Friday 24/October/2025 – 12:28 PM
Ayman Abdel Mawjoud, Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, participated in the activities of the opening session of the Arab-Asian Parliamentarians Forum, on behalf of Dr. Maya Morsi, Minister of Social Solidarity, in the presence of Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Youth and Sports, Counselor Mahmoud Fawzi, Minister of Parliamentary and Legal Affairs and Political Communication, Dr. Abla Alfi, Deputy Minister of Health and Population and Head of the National Population Council, and Representative Abdel Hadi. Al-Qasabi, a member of the Senate, Dominic Allen, Deputy Regional Director of the United Nations Population Fund, Iwi Fumio, the Japanese Ambassador to Egypt, and a group of Arab and Asian parliamentarians.
The opening session of the Arab-Asian Parliamentarians Forum
During his speech, the Permanent Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Solidarity was keen to convey to the audience the greetings of Dr. Maya Morsi, Minister of Social Solidarity, and her deep appreciation for this high-level gathering, which reflects a common commitment among the countries of the region for a more just and inclusive future.
Ayman Abdel Mawjoud stressed that the meeting comes in light of unprecedented challenges facing Arab societies, especially with regard to the most vulnerable groups, noting that these challenges intersect at central points represented in human dignity, security, and ability to contribute to development.
He thanked those in charge of the event for choosing topics that affect the goals of the Egyptian state towards empowering youth, advancing reproductive health, and addressing gender-based violence, explaining that the state has developed a series of programs and initiatives to support youth participation in policy-making, build their capacities, expand intergenerational dialogue, and transform youth voices into concrete policies and procedures that enhance empowerment and participation.
He added that Egypt has placed reproductive health at the top of its concerns, by supporting the access of vulnerable groups to fair and safe health services, and involving the private sector in developing the care system, with an emphasis on health justice as a pillar of sustainable development. The state has also given great attention to the issue of combating gender-based violence, and launched large-scale digital and field awareness campaigns.
The Permanent Undersecretary explained that Egypt has placed women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities at the heart of its social policies, as they are a human force with the full right to participation and empowerment, pointing out that investing in people is the truest path towards a just and sustainable future, and that the “New Republic” has made a pledge not to leave anyone behind.
Abdel Mawjoud pointed out that the Ministry of Social Solidarity – as the guardian of social justice – has made significant efforts to support women, children, people with disabilities, and the elderly, and has designed its programs to ensure justice for the most vulnerable groups and extend the umbrella of social protection to all family members.
In the field of women’s empowerment, he explained that the Ministry expanded the umbrella of cash support to include millions of mothers, linked support to education and health to ensure a better future for future generations, and launched training and entrepreneurship programs to transform women from recipients of support to major partners in development.
The Ministry, through the comprehensive economic empowerment system recently launched by Egypt, also provided opportunities to unify the efforts of various government agencies to provide financial, banking, and insurance services to target groups, including “Takaful and Karama” beneficiaries. The system aims to support sustainable economic development and enhance financial inclusion by providing products such as microfinance loans, training, and technical support.
Through the Environmental and Rural Industries Fund, the Ministry supports rural families economically by financing small and micro projects, developing skills, opening new markets for rural products, and improving the quality of life in villages.
In the field of combating violence against women, the Ministry runs 13 centers to host and guide abused women, from which 7,785 cases have benefited, and more than 214,596 individuals have also benefited from the “Working Women’s Service Centers (Egyptian House)” project.
The Ministry activated 45 family guidance and counseling offices, provided integrated services to 19,078 families, and implemented 1,033 awareness seminars that benefited 29,167 individuals on family issues, violence and electronic addiction, and 1,140 seminars on financial inclusion that benefited 28,500 individuals, and 280 awareness projects using Nasser Social Bank services.
In continuation of its efforts to support the family, the Ministry launched the national “Mawaddah” program in 2019 to qualify those about to marry, and about 1.8 million young men and women have benefited from it so far, while the number of users of the “Mawaddah” digital platform exceeded 5.2 million beneficiaries from various governorates.
The Ministry cooperated with the Ministry of Health and Population and civil society organizations in projects aimed at reducing population increase, promoting the concept of small families, and enabling women to obtain information and means of family planning, to enable them to achieve the desired number of children.
The Ministry also launched the Program for the First 1,000 Days of a Child’s Life to educate mothers about child care, targeting one million and 200,000 families from 2014 until July 2025, and financing one and a half million pregnant women or those with one child with food supplies to improve mother and child nutrition at a total cost of 242 million pounds.
In the early childhood file, the Ministry launched in 2018 the National Program for Early Childhood Development with funding of 250 million pounds, targeting children from one day to four years, and established and developed 1,347 nurseries and family and child development centers, and the number of licensed nurseries in 2024 reached 20,304 nurseries benefiting about 770,392 children. It also opened the first two childcare centers for female workers in the Administrative Capital with a capacity of 112 boys and girls, and trained 16,381 nursery facilitators on positive parenting.
Regarding the elderly, the Ministry provides care services in 176 nursing homes for about 4,750 elderly men and women, and 56,000 have benefited from the services of 190 elderly clubs. The “Look at Tomorrow with Your Eyes” initiative was also launched to serve 5,000 elderly men and women, including early detection, operations, and dispensing of medications.
As for the file of people with disabilities, Abdel Mawjoud confirmed that the last decade is the golden age of attention to this category, as Egypt issued more than 1.3 million integrated services cards, provided cash support to 1.31 million people at an annual cost of 13.9 billion pounds, and provided 46,999 prosthetic devices since 2014.
One million people also benefited from the services of 561 rehabilitation entities, supported deaf students in 13 universities with sign interpreters at a cost of 5.4 million pounds, granted 974 blind students scholarships, and distributed 2,000 talking laptops.
The Ministry launched the “The Best Owner” initiative in 25 governorates with the participation of 10,430 volunteers, targeting 19 million people, and 497 events and 22 sports marathons were implemented.
At the conclusion of his speech, Abdel Mawjoud stressed that Egypt’s experience in social solidarity is not just projects or programmes, but rather a comprehensive development philosophy that believes that social justice is the foundation of national stability, and the human being is the compass of every effort and policy.
He pointed out that parliamentarians possess legislative and oversight authority capable of transforming ambitions into legal obligations and allocating the necessary resources to achieve a real impact on people’s lives.
He concluded by saying: “The Arab Republic of Egypt, represented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, declares its full commitment to working with our partners in the region and the world to promote comprehensive policies, exchange successful practices, and innovate solutions based on rights, justice and human dignity. Let us stand together, not only against violence and discrimination, but to build more inclusive societies, where every individual – man or woman, boy or girl – has The full right to dream, to create, and to live in safety.”
