Sustainable development in Cairo's populous Gammaliya district is no longer a distant dream but is fast becoming a reality, says Jill Kamil Back in 1990, 29 Egyptian scholars were called upon to propose strategies for the implementation of UNDP-sponsored Task Force for Sustainable Development. Adli Bishai, director of a project in Gammaliya now known as FEDA (Friends of Environment and Development Association), took the bait, but soon found that he in turn was expected to land an extraordinarily large fish. Gammaliya has been the commercial and industrial centre of the city since the end of the 19th century, and it has, moreover, the highest concentration of Islamic monuments in the world. Bishai's aim was to evaluate the condition of the area, including past conservation efforts, and to remedy errors and place the historic zone under a unified body as opposed to many ministries and government-sponsored organisations. Sceptical colleagues and friends told him it wouldn't work. They pointed out that the plan, as he envisioned it, would entail working with different ministries which were subject to the law and unlikely to change. He was warned that it was totally unrealistic to expect them to collaborate. Undaunted, Bishai moved ahead. He started in 1993 by setting up FEDA, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), and proposed a framework for sustainable development based on a balance between resource management, environmental protection, human development and economic growth. It was an enormously ambitious plan. Fifteen years down the line, however, the impossible is well on its way to being achieved. FEDA's success so far, Bishai hastens to point out, is due largely to public participation. "When people are encouraged to get involved in what is happening to the district in which they live and work, and when they see that it is an improvement to their lives and has the possibility of being an even better one for children, they work conscientiously to contribute to its achievement," he says. Step by step FEDA is transforming the area, and the local population is enthusiastic about what is happening. The project zone lies south of the Fatimid walls of Cairo, within the area marked by Sharie Al-Muiz le-Din Allah to the west, Sharie Al-Gammaliya to the east, Sharie Al-Dabayiah to the north, and the alleyway south of Darb Al-Asfar that runs alongside Al-Aqmar Mosque to the south. Within this confined area of the Fatimid city lies the largest concentration of ancient mosques, sabils, madrasas, souks, hammams, religious schools and hostels in Greater Cairo, as well as huge non-functional khans or wekalat. The latter -- inns for travelling merchants built around a vast courtyard with stables and warehouses at ground level and living accommodation above -- is where Bishai focussed his attention. "FEDA's aim was to restore and reactivate the vast derelict inner space of the wekalat and use them to ease the population pressure and pollution elsewhere," he says. "Simply, to clear the rubble and make it functional." The first phase of the project for sustainable development was launched with the aid of the Egyptian-Swiss Development Fund (ESDF); technical studies and cooperation with the Waqf authority (the owner of the properties); the Cairo governorate, the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), the International Cooperation Ministry, the Ministry of Social Affairs, the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, and the Higher Committee for Historic Cairo. Bishai says that the aim at the outset was to improve the quality of life by bettering hygiene through environmental control and community development services. "We are making use of existing buildings, not by transforming them into museums, but by making them useful to the community," he says. In other words they are being rendered into a condition in which they continue to play a traditional role in community life. The first objective was to upgrade the physical conditions of the area, and for this three derelict buildings were selected: Kahla Wekala (on Gammaliya Street), Kharoub Wekala (on Tombakshia Street) and Al-Rabae (on Al-Muiz Street). The renovation for the re-construction of these buildings was supported by the ESDF, and the task was difficult and time-consuming. However, when Kahla Wekala was successfully renovated, 24 small industries and shops from Kharoub Wekala were transferred to the renovated complex and 13 families originally residing there were relocated to a new housing area, Dweiqa, which was built by the Ministry of Housing. "It all sounds easy in retrospect", Bishai says. "But every stage was fraught with problems. The obstacles seemed insurmountable, but Kahla Wekala was officially inaugurated during the celebrations of the National Day of the Cairo governorate in July 2002. That was a proud moment for us." The next stage in the project, after transferring the workshops to Kahla Wekala and the families to Dweiqa, was to demolish and rebuild Kharoub Wekala and make it suitable to house FEDA's Centre for Community Development. This has now been achieved. The new building, beautifully designed with domes, courtyards, and natural lighting and cooling, makes excellent use of space. Accommodated with it are a health unit, a children's club, a women's cultural centre, a general library, a computer centre, and the spacious and elegant Naguib Mahfouz Auditorium, as well as a number of offices and classrooms. It was opened in July 2005, and praise was heaped on FEDA by the governor of Cairo and other officials. As for the evacuated Al-Rabae Wekala, this was demolished and rebuilt to house FEDA's Centre for Training and Technological Upgrading. Already this is being used for instructing technicians in the repair and maintenance of electrical and electronic household and office services, including televisions, VCRs, DVDs, fax machines, mobile phones, washing machines and refrigerators. The German Embassy sponsored the furnishing of the building, and the Japanese Embassy provided the necessary funds for training equipment. Success breeds success, and the centre was opened on 13 July 2008 for the Cairo governorate's celebration of Egypt's national day. Anyone who has tried to "get things done" in Egypt will realise how enormously difficult it has been to achieve all this, especially when the physical infrastructure of the whole area, including sewerage, water and electricity, also had to be upgraded. This was done in cooperation with the Cairo governorate. "Bishai is enormously proud of the progress made so far, and he has every right to be. FEDA's aim was to improve the quality of life by bettering hygiene through environmental control and community development services, and it has so far been successful. "We are not displacing communities of factory workers because they are unsightly to our vision of an appropriate tourist destination, or because we want to transform the area into a tourist destination," he says, adding "although we certainly hope that the area will be of interest to visitors in so far as they can see a healthy and vibrant community in the very heart of the Fatimid city -- people playing their traditional roles in community life, but now in a clean and healthy environment. A number of seminars have already been held within the framework of effective public participation and in order to ensure partnership between the project management and the Gammaliya community. Five specialised committees have been formed, and the local people actively participate, not only in identifying problems but in suggesting solutions. The committees are for health and environment, crafts and workshops, women and gender, youth and education, and an infrastructure committee. They meet monthly to ascertain which of their many problems should be given priority. And a follow-up committee prepares the agenda for the district committee, which is headed by a director whose members consist of representatives of the five specialised committees, and FEDA. "The whole philosophy regarding Cairo's historic zone needs to be changed from one of restoration, conservation and open air museums, into one of sustainable development," says Bishai passionately. "And we have already shown that it can be done. The Sustainable Development Association for Gammaliya (SDAG) was registered in May 2005 to serve the local community and ensure the sustainability of FEDA's efforts. During 2006 and 2007, SDAG was active in the areas of capacity building, social, health and environmental development under the supervision of FEDA, and our final objective is to improve the living conditions of the Gammaliya residents." This is, perhaps, the most important and difficult objective of all since it involves improving the social, educational and cultural conditions of the community members; developing health and environmental awareness; offering health services and increasing economic opportunities through provision of vocation training. None of this can be achieved overnight. However, classes on illiteracy eradication and computer training are well attended and the local population has become more aware of the need to protect the environment and public health. Schools in the area have been upgraded and children's club activities implemented; there are even reading and writing classes for weak students. The list is endless, and to date these varied activities have been implemented through support from the Swiss fund, and partial support from Finn Aid, UNESCO, and American Embassy. Figures speak for themselves, so let us take a look at the list of activities and beneficiaries during the period 2004-2006: FEDA has introduced some singular additional activities, using art and cultural awareness as an effective educational tool. This is new to Egypt. For example, in order to encourage self-expression, empathy and respect for others with a view to active citizenship, FEDA has in the past quarter started a Drama Workshop for middle and high school students. This weekly workshop lasts about five hours, and the programme includes acting -- to encourage dialogue and self- expression -- as well as drawing the line between, for example, conceptions of a culture of silence, and expressions of shyness. Interestingly, these meetings create a communal sense of participation, and a team spirit between its members who are at middle and high-school levels. "It is encouraging to see that these novel classes are regularly attended by 30 students," Bishai says. He elaborates on the importance of the development of communication skills, self expression, participation in open discussion, improvisation and quick-thinking in the young. "We even have discussions on sexual harassment, and the invasion of rights in everyday spaces and attitudes," he adds. As for the rising generation, FEDA has attempted to direct attention to marginalised groups in Gammaliya, including working children. "To make them aware of their rights for education, creativity and physical well-being is our aim," Bishai says, "but to date this has been one of the most poorly attended groups. We are doing all we can to encourage children to the centre, and we will persevere, and I am sure that we will eventually prove to the underprivileged children of Gammaliya, that the FEDA centre is the 'place to be'." When the Cairo governor opened the FEDA Centre for Training and Technological Upgrading in July he was so impressed with the building and the electrical and electronic equipment that he offered to purchase additional equipment for further improvements. The Industrial Training Council of the Ministry of Industry is also offering support and will subsidise FEDA's training programme by refunding 80 per cent of the cost of each training course offered. Last, but by no means least, the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs has been instrumental in the initiation of a demonstration project for the collection and sorting of garbage from 560 families in Gammaliya. The success of this project so far has encouraged the Cairo governorate to allocate a piece of land to be used for recycling the sorted solid waste, with expectations to secure funds for purchasing recycling equipment from the Japanese Embassy which earlier supported the purchase of equipment for the training programme on repair and maintenance. "This, of course, is what sustainable development is all about," Bishai concludes. "Our achievements in Gammaliya prove the concept is not just a pie in the sky. It can be achieved." Gammaliya facts and figures PRELIMINARY studies with workshop owners in Gammaliya with a view to encouraging cooperation and interest in the demonstration area revealed that 50 per cent of those questioned were aware of environmental problems and 10 per cent agreed that air pollution was due to garbage and liquid waste, but they could not suggest ways to deal with the problems due either to lack of knowledge or fear that proposing alternatives might impose a financial burden. Although the crafts activities that cause the most serious pollution in the area are copper, metal turning and leather manufacturing workshops, 80 per cent of the workshop owners did not know the concept of occupational safety, believing that it meant paying social insurance. All were aware of the harmful effects of noise on health. Some workshop owners expressed the need to plan and implement technical training programmes with a view to improving the quality of their products, especially those that planned to buy new machines to improve productivity. Others advocated training programmes for diversified activities. Some even mentioned the need for micro- credit to fund new activities or purchase new machines. None admitted to employing children in their workshops, probably in fear of repercussions because it is illegal to do so. FEDA's "Community Needs Assessment" nevertheless revealed that many students combined work and education. In fact, of the 65 per cent of children enrolled in schools, 23 per cent (mostly teenagers) were working and studying at the same time. It is easy to see why it is necessary to do so. Some 60 per cent of the working population of Gammaliya have an average daily income of a paltry LE3.73. The children, boys and girls, are obliged to do what they can to augment the family income. The study revealed that 61 per cent of the people in the district suffered from poor health, mainly chest and skin diseases, possibly a direct result of air pollution and lack of hygiene awareness. They believe that there is definitely a need for governmental participation to improve conditions. All the members of the entire community were aware that exposure to polluted gases and liquids was the cause of cancer and allergies, while 85 per cent of them were aware of the importance of the aeration of their houses and the need to add new green areas in the district. Sadly, only 58.2 per cent of the sample were economically active, while 41.8 per cent were unemployed.
