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“These women were so focused on protecting their money,on how never to lose this card, never to give this card toanyone, never to forget the pin,” says Hania. The thin pieceof plastic gave the women a new sense of dignity. Theypossessed something powerful that belonged to no one elsein the family.The role of the social workers was also key. Mostly lowincomewomen themselves, these workers provide supportand information. They also organize monthly meetings,bringing together programme participants, to cover topicsincluding housing, voting and health.After a year, children’s school results were improving. Thewomen were working fewer hours but in better jobs: thereliability of the payments meant they knew their minimumneeds would be met, so they didn’t have to take on badlypaid, exploitative work for survival. More than a quarterof women who had reported domestic violence said ithad stopped now that financial pressure on the familyhad eased and they no longer had to ask their husbands formoney. The pilot was a success.Just as the team prepared to roll out the programme to25,000 families in 65 villages in Upper Egypt, the Arab Springcame. The project was put on hold. In 2012, the Governmentsaid they planned to scrap the entire programme, outragingthe women of Ain El-Sira. “I got a phone call from the headof security at the Ministry of Social Affairs telling me thatthese women were protesting and were barricading thebuilding,” Hania smiles. “They’d got on public transport andtaken themselves to the Ministry to demand the programmenot be scrapped.” In the end their protests proved fruitless.The programme was deemed against the interest of Egypt.There was no longer political will for it.Yet the idea for the programme remained in people’s minds.When the regime changed once more in June 2013, a newminister was appointed, Ghada Wali, who in her former roleat UNDP had helped Sholkamy raise funds to cover researchcosts. She invited Sholkamy back to relaunch the programmeand it’s now finally going national, with a budget allocationto cover half a million families in six months.For Hania, it’s been a steep learning curve. “Initially Iwas hoping no one would realize that this money is goingto women, that it would just be under the radar, but therevolution meant we were put under tremendous scrutiny,”she says. “Now at every juncture you’re never sure if this willcontinue or not.” But if the team can continue their work, shesays, its momentum will become unstoppable.Hania Sholkamy, lead researcher of Egypt’s CCT programmePhoto: UN Women/Ryan Brown“These things have to buildlike sedimentation. You needto have layer upon layer ofpeople who have a vestedinterest in empoweringwomen.”“These things have to build like sedimentation. You needto have layer upon layer of people who have a vestedinterest in empowering women, particularly poor women,all working in union, building up one thing after the other.That’s when you have an achievement on which there canbe no U-turn.”Story: Jenny Kleeman. For more information on the Egypt’s Conditional Cash Transfer Programme see Sholkamy 2014 and the Pathways of Women’s Empowermentwebsite: www.pathwaysofempowerment.org127