Talking Pyramids

The United Nations and the Egyptian Government have teamed up with the aim of developing Dahshur’s community while preserving the area’s culture and heritage. Two days ago they held the program’s first workshop: “Mobilization of the Dahshour World Heritage Site for Community Development” at Saqqara.

The Pyramids of Dahshur

The workshop was attended by Zahi Hawass, Spanish Ambassador to Egypt Antonio Lopez Martinez, and UN Resident Coordinator James W. Rawley.

From the article:

The project has two main objectives: to reduce poverty and to protect and manage the area’s cultural heritage and natural resources. Program organizers hope to reduce poverty through increasing local employment, supporting traditional handcrafts, promoting tourism and developing creative industries.

“The beneficiaries of the project are 40,000 Dahshour residents,” said Program Manager Mohamed Shaker. The project focuses on improving the livelihoods and working conditions of the local population through targeted employment-generation activities, with special focus given to the employment of women and young people, along with the development of small and micro enterprises.

Meanwhile, the program will manage cultural heritage through the preservation of Dahshur’s seasonal lake, a unique natural asset, by coordinating efforts to ensure the lake is preserved in its natural state through community-led conservation. The area surrounding the Dahshur component of Memphis–along with its famous Necropolis–has also been incorporated into the project.

The three-year project officially began in April of 2009. Its first year was devoted to conducting baseline studies, surveys and preparation for poverty-reduction interventions. According to Shaker, the socio-economic profile for the target area has been completed, and most of the cooperating partners have finished–or are currently in the process of conducting–the necessary fieldwork and surveys.

The development program is budgeted at US$3 million, to be provided by the UNDP-Spain Achievement Fund. It brings a number of government agencies together with the Social Fund for Development, including the Environmental Affairs Agency; the Industrial Modernization Center; the Tourism Ministry; the Tourism Development Authority; the Foreign Affairs Ministry; and the Ministry of International Cooperation.

The project represents a collaboration between five UN agencies, namely, the UN Development Program, the World Trade Organization, the UN Industrial Development Organization, the International Labor Organization and UNESCO.

Source:
Govt teams up with UN to develop Dahshour

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