Egypt - United Nations Development Programme

former UNDP Administrator sent copies of the first Egyptian HDR to Resident
Representatives, asking them to use it as a model. In addition, this report was presented at
the World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995.
At the regional level, the UN Economic Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA),
attracted by the scientific reputation of Egypt’s first HDR, organized an expert group
meeting in May 1995 to present the successful Egyptian experience, and to review other
experiences in preparing NHDRs in Arab countries. Sixty-one participants representing
16 Arab countries were present at this meeting, where six experiences of NHDR
preparation were presented – Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, Lebanon, Morocco and Iraq. In
addition, two expert group meetings were jointly organized by ESCWA and INP after
that date: Improving Standard of Living in Arab Mashrek Countries (November 1997,
following the poverty national report in 1996) and Governance, Socioeconomic
Development and Poverty Eradication ( November 2001).
Based on the above, we strongly believe that an ideal situation would be the
preparation of HDRs by a national institute, fulfilling the above mentioned success
criteria for production, in close cooperation with UNDP. The INP in Egypt is still
considered the most suitable entity for this purpose, provided UNDP continues to ensure
quality control and autonomy of the report. “In the final analysis, the success of any
intervention by an international organization is subject to the enabling political
environment, to good social communication and solid partnerships. It is a matter of
sending the right message, to the right people, at the right time. It is a matter of
empowering people to manage, in their own way, complexity, diversity and change.”
(Box II)
C) Dissemination
The dissemination process in Egypt was characterized by three important events. The
first one was the 26 Governors’ Round Table held in 1994, where governors were
introduced to the concept of HD and where HDI disparities per governorate were
explained. This drew the governors’ attention to specific developmental issues. “The
governors agreed on a 21 point declaration, which endorsed the holistic concept of
sustainable human development, and pledged their commitments to establish the
necessary mechanisms to achieve the goal.” (Box III)
The second event was the Fayoum Declaration in 2004, where governors adopted
the idea of preparing the GHDR to better reflect disparities within the same governorate,
and where they expressed their intention to plan at the local level, taking into
consideration these disparities. They also “…pledged to use reports as guidelines and
references for decision making.” (Box III).
The third event was the exceptional launch of the 2004 NHDR, which is devoted
to the theme of ‘Decentralization for Good Governance’. Indeed, this launch was
intended to put political, fiscal and administrative decentralization at the forefront of the
reform debate. It took place on 12 October 2004 and was addressed by the Prime
18