CARE's work is motivated by the belief that the development process should be owned and managed by a society supported by good governance and a robust civil sector. Through building capacity and a sense of ownership in local organizations and the constituencies that they serve, CARE enhances civil society and the long-range sustainability of its interventions. CARE's work in partnership and local capacity building is based on a learning approach: CARE and its partners work side-by-side and learn together.

Having worked with some 300 CDAs and other associations, CARE Egypt's program approach is based on local experience and the understanding that strong local institutions are vital components of sustainable, long-term development. CARE's capacity-building activities use a learning approach that allows for true empowerment of participant communities and organizations. CARE works with local organizations and the constituencies that they represent, and with local municipal units in strategic partnership to identify and analyze key problems and then jointly plan and implement locally-correct program interventions.

CARE is committed to helping people exercise their right to participate in learning, change and decision-making processes that affects their lives. CARE supports and facilitates strategies that help people secure resources from social, political and market sources and promotes positive and lasting change through capital formation, infrastructure as well as through programs that influence attitudes and practices. CARE's approach helps form and nurture new relationships among stakeholders, including civil activity with government, research institutions and private sector partners.

In general, the interaction between CARE Egypt and partner organizations builds on a continuum moving from awareness-raising through training, skills-building and support for community-originated initiatives, to fully implemented, community-owned development activities that are truly representative of their constituency and include women in leadership roles. CARE believes that sustainable capacity building of its partner organizations is a process based on trust and confidence-building between people that leads to lasting community empowerment that is no longer passive or wholly dependent on outside support. CARE's projects actively integrate intervention strategies that address the underlying causes of poverty, including gender disparities and advocating for social and economic rights of the poor.

Thank you for your interest in supporting CARE Egypt's work.  For further information about our program or to support our ongoing work, please contact us at CARE Egypt's email: cairo@egypt.care.org

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In order to fulfil CARE's vision and mission, all of CARE's programming should conform with the following Programming Principles, contained within the CI Code. These Principles are characteristics that should inform and guide, at a fundamental level, the way we work. They are not optional. These Programming Principles are as follows:


We stand in solidarity with poor and marginalized people, and support their efforts to take control of their own lives and fulfil their rights, responsibilities and aspirations. We ensure that key participants representing affected people are involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of our programmes.


We work with others to maximise the impact of our programs, building alliances and partnerships with those who offer complementary approaches, are able to adopt effective programming approaches on a larger scale, and/or who have responsibility to fulfil rights and alleviate poverty through policy change and enforcement.


We seek ways to be held accountable to poor and marginalized people whose rights are denied. We identify those with an obligation toward poor and marginalized people, and support and encourage their efforts to fulfil their responsibilities.


In our programs and offices we oppose discrimination and the denial of rights based on sex, race, nationality, ethnicity, class, religion, age, physical ability, caste, opinion or sexual orientation.


We promote just and non-violent means for preventing and resolving conflicts, noting that such conflicts contribute to poverty and the denial of rights.


By acting to identify and address underlying causes of poverty and rights denial, we develop and use approaches that ensure our programmes result in lasting and fundamental improvements in the lives of the poor and marginalized with whom we work. We hold ourselves accountable for enacting behaviours consistent with these principles, and ask others to help us do so, not only in our programming, but in all that we do.

Final revised version as approved by CI Programme Working Group, 4 June 2003.

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