
Year of Establishment
1987
Fields of Activity
  1. Gender
General Information
ADEW, NGO founded in 1987, employs about 220 members of staff. ADEW is headed by a female chairperson, followed by Executive director, then managers fro each department such as: HR, finance, Media, Donor unit. ADEW's staff is 177 full time employee. ADEW sources of funding are various from inside Egypt and outside Egypt, namely the European Union, Ford Foundation, British Council/Egypt, Embassy of Finland/Egypt, Women Win, Citi Foundation, UNHCR, USAID, Sawiris Foundation/Egypr, Mansour Foundation/Egypt, Mothers at Risk/Belgium, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, UN Women, Drosos foundation, WHO, AGFUND,Vodafone/Egypt, GTZ. The modalities of action include: running programs that are composed of education- economic-health and social programs; concrete projects, seminars, workshops, advocacy and direct services to the beneficiaries.
Mission and Objectives

Vision: To give women, especially female heads of households the chance to contribute to the own wellbeing their families and societies in the legal, economic, social, political and cultural arenas in order to become full citizens and decision-makers within the family. Mission: ADEW’s mission is to strengthen and empower underprivileged female heads of household economically, legally and socially, providing them with the resources necessary to attain a higher status in their families, communities and society. ADEW works on two levels to achieve its mission. On a grassroots level, ADEW provides women with micro-credit, legal aid, literacy classes, health seminars, empowerment workshops and a special program, Girls’ Dreams, for the daughters of its primary beneficiaries. On a macro level, ADEW works to raise awareness and promote change through its strategic use of media, producing flyers, periodicals, posters, and documentaries, and its effective use of advocacy, sponsoring conferences, training seminars and workshops. ADEW strives to raise the status of women throughout Egyptian society by working with women, providing them with the means to help themselves, and by creating dialogue between these women, political leaders, and their society, to promote change.ADEW believes that women’s needs extend beyond direct service provision. To truly improve the life situations of the poorest most marginalized women, ADEW believes it is necessary to influence and change the wider macro context in which policies and practices are embedded. Thus, to complement and draw upon its grassroots program, ADEW has developed a wide-ranging advocacy program designed to raise awareness about the problems faced by marginalized women within the public, policy and operational arena. ADEW’s advocacy strategy includes national and local conferences, media campaigns and printed documentation. ADEW lobbies key policy makers and encourages the media to acknowledge the problems faced by poor female heads of household. ADEW itself produces numerous publications documenting women’s issues. This includes a newsletter, Women’s Stories, that portray life in Cairo’s squatter communities, as well as flyers, posters, and cards that broadcast ADEW’s activities and agitate for more gender-sensitive approaches to development and issues of public policy. ADEW’s long existing programs endeavor to elevate living conditions of FHHs who are one of the most impoverished and marginalized segments of society. However, the outcome of its programs outreaches FHHs and extends to benefit all members of their families along with the communities where they live.

Main Projects / Activities

ADEW believes that, to improve the life situations of the poorest most marginalized Egyptian women and their family members, it is important to work at two levels. At the grassroots level, ADEW provides direct services to female heads of household based on twin pillars of micro-credit and legal support. The association has also developed an integrated set of supportive programs to better meet the diverse needs of women and youth (male and female). These include literacy classes, a health awareness program, environmental awareness seminars, a program to build women’s self-confidence, leadership, and negotiation skills known as Arab Women Speak Out (AWSO) and a program to build adolescent girls' confidence, self representation abilities and enhance their skills known as Girls' Dream (GD), and recently we have added an intensive political participation program for youth and women. ADEW has also established the Community Mobilization Program (CMP) in order to provide a continuous local driven search for solutions to the problems faced by the community, which we have seen first hand through our constant presence in the field and our knowledge of the true quality of these problems. At the Advocacy level, we lobby for change and/or amendments of laws by sensitizing the government, the civil sector and the media on the problems of female heads of household. Thus, to complement and draw upon its grassroots program, ADEW has developed a wide-ranging advocacy program designed to raise awareness about the problems faced by marginalized women within the public, policy and operational arena. ADEW was the first NGO to raise the issue of legal existence of women and the lack of official documentation in 1987. ADEW lobbies key policy makers and encourages the media to acknowledge the problems faced by poor female heads of household.

Contact (1) Full Name
Dr Iman Biebars
Job Title
Chair
Head of the organisation
Dr. Iman Beibars
Contact (2) Full Name
Rasha Raslan