Page 5 - Issue 39

ELITE Vol.1, Issue 39, January 2022
Vol.1, Issue 39, January

working on a project: The Open Access Micro Data Initiative ● You have been appointed in the former parliamentary term
(OAMDI) for the MENA region in the Economic Research as a member of the House of Representatives by the President.
Forum. The Minister told me that she would need my presence Tell us about the experience of working as a parliamentarian,
more in this council. And it was indeed a challenging task, as it and what did it add to you?
was not an area of focus for me before, and unfortunately, I still
feel that childhood issues have not gained sufficient attention. Of course, it was a great honor for me to be assigned such a
During the year in which I assumed this position, the core of the position, and that experience was indeed very rich, as it lasted
childhood issues in Egypt, as I have concluded, was poverty for five years. In fact, the experience I got while working in
and not just the social one but the multidimensional one which the Council for Childhood and Motherhood helped me greatly
includes cultural, infrastructure, basic services and other with my work in the Parliament and was a solid basis for it.
factors. Cultural poverty, which includes weak family bonds, One of the most important lessons that I concluded from this
leads to problems such as: street children, which is mainly experience - especially in light of my keenness on my research
caused by raising up of children in poor conditions, so they end work during that period - is the necessity of posing research
up working in a young age and might prefer living on streets to questions of a policy-related nature. And I understood the gap
their homes in case of abuse at home or misuse of their work between scientific research and the view of decision-makers
returns. Another problem is early marriage, and I do not mean because of two main factors: the way the research question is
child marriage, because the age of marriage in Egypt is posed, and the actual proposition of an answer to the question
eighteen, while girls are considered as minors until the age of later on. Also, the theme of the research is often too theoretical
twenty-one (the age of majority). But what I mean is early to be considered by the decision maker. That is why I always
marriage in general, which in many cases results from social encourage my post-graduate students to publish a policy paper
poverty or cultural poverty; which is the belief of families that together with their research that is more comprehensible for
early marriage is best for girls. Another issue is the illegal the reader. This was what helped me perform my job more
immigration of children which have receded due to the role of efficiently as a Member of the Parliament. An issue that
the Armed Forces and the Coast Guard. Among the most interested me then was for the legislative framework to be
important issues is domestic violence against children and supportive of sustainable development and its objectives, more
women as well. Throughout the period I worked in the council, comprehensible, firmly implemented, and holding people
I witnessed harsh situations and complaints in such a case. All accountable more quickly and efficiently. And I considered it
of these problems boil down to multidimensional poverty. I .an area that needs more work
believe this experience took the theoretical dimension of my
studies to a practical one.

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