Maat continues to train NGO cadres on the universal periodic review

Central and Western Delta organizations are concerned with reforming local policies for education, health, and infrastructure

The Maat Foundation for Peace, Development and Human Rights continued the implementation of the second phase of its training program for “Capacity enhancement Cadres of civil society organizations to follow up on Egypt's obligations before the universal periodic review mechanism., In the seventh training workshop for civil society organizations in the middle and west of the delta, where the training workshop hosted 24 civil work cadres with 12 civil organizations in the governorates of Alexandria, Beheira, Kafr El Sheikh, Gharbia, Dakahlia, Menoufia, and Matrouh over the course of 30 September - 1 October 2016 .

The training workshop in-depth enabled the participants to work in groups to compare a package of public policies related to the recommendations of the UPR, as well as enable them to use monitoring and documentation tools in their local communities. The participants also presented their initial perceptions of issues and issues within their local communities, which could be topics for public policy papers prepared by NGOs and submitted to the competent local authorities, especially in the areas of infrastructure services, health, education and child labor.

It is noteworthy that the participants had benefited from the first phase of the training program in April 2016, in which the focus was on raising the trainees' awareness of human rights in general, increasing their knowledge of human rights protection mechanisms, increasing their awareness of the universal periodic review procedures, and raising their awareness of the procedures for the participation of civil society organizations in The universal periodic review mechanism and awareness-raising tools and the strengthening of societal monitoring of the review findings.

During the training workshop, the participants presented the results of their work at the local level to enhance knowledge of the UPR, through a group of activities in which NGOs participated, which varied between awareness seminars directed at university students, public conferences for lawyers, public service camps and competitions at various youth centers, and a group One of the exhibitions held by the NGOs benefiting from the program. During these activities, a number of publications were distributed and lectures were given to introduce the UPR and the recommendations that were made to Egypt during the second session of the review in 2014.

The training workshop also increased participants ’knowledge of the concept and dimensions of public policies and their analysis, and enabled them to differentiate between policy analysis and political analysis through a practical activity in which samples of a set of policy analysis papers and political analysis papers were presented to the participants. The training workshop also increased participants ’knowledge of the rules governing monitoring, documentation and reporting processes, with the aim of enabling participants to prepare reports to monitor human rights situations related to the work of their organizations at the local level.

The training workshop was part of a project "The Universal Periodic Review as a Tool to Improve Public Policies during the Transition", Funded by the European Union, which started its implementation in January 2016 and continues to be implemented over two years, with the aim of strengthening the role of the universal periodic review to improve public policies and reform human rights during the transitional phase in Egypt by actively involving civil society organizations, activists and media professionals in the follow-up and advocacy for the necessary reform of human rights And adopting new policies compatible with international human rights standards based on the 2014 universal periodic review.