The National Council for Women (NCW) was established in the year 2000 by Presidential Decree No.90 as an autonomous entity with the purpose of advancing the status of Egyptian women. The establishment of NCW comes at a momentous time of change, opportunity and challenge, both at the national and global levels. Nationally, the establishment of NCW crowns achievements scored during the twentieth century such as constitutional gains attained in terms of women's rights to education, health services, employment, marital and family life, voting and political participation, nomination for public office, etc. NCW also represents a culmination and continuation of national efforts to further enhance the social, economic and political status of Egyptian women spearheaded by Egypt's First Lady.

Globally, the establishment of NCW coincides with a world movement, supported by the United Nations organizations to bring women concerns to the forefront of the world development agenda. It also coincides with a time of mounting concern over the new challenges, threats and opportunities posed by globalisation, the information age, and mounting international competition.

In this context, NCW was established out of the reasoning that in a fast changing world, countries aspiring to achieve progress can no longer afford to marginalize women. NCW represents a continuation of national efforts to improve the situation of women and facilitate their participation in the social, economic and political development of the country.

The National Council for Women aims to promote sustainable equitable human development by fostering a cohesive society in which each member contributes to and benefits from development.

NCW considers the individual as the cornerstone of development and that men and women should equally contribute to and benefit from the development process.
On the one hand, NCW seeks the protection of human rights, the improvement in standards of living and the expansion of choices and opportunities in life. On the other hand, it underscores the roles and responsibilities each individual has towards society.
NCW is conscious that the individual constitutes one member in a larger group and that individual interests should not be pursued at the detriment of others.

Furthermore, NCW believes that each individual has a role in society and that this role should be acknowledged, valued and enhanced. It further believes that it is essential that every individual should be given an opportunity to contribute in all areas and domains. This necessitates harnessing of individual capabilities and providing opportunities and avenues for various forms of participation, including economic and political.

It is within this context that NCW targets women. NCW does not seek to isolate women from their societal realities, family, and culture. NCW realizes that the situation and role of women are shaped and influenced by societal norms and values. Hence, NCW consciously builds on existing cultural strengths yet confronts and tackles weaknesses and drawbacks that may deny women opportunities of participation and contribution.

NCW aims to enhance the status of all Egyptian women and to maximize their contribution to the growth and development of Egypt. The focus is on narrowing existing socio-economic gender gaps and addressing women's strategic needs including social, economic and political empowerment.

In order to fulfil its mission, NCW has been entrusted with a broad, and multi-sectoral mandate. Its structure and organization allow it to carry out its functions, discussed below.

The purpose of policy analysis and upstream dialogue is to analyse government policy, plans and programmes as well as laws and legislation in order to discern the impact of public policy on the welfare and status of Egyptian women. The aim of this is to mainstream women and gender issues and sensitise policy makers, legislators and executives on the importance and methods of including women concerns in development planning, resource allocation and implementation. This will ensure that the women concerns are put at the forefront of the government's development agenda thereby creating a broad based consensus on the importance of women's issues. Furthermore, the objective is to raise awareness on the large gender disparities in key socio-economic and political indicators and encourage policy makers to adopt a more gender-balanced approach to developmental problems across various sectors.

The purpose of gender planning, mainstreaming and monitoring is to build national capacities, both governmental and non-governmental in the areas of gender analysis, gender planning, implementation and monitoring. A primary concern for NCW is to draw a national strategy for the advancement of women and to work closely with line ministries in order to mainstream it in the National Five Year Plan. Among other things, this will ensure the inclusion of priority programmes on women and the required funding for them. This includes training planners in line ministries in gender planning in order to mainstream gender in sectoral, regional and national development plans.

A key function of NCW is networking. The purpose of networking is to lobby support for women's issues, disseminate and share information with development partners through publications and conferences, initiate collaborative work and raise resources for interventions and programmes. Networking also involves the forging of a vast number of linkages with development partners within Egypt and outside including governments, NGOs, universities, research institutes, the private sector etc. In this context, NCW has been entrusted with the key responsibility of representing Egypt on all women issues at international conferences and articulating and communicating Egypt's position on all women issues both internally and externally.

One of the most crucial functions played by NCW is raising public awareness on women's issues and creating a broad base of support and understanding of the pivotal role of women in society. A variety of communication channels are currently being utilized. First, it is recognized that the press and media are key tools for educating the public, creating favourable and supportive opinion on women issues as well as sustaining attitudinal changes over the long run. Second, NCW sponsors issue-specific public campaigns at critical times to ensure a broader audience such as encouraging women to vote during public elections. Third, NCW will continue to brief the public on its initiatives and activities through a monthly newsletter and other publications. Fourth, the development of a dynamic NCW web site will help reach audiences at home and abroad.

The purpose of capacity building and training is twofold. First, NCW aims to sensitise the judicial, legislative and executive branches of government on gender issues and ways to mainstream gender in their day-to-day operations. Second, NCW aims to raise the capacities of NCW staff and development partners, both governmental and non-governmental in the areas of gender analysis, planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. A core component involves training partners on gender planning in the National Five Year Plan 2002-07. Training will also involve proposing and coordinating the delivery of specialized training for different groups of beneficiary women in such areas as skills enhancement, setting up of small businesses etc.

Research, documentation and dissemination are three closely related functions that form an integral component of NCW functions. The purpose of research is to analyse and study the situation of Egyptian women in order to diagnose certain phenomena, carry out surveys and needs assessments or conduct analytical, field or empirical studies. Research issues will be demand oriented and respond to existing knowledge gaps. The bulk of these studies are being commissioned externally to research institutes, universities and independent experts. The purpose is to encourage scholarly work and enrich knowledge on women's issues. Gender research will also be encouraged and promoted in universities and academic centres through research competitions and gender disaggregated analysis to reveal how policies impact women and men.

Documentation will involve the establishment of a comprehensive, searchable, interactive database on gender related research, a specialized reference unit on women studies as well as a Geographic Information System (GIS) on women across the country. This will facilitate the identification and prioritisation of problems, target groups and interventions.

Dissemination involves the publication and circulation of studies, empirical reports and research findings with governmental and non-governmental partner organizations and the general public at large. Round tables, discussions, think tanks, seminars will be organized to bridge the gap between gender research, policy and practice.

Though the role of NCW is primarily to advise government and society on women's issues as opposed to executing laws and projects, NCW will execute a limited number of pilot and demonstration projects. The projects will be designed and implemented to test or demonstrate specific ideas related to priorities identified by NCW for possible future replication. These projects will be funded through the NCW regular budget or through resources mobilized from external sources.

One of the major tasks entrusted to NCW is monitoring of public policy on women. A primary responsibility is the revision of existing national laws and any proposed laws and decrees to ensure the protection and advancement of women rights. Another responsibility involves monitoring of the implementation of the National Five Year Plan and assessing the impact of development interventions on the welfare of women. NCW also follows up closely on all public dialogue and debates relating to women's issues, clarifying the position of the state when necessary. NCW will also monitor first hand the situation of Egyptian women through an Ombudsman. The purpose of the Ombudsman is to act as a link with the general public in order to receive and refer women related problems.

As for internal monitoring and evaluation, NCW has established a monitoring and evaluation unit to promote results based management and ensure accountability. This unit will be responsible for following up the implementation of yearly plans, etc.