What is the incidence of volunteerism in Egypt?

Question

I mean on the part of wealthier people or expatriates. I realize too many can't afford to do so.

And if there are such activities, what are they?

Forgive me in advance for my ignorance on this subject.

Answer 1

I think that the number of answers you got answers you well =)

Answer 2

Sorry I have no time to answer you indepth or rather in detail like providing links and stats today but thought you needed an accurate answer:- ) here is an article from the UN which is very accurate

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At our present, volunteers are regarded as a main vehicle for initiating and supporting development projects. Egypt has reached a stage where governmental and nongovernmental

efforts need to be intensified to fulfill the requirements of development. The concept of volunteerism in Egypt has deep historical and cultural roots. It emerged in the 19th century and continued with progress in the 20th century through

various means and forms. It has been embodied throughout the Egyptian history by the religious and social practices that encourage assisting and giving to others. Volunteers have been an important channel to deliver assistance to the deprived social groups in the society. However, this work was to a great extent lacking organization and appropriate framework. The Egyptian society is known for its spirit

of cooperation and helping people in need. This has been evident in rural areas where harsh economic conditions make it imperative for people to lend each other a

helping hand. By the beginning of the 21st century, the role of volunteers in Egypt and the Arab world has been accelerating and gaining confidence and support of

local and international donors and the community as well. Throughout the past decades, the philosophy of volunteerism has changed from being a philanthropic work that focuses on making donations to a basic mean to achieve development.

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Most expat and civil society ngo associations have volunteering activities, volunteers are our life line for fundraising and carrying out human resource work that we as development workers are keen to keep but organisations still have to balance a lot of different areas. Yet our development work is carried out in an enviroment with a lot of red' tape -rules - regulations- security and lots of issues that are the surface a person would not know they are there. The biggest business men and women, politicians and public figures are all without fail on the boards or patrons of organisations, in Egypt that take a whole new meaning, hence organisations are restricted in what they can publically do and say otherwise, they will lose support not only with finances but with favors in getting things done and also publically lose the power base. Like a catch 22 type situation - sometimes you need the creep for work to flow/carried out easier but its the creeps like the creep that are partly responsible for some areas of development.

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Egyptians young and old are carrying out all kinds of activities, its not always based on wealth because there are a lot of informal and formal activities like, visiting mental health hospitals, children without families, helping micro finance business and projects get up and running, be on the boards of org's and give the skill set and knowledge they have for free like accountacy, medicine, business and collecting things to recycle that others can use...its so wide I could be typing near forever.

Most of the International businesses have Corporate social responsibility policies and give large amounts of time for civil society organisations.

Like the Gas companies allow employees as part of the (CSRP) to be on boards or organise fund raisers.

the new coffee cafes in Egypt like Costa have workers to see if they can raise the profile of a charity or a cause by using the advertisment skills within the company.

Community organisations like ex pat clubs, do fundraisers, wash babies, cook and give away uncooked fresh food and meals, charity collection and distribution for clothing distribution, skill share like teach computers. They do lots of things, mainly groups of women but Ive seen a few guys too mainly visiting academics from AUC, BUC that would also be involved.

In summary theres lots of both organised, formal and informal volunteering in a system that is not able to keep account of it all. This peaks at times of national holidays like Ramadan and so on...because of volunteerism the country has not totally fallen apart in its social life because with a neighbour to take care of a neighbour and the many Egyptians that are participating in doing something they dont see as volunteering really believe me when I say- only God knows what would happen- almost everytime someone gives some baksheesh for no reason other than they looked at another human being that needed it - is holding up a system'.

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