H.E. Mrs. M, President of the Council, seized the opportunity of the decentralized celebration of the 8th National Conference of the Council at the governorate level, under the theme of” Egyptian Women and Leadership”, to inaugurate the NCW branch in North Sinai on Sunday 16 March.
In her speech, she greeted the Egyptian women on the occasion of their national day and expressed her pleasure at meeting with Egyptian women leaders, the women of Sinai.

Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, the Secretary General of NCW emphasized that the Eighth Conference which was held at the level of governorates on Sunday March 16, 2008 has adopted a decentralized approach, adding that the thematic issues of the conference tackled women's situation in leadership positions in the governmental sector, the private sector, NGOs, and the political life. The Conference, she said, aimed at emphasizing women's right to reach leadership positions and impressing this conception on society as a basic requirement for enhancing democracy and social justice. It also aimed at analyzing women's involvement in decision-making positions and identifying the impediments which prevent her from reaching such positions. The issue of women in leadership positions, is at the center of international interest and the United Nations has organized a meeting for its Women's Committee on the same issue; thus, it was also a main theme on the agenda of our conference, as Egypt's Women's National Council tries to cope with the latest developments at the international level. The deliberations of the conference, according to Dr. Hassan, is based on an accurate documentation of women's situation in leadership positions in each governorate. It also presents women's success stories. She declared that NCW is in the process of establishing a Center for National Studies on Women. The Conference was attended by prominent figures including universities' presidents, intellectuals and members of the People's Assembly and Shura Council.

As part of NCW's plan to enhance women's political participation and train women to run for the local councils elections due in 2008, the Women's Political Empowerment Project of NCW organized its second training session to qualify women to run for the next local councils' elections. The session was inaugurated by Governor of Suez, Major General. Mohammed Saif El-Din and Governor of Port Said Major General. Mustafa kamel who delivered statements in which they stressed that this meeting brought together women who wish to run for the elections of the local Councils side by side with men so as to increase women's representation in the local and parliamentary councils to be commensurate with women's role, status and mission, emphasizing that women are the most capable to express families' problems which in turn reflect the problems of the entire community and they are also more susceptible to be affected by the issue of development.

Both governors praised the training session and the topics of its content. In her statement marking this occasion, Dr. Fakhonda Hassan the Secretary General of NCW stated that within the context of preparing for the next local councils' elections, NCW is in the process of implementing an intensive campaign to support women's participation in the elections in pursuance of the amendment introduced to article 62 of the constitution on the one hand, and in fulfillment of the presidential campaign platform which calls for ensuring a minimum political representation for women on the other.
The training session targeted women from the governorates of Suez, Ismailia, Port Said and Sharqiya to acquaint them with the skills of managing an electoral campaign, preparing the electoral propaganda and acquiring the skills of communication with the voters. The training program also included a number of topics including the concepts of local councils, the evolution of its laws, and the terms of reference of the local council members, in addition to the relationship between local council and the executive councils.

Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, NCW President attended a ceremony held on Wednesday December 5, 2007 to mark the 50th anniversary of Egyptian women's entry into parliament. In her statement on this occasion, Mrs. Mubarak expressed her thanks to Egypt's honorable guests of female Arab Parliamentarians for taking the effort to come especially to share us this celebration, stressing that the entry of the first two Egyptian women into the parliament fifty years ago, represents a historical occasion in which every Egyptian, male or female, takes pride as it gave Egypt the lead in this field over many other world countries. Her Excellency said that we have to chart the outlines of our future movement in a way which meets the legitimate aspirations of women, and we have to forge a national alliance in which women participate with their full potential side by side with men to implement the aspired to project of Egypt's revival.

In her statement, Mrs. Mubarak also reviewed the historical evolution of women's political participation since 1882, highlighting the great efforts exerted by NCW since its inception in 2000 to enhance women's political participation as a right and also as a duty, adding that the real challenge lies in practicing this right and putting in place the cultural and social frameworks and political mechanisms supporting this practice. The latest constitutional amendments, she said, offers a golden opportunity which we have to seize to push forward this march, and this ceremony is intended to honor Egyptian Female parliamentarians on their golden jubilee.

Statements were also delivered by Dr. Fathi Srour, the People's Assembly Speaker; Mr. Safwat El-Sherif, the Shura Assembly Speaker; Dr. Mufid Shehab, Minister of State for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs; Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, NCW Secretary General and Mrs. Fayda Kamel in her capacity as the most senior of female parliamentarians in the Arab World.

Meanwhile, a documentary film was screened on female Egyptian parliamentarians and their achievements. A book entitled "Egyptian Women in the Parliament: Fifty Years", by Mohammed El-Tawil was distributed, in addition to distributing a pictorial album prepared by NCW entitled "The Golden Jubilee of Women in Parliament". All former and present female members of Parliament were invited to attend this event as well as 11 female Arab parliamentarians and a galaxy of prominent writers and media people.

At the end of the ceremony the participants sent a cable to President Hosni Mubarak to express their appreciation for His Excellency's continued support to Egyptian women and his keenness to ensure gender quality and eliminate all forms of discrimination, in addition to his taking the side of Egyptian women and working towards strengthening the weakest links in the process of achieving women's political empowerment.
 

The NGOs Committee of NCW held a meeting on Monday November 26, 2007 chaired by its Rapporteur, Dr. Amany Kandil to discuss its working plan for the period ahead, including the publication of the second set of series of pamphlets on capacity building. The meeting also discussed the concept paper prepared by the committee in preparation for NCW annual eighth conference.

The NGOs Committee also held a workshop entitled "Strategic Planning for Empowering Women in Local Communities" in Alexandria on Thursday, November 29, 2007. The workshop aimed to set realistic blueprints for confronting the problems facing women in the local communities, and reach out to NGOs which are active in the area of empowering women through capacity-building. The workshop was inaugurated by Major General Ezzat Shabaan, Secretary General of Alexandria Governorates, and statements were delivered on this occasion by Dr. Amany Kandil, the NGOs Rapporteur and Dr. Nahwat Mahmoud, the Rapporteur of NCW Branch in Alexandria.
 
 

NCW participated on Tuesday November 27, 2007 in the First Forum for Businesswomen in MENA and OECD countries. The conference, organized by the Ministry of Investment, was inaugurated by Dr. Mahmoud Mohi El-Din, Minister of Investment and attended by representatives of 30 countries and 45 regional and international institutions. Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, NCW Secretary General delivered a statement in which she stated that NCW carries out a comprehensive set of programs which aims to empower women economically. According to her, a strategy was laid down to ensure that women would proportionately have an access to job opportunities and economic resources. The strategy also aims to achieve the economic empowerment of women, and eliminate all forms of discrimination against them in access to work opportunities and credit-facilities.
 
 

NCW organized a ceremony on Monday November 19, 2007 to launch Women's Legal Rights Project (in electronic form), a project which falls within the scope of NCW's mandate and goals which provide for its responsibility to raise women's awareness of their rights and duties and their role in society.

In his statement on this occasion, Dr. Ali Muselhi, Minister of Social Solidarity stressed the importance of this project which enable women to obtain important information on social status laws. He also emphasized the importance of the participation of the female rural community leaders in the implementation of this project in view of their ability to reach out to women in villages and hamlets, identify their needs and convey them to the officials. Dr. Farkonda Hassan, NCW Secretary General reviewed the steps taken towards the implementation of the project: First a comprehensive survey was made to identify all women's queries and questions related to the social status laws and women's and children rights, both Moslems and Non-Moslems. Second, a group of experts specialized in legal and personal status matters were commissioned to answer these queries and questions in a simplified way so as to disseminate this information on the widest scale. Subsequently, NCW recorded these answers using the voices of male and female artists on cassettes and CDs, and posted them on the internet as well, in addition to publishing a group of pamphlets about the content of this material. Dr. Abdul-Aziz Hegazi, the Chairman of the General Federation for NGOs expressed his satisfaction with the positive cooperation that took place between NCW and his federation and NGOs, all over Egypt emphasizing that this project was the product of this fruitful cooperation. It is worth-mentioning that an agreement was signed between NCW and the General Federation for NGOs to ensure that NGOs will benefit from the multi-media produced of the project. This agreement is also in line with efforts to activate the protocol of cooperation between NCW and the Ministry of Solidarity. The Launch ceremony was also attended by members of NCW branches and their rapporteurs as well as the lawyers of the Ombudsman's office branches in the governorates and the relevant senior officials in the ministries concerned with women's legal rights.
 

Ms. Elimira Suleymanova, the Secretary General of Azerbaijan's NCHR paid a visit to NCW on Tuesday November 13, 2007 in which she expressed her appreciation to the efforts exerted by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak to promote the status of women and children in Egypt and hailed her role in fostering the culture of peace all over the world. Dr. Farkhona Hassan stressed the important role played by Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak in promoting peace worldwide through the establishment of Suzanne Mubarak Women's International Peace Movement. This movement, she said, seeks to foster the culture of peace among peoples and increase women's participation in peace building proceses. Ms. Sulemanova expressed her admiration for the purpose and activities of Peace Institute in Alexandira which she had visited the day before and found very situmulating. Dr. Farkhonda hassan explained to her that the Peace Institute is part of the Suzanne Mubarak's Women International Peace Movement that is actively engaging in addressing peace issues and spreading a culture of peace, not only within the region, but at the national level.
 

A delegation from the EU Commission visited NCW on November 5, 2007 to get acquainted with NCW plans and activities and explore avenues for cooperation in implementing new projects to advance the status of Egyptian Women. NCW Secretary-General Dr. Farkhona Hassan hailed the on-going cooperation between NCW and the EU since the establishment of the Ombudsman's Office. Cooperation in this respect included ensuring its efficient conduct and sustainability and expanding its scope to cover all the other governorates. She also reviewed NCW's mandate, activities and projects.
 

NCW's Women Business Development Center organized a training program which covered all the disciplines and specialties of Computer. Training sessions started on November 4, 2007 and ended on December 13, 2007 The program targeted fresh graduates, males and females, with the aim of providing them with the necessary skills to enter the labor market. The total number of the trainees was 35.
 

A Finnish parliamentary delegation visited NCW on Monday October 29, 2007, within the context of promoting bilateral relations in the area of women's issues and to get acquainted with NCW efforts to empower women. The delegation was received by Ambassador Samiha Abu-Stat, who reviewed NCW role in promoting women and its programs and activities in this respect, emphasizing that the Council has contributed significantly to the promulgation of a number of legislations which achieve equality for women such as the Khula law, which enables a woman to obtain a divorce upon returning the dowry offered to her by her husband. She also referred in this context to the amendment introduced to the personal status law to render it fairer for women, the nationality law which now allows women married to non-Egyptians to pass on their Egyptian nationality to their children, and the law establishing family courts.
 

NCW, in collaboration with UNIFEM held a meeting on October 21-22, 2007 on Finance for Development and Women's Role. The meeting, held under the auspices of H.E. Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, was attended by representatives of 20 Arab countries, and it aimed at reaching a joint vision vis-à-vis this topic at the regional level to be presented at the High-level International Forum on Finance for Development, scheduled for late February 2008 in New York, U.S. which will discuss the issues and challenges facing the realization of gender equality. NCW regional meeting also aimed at setting the tone for including women's issues when discussing the topic of finance for development during the Doha Summit due to be held in December 2008.

In her opening statement, Dr. Farkhonda Hassan, NCW Secretary-General, emphasized that the meeting was held within the context of international efforts to follow up the Monterey Consensus on Finance for Development, which was adopted by the international community in 2002. Moreover, the United Nations has issued a resolution to the effect that the recommendations of Monterey Consensus should be implemented, efforts to achieve this goal should be assessed, impediments identified and initiatives to overcome challenges should be proposed.

Two Statements were delivered by Ambassador Mervatt El-Talawai on behalf of Mr. Amr Mousa, the Arab League Secretary General, and by Naila Gabr on behalf of Egypt's Foreign Minister Mr. Ahmed Abulghet. Dr. Haifa Abu-Ghazal, UNIFEM Regional Representative also delivered a statement, in addition to the statements delivered by some of the delegations of the participating countries.

 

How to restore calm and cleanliness to the streets of Cairo was the focus of a joint meeting held on Wednesday October 18, 2007 between NCW Culture and Environment Committees. The meeting aimed at enhancing coordination between the two committees to work towards finding radical solutions to the problems of Cairo's traffic system whereby its streets can be more secure, stable and orderly. The conclusions reached by the meeting included imposing on-the spot fines on violators of sound environmental rules in the streets and buildings, paying more attention to the rule local councils can play in promoting cleanliness and hygiene standards and fostering a sound environmental culture through the National Book Project. It was also recommended to offer prizes for the best practices in preserving the environment. Means of enhancing cooperation with civil society institutions were also discussed during the meeting, while emphasizing the importance of organizing special symposia and workshops to raise women's awareness of sound environmental standards in addition to organizing media campaigns to sensitize them to the importance of safeguarding the environment and keeping it clean.