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As for the second paper in this session, it was titled “A Closer Look into the School Feeding the effect of access to micro-finance such as micro-loans, ROSCA and savings on women
Programs in Egypt” which was coauthored by four fresh graduates from FEPS; Ms. Enas Hamdi empowerment through access to education and labor force and measuring the impact on
Farag, Ms. Mira Hany Sorial, Ms. Nour El Eishy, and Ms. Yomna El Wakeel. During the child’s health, education, labor and marriage.
presentation, they introduced what the School Feeding Programs (SPF) are and how long they Doctor Heba Nassar gave them a feedback after the paper was discussed. She started off
have been in place in Egypt. They also discussed the relevance of this issue to economics, along by thanking them for their effort and studying such an important subject. She then
with its impact on education and link to the Sustainable Development Goals and the Vision proceeded to mention some of the comments, she felt like the focus of the paper got lost
2030. The researchers tackled this due to a belief that there is a gap in the literature during the process of writing the research because they were trying to deliver as much
concerning this issue. They looked closely into the three different providers of the SPFs; which information as they can which led to them mentioning many subjects that weren’t
are the Ministry of Education, the World Food Program, and the Egyptian Food Bank, and correlated. She then moved on to mention some general notes on how to structure the
examined how different they are when it comes to budgets and implementation. They also research paper for example there shouldn’t be an introduction for each chapter and when
took a case study of Brazil as a successful model and suggested some policy adding a table or a graph there should be a heading and a resource. Finally, she ended her
recommendations and limitations. comments with motivating them as this was their first trial, she advised them to be more
The discussant was Mr. Moataz Saleh, a Child Survival Officer at UNICEF who also held focus on their topic and choice of indicators in the future.
positions at the Ministry of Health. He mainly commented on the impact of confounding factors The third session was titled “Children’s Well-being from an institutional perspective” and
on this analysis, and added that a major limitation to this study was that the researchers only chaired by Professor Dr. Adla Ragab, Director of CEFRS at FEPS. During this session two
interviewed officials rather than beneficiaries of such services. Mr. Moataz also noted that papers were discussed. The first paper “Improving Effectiveness of the Child-at-Risk
with regards to academic papers, sometimes it is hard to operationalize and implement them protection System in Egypt: A Fiscal and Institutional Perspective” was developed by Prof.
into real life concepts in order to derive sound and suitable policies. Dr. Khalid Zakaria Amin, Professor at FEPS, Dr. Israa El Husseiny, Associate Professor at
After the break, the second session was chaired by Dr. Omneia Helmy, Vice Dean for Graduate FEPS, and Ms. Amira Gamal El-Din a researcher at AASTMT. The Social Policy Specialist at
Studies, FEPS, Cairo University, under the title “The Effect of Gender Disparities on Children UNICEF Egypt Marisa Foraci was the discussant of this paper.
and Adolescents’ Well-being.” The paper titled “Measuring Youth Multidimensional Poverty in The paper was focusing on the current situation of child-at-risk protection system in Egypt,
Egypt: Geographical & Gender Disparities” was done by; Dr. Hanan Nazier, Associate its limitations and the ways to improve it. The conclusion of the paper was suggesting two
Professor of FEPS and Dr. Asmaa Ezzat, Assistant Professor of FEPS. institutional approaches (administrative and technical) to enhance the current situation of
The paper highlighted multidimensional poverty levels for Youth in Egypt dividing it upon weak institutional set up in Egypt which might eventually reflects on improving child status
changes across regions and by gender. Dr. Hanan began her research claiming that in 2018, in Egypt.
there are 8% of the world’s population was living under poverty, 95% of those population was For the comments on the paper, Marisa Foraci suggested that the paper should be more
in developing countries. However, she argued that the definition of poverty ignored some economic convincing. Since the paper lacks economic figures as the economic cost of
socio-economic aspects of poverty such as; the inability to be healthy, well-marched and violence in terms of GDP and the estimated cost of implement the two approaches
educated. Moreover, she added that the paper discussed two advanced multidimensional proposed at the end of the paper plus the amount of children will be protected.
poverty dimensions that didn’t exist earlier in studies for Egypt which was mainly; economic The second paper, “Children as Active Citizens: The Case of Egypt” was prepared by Ms.
opportunities, access to information technology and NEETS. The paper uses well-known Nevine Donia, a PhD candidate at FEPS. This paper’s discussion was held by Ms. Sara Eid,
methodologies to cover its research which is; Alkaline and Foster (2011) method of Head of the Fiscal Transparency and Citizen Engagement Unit at the Egyptian Ministry of
multidimensional poverty index (MPI) to calculate a Youth Multidimensional poverty index Finance. This research paper highlights the problems facing the implementation of life skills
(YMPI). More important, Dr. Hanan concluded in her studies that young females were and citizenship education approach. The author argues that as long as children are
multidimensional poor than young males as well as highlighting that there were geographical educated as active citizens, Egypt shall progress in its democratization process.
differences in her analysis where the rural areas ranked the highest levels of multidimensional Dr. Adla commented about how important this topic is saying “children issues are very
poverty. important as they are not the future, I think they are the present”. Ms. Sara Eid then
The paper discussant was Dr. Pierluigi Ragno, Chief, Social Policy, Monitoring and Evaluation, continued the discussion by emphasizing how children issues are important and how they
UNICEF Egypt. He expressed his gratitude for such study saying that it discusses two have become a national need within our 2030 vision. She then proceeded to mention some
important aspects for UNICEF Egypt which are; focusing on Youth and highlighting that youth comments she had on the paper for instance, she really liked the consultation of the
are game changers in any countries’ policy. He added that the methodology is well accepted children however she thought that the author should emphasize more on the children being
throughout the paper and suggested that they might use how Youth contribute in GDP growth active citizens through education and how important it is. Ms. Sara mentioned a saying
to add a stronger case in the paper. “either you seed or you concede” which enhances her point about the significance on
The second paper was entitled “Role of Women Empowerment on Child Development through education especially active learning at home and school. She then spoke about new
Microfinance. Case Study: Egypt.” The paper was developed by economic graduates, FEPS, methods about new methods of active learning that is applied in Scotland, some schools
Cairo University; Ms. Enas Emad Hussein, Ms. Nourhan Salah El-deen and Ms. Nourhan Hassan. hold events for the students and their parents in order to provide them with a practical
The discussant of the paper was Prof. Dr. Heba Nassar. The research aims to study way to be citizens but in a small environment as they have their fair share in participating in
making choices related to the school. This leads to the building of the feeling of belonging.
She also hopes this will be applied here in Egypt as interactive learning is something that is
considered a priority in the 2030 agenda.
At the end of the conference, awards were announced in each category; students, graduates, and
researchers or professors associated with FEPS. In the students’ category, the winning paper was
“A Closer Look into the School Feeding Programs in Egypt” whose coauthors were awarded a
three months paid internship at UNICEF’s office in Egypt. As for the postgraduates, “Children As
Active Citizens” won the best paper and an award of $500. Within the researchers and professors
category, “Gender Norms and Children Malnutrition in Egypt and Jordan” claimed the first spot and
won an award of $500 to contribute to the publication fees.Dr. Mona Essam, the FEPS-UNICEF
coordinator concluded the conference with the awards ceremony and presenting awards to the
organizing committee; and Dr. Mona was praised by many speakers, chairs, and discussant for
being one of the main pillars in this partnership and was called ‘the hidden warrior.’

ELITE ISSUE 15, JANUARAY 2020 PAGE 11