World Bank praises Upper Egypt Local Development Program

The World Bank praises the local development program in Upper Egypt

Upper Egypt, which includes more than 38% of the country’s population, is a region of great strategic importance, as it has many tremendous potentials in the fields of agriculture, industry, and handicrafts. However, it faces great challenges. It suffers from high unemployment and poverty rates, weak infrastructure, and limited access to basic services.

These challenges hinder the achievement of sustainable development in the region, and limit the ability of its residents to exploit all available potentials. The main challenge is how to transform this potential into a tangible reality, and improve the standard of living of the people of Upper Egypt. Hence,Earth Guardswill shed light on the most prominent development efforts in Upper Egypt, reviewing how these efforts succeeded inTransforming a region that has long been marginalized into a pioneering model for sustainable development; So keep reading.

In a recent report published on its official website, the World Bank shed light on the outstanding successes of the Upper Egypt Local Development Program (UELDP), praising its pivotal role in promoting economic development and improving the quality of life in the targeted governorates. The report confirmed that the program is a pioneering model in achievingsustainable development and creating job opportunities, in line with the Egyptian state’s strategy in supporting the business environment and enhancing the investment climate.

The report also highlighted the positive impact of the program in creating a qualitative shift in the business environment, thanks to the strong partnership between the government, citizens and investors, which contributes to achieving sustainable economic growth and improving the standard of living of local communities. Below is a presentation of the most prominent achievements achieved throughProgram.

The Egyptian government launched the Upper Egypt Local Development Program (UELDP) in 2017, in cooperation with the World Bank, which provided $500 million to support this ambitious program, the goal of which was clear: empowering local governorates, enhancing their role in decision-making, and achieving comprehensive development based on the needs of citizens and business owners.

The program began in Sohag and Qena governorates, then expanded in 2020 to include Assiut and Minya. The program works to improve the conditions of the areas most in need, by developing infrastructure, supporting small projects, and raising the quality of government services. Efforts have been combined to provide an environment supportive of growth, and the result has been to improve the lives of more than 8 million citizens so far, in addition to supporting more than 6,000 commercial and craft projects.

Markets and workshops in Upper Egypt witnessed positive transformationsTangible, as success stories began to follow thanks to this development program, and entrepreneurs were able to expand the scope of their business and reach new markets, and production techniques were developed; This helped raise the competitiveness of local products, and these efforts contributed to providing more than 2,000 new job opportunities, according to World Bank reports.

As part of efforts to improve the business environment, the program worked to facilitate government procedures that were an obstacle to owners of emerging projects. Today, services such as obtaining commercial licenses and building permits have become faster and more efficient. This encourages local investment and supports economic sustainability. Development is not limited only to pumping money into projects, but rather requires an integrated system that removes obstacles and stimulates innovation.

On the ground, more than 50,000 companies have benefited from development initiatives thatLaunched by the program, the governorates of Qena and Sohag recorded satisfaction rates exceeding 80% among citizens and business owners. These results reflect the scale of achievement and the extent of the impact of these efforts in improving the quality of daily life. The success achieved in Upper Egypt has become a model to be applied in other regions, within a national vision aimed at achieving balanced development that includes all parts of the country.

Amidst all these successes, the program’s most prominent impact remains reshaping the future of Upper Egypt, not only by providing jobs and improving the standard of living, but by building a new culture based on innovation and leadership. When entrepreneurs become more competitive, craftsmen gain access to global markets, and remote areas become thriving economic centers, this means that real change has already begun, and that development is no longer just promises, but has become a tangible reality.

And inIn light of this tangible impact,Earth Guards believes in the importance of community participation in supporting such development initiatives, and calls for continued efforts to build a sustainable economy; Real development is not just temporary projects, but rather a long journey to build a more just and equitable future, in which ambitions become reality and opportunities become available to everyone.