BA helps in improving the standard of living of low income families
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Alexandria, 26 December 2005—The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is joining many countries in a project entitled Microcredits. The project aimed to reach 100 million poor families by the end of 2005; through a campaign which will be held in Canada in November 2006, the project aims at reaching 175 million poor families by the year 2015. This project was launched by the beginning of the Youth Employment Summit at the BA in 2002.
The Microcredits project is considered one of the most effective projects in the strengthening and supporting the poor stratum of the society economically, specially women and youth. The Microcredits are given by specialized banks and civil society organizations, where more than 66 million person borrowed the credit and started a small business by 2004.
The success of this project backs to the advantages that it has other than giving credits. It divides the poor into production groups, gives them trainings in marketing, sales, finance and team working, in order to be better able to manage their groups and learn how to resolve disputes, while using the loan effectively. The project also has programs that aim at raising health awareness, family planning and erasing illiteracy.
These projects are suitable and effective in Egypt and the Arab world as they fight poverty and unemployment. As a promotion of this project, Egypt has established a number of institutions and ventures responsible for granting such loans.
The BA has endorsed and supported a number of ventures and institutions with the program. Two phases of the project took place at the BA. Workshops for youth, especially university students, to raise the awareness of project planning, self motivation and employment, preparation of feasibility studies and their application to projects. The third phase will take place in 2006 and will be the actual implementation.
The BA supports this project as it is a step forward of its main role in modernizing and reforming the society. As well as its ability to reach a wider span of the society through its cooperation with many civil society organizations and it will also reach people interested in the issues of modernization.