Cairo, 26th of November 2014
The
Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) successfully
inaugurated together with the Governor of Giza, the District Urban Upgrading
Unit (UUU) in South Giza district in Giza Governorate. In front of 30 partners,
Governorate representatives and colleagues; Dr. Aly Abdel Rahman, the Giza
Governor, and Dr. Guenther Wehenpohl, the Programme Coordinator of PDP,
symbolically marked the start of the unit’s operation by cutting the ribbon and
revealing the memorial marble plate. The unit, where around five staff members
will be working, is located within the premises of the administrative body of
the Giza district and it is one of three units which are all located within the
Giza Governorate.
For the PDP
the UUUs are an important part in its participatory approach of upgrading
informal areas. Through the units, the local authorities are able to use the
capacities acquired and the tools institutionalised to support the
decentralisation of dealing with informal areas within public administrations.
“The general role of the UUUs is to provide strategies and implement mechanisms
for the development of informal areas at the Governorate level,” said Dr. Guenther
Wehenpohl, Programme Coordinator PDP.
“Furthermore,
they facilitate technical interventions and approaches as well as support
different management styles in urban upgrading.” As each District has its
special areas where the PDP implements several projects, the respective UUU has
its own tasks to fulfil apart from the general role it plays.
In the case
of South Giza, the unit will be responsible for tasks such as coordinating
development mechanisms for informal and unplanned areas using participatory methods
to engage the residents and relevant stakeholders, identifying development
needs and coordinating the resources required for that and following up with
the implementation of all projects.
About The Participatory
Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP)
The
Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP) is an Egyptian-German
development measure implemented by the Ministry of Planning (MoP) and the
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, on behalf
of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
The
programme started in 2004 and the actual phase, beside the core-financing by
BMZ on about EUR 6 million, is funded by the European Union (EU) with EUR 40
million and by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) with EUR 3.73
million.
The PDP
cooperates with civil society organisations and operates on different
administrative levels through cooperation with decision makers at national,
regional, and local levels on upgrading poor urban areas (informal areas) in
the Governorates of Cairo, Giza and Qalyubeya in Greater Cairo Region (GRC)
until 2018. For
further information, please refer to www.egypt-urban.net
