Activities have just started within the awareness raising project that foresees workshops for housewives and “Civil Protection Days” organized in schools of Cairo to help promote children’s and housewives’ awareness of risks they run in their daily life and to prepare them to react to potential disasters.

This is the instrument chosen by the Egyptian General Administration for Civil Protection as part of the awareness activities that are being implemented within the EU-funded Euro-Mediterranean Programme on Prevention, Preparedness and Response to Natural and Man-made Disasters (PPRD South). Egypt -  which together with Jordan, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Montenegro that are implementing similar awareness activities – is pursuing the aim to have a safer community from risks with a better level of preparedness and awareness thanks to an educational programme for the prevention of accidents and health risks.

The project is being implemented by the Egyptian General Administration for Civil Protection in cooperation with the Egyptian Police Press and the Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC). The targeted area selected for its implementation, one of the poorest in the Egyptian capital, is the eastern part of Cairo, including the districts of El Nahda, El Salam, El Mataria, Zeinhom and Deouka.

The campaign intends to educate school children and housewives on how to prevent and cope with accidents, as well as on how to improve hygiene and health at home and in the surroundings. The main problems identified result from unawareness and straitened conditions and are health related  - caused also by irresponsible disposal of domestic and hazardous wastes -  or related to lack of proper urban planning policies due, among other things, to a high concentration of population, inadequate building material or insecure electric connections.

During the seminars for housewives, risks manuals will be distributed to women, and procedures on how to follow the best practices for a good housekeeping will be explained in detail. During the seminars  practical examples will also be provided to the participants who should become  "agents of change" and will convey the message to other women within their networks.

The experts from the Red Crescent and the Egyptian General Administration for Civil Protection will animate the “Civil Protection Days” in schools through lessons, presentations, projections of videos on the Civil Protection activities, practical demonstrations and story-telling. The school-children will be involved in finding out which are the most common dangers in their homes and environment. They will consider how potential accidents can be prevented. They will also be taught what to do if an accident happens.

 At the end of the day, competitions will be organised in the form of questions and answers. School bags will be given as prize to the school-children that will reach the highest number of correct scores.

< Prev		Next >