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Key achievements of Egypt’s SAIL project in serving SDGs over 9 years
A total of 157,000 beneficiaries – representing over 38,000 households – got a boon of the Sustainable Agricultural Investments and Livelihoods Enhancement (SAIL) project from 2015 to October 2024. This is in line with the project’s initial target of reaching 40,000 households.
The project contributed to enhancing agricultural development in 30 villages across the governorates of Kafr El Sheikh, Aswan, Minya, and Beni Suef; including 12 villages in Aswan Governorate, 15 villages in Beni Suef and Minya Governorates, and 3 villages in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate.
The Ministry of Planning and Economic Development and International Cooperation has issued a report highlighting the key achievements of the SAIL project from 2015 to October 2024.
The project – being implemented by the Ministries of Water Resources and Irrigation, and Agriculture and Land Reclamation in partnership with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) – aims to contribute to poverty reduction and enhance food security for rural men and women in Egypt. It also seeks to enable smallholder farmers to increase their income, improve their profitability, diversify their livelihoods, and improve the socio-economic conditions of the target groups in the project’s areas of operation.
According to the report, the first component, which focuses on community development, has achieved 97% of the planned target.
The second component, which aims at agricultural diversification, has reached 93% of the planned target, the report said, adding that the third component, which addresses rural finance, has achieved 78% of its target.
The fourth component, which is concerned with project management, has achieved approximately 98% of its planned target.
The report details several key achievements in the activities of the four components. In terms of community development, the project aims to support local communities in newly reclaimed areas by providing appropriate infrastructure to offer educational, health, and social services to beneficiaries. This is done through opening literacy classes, establishing schools and youth centers, implementing medical convoys, and building and equipping health clinics, nurseries, and workshops. Additionally, community development associations have been equipped, with a focus on strengthening the institutional capacities of their members, particularly rural women and youth.
Notable achievements in community development include establishing 6 primary schools and 2 secondary schools in project areas to address the lack of educational services.
Moreover, the program contributed to renovating and equipping 11 nurseries in project areas to enhance early childhood education services in addition to distributing grants to 202 rural women from the most vulnerable households in project areas across various sectors.
The program also contributed to implementing more than 96 medical convoys and opening 118 literacy classes in project areas.
Further community-related activities include renovating the Women’s Club building in the village of Samaha to provide social, economic, and cultural services, issuing 269 national ID cards for women in project areas to facilitate access to various services and identification, and implementing a drinking water supply project in the Central Egypt region to address water scarcity issues in the villages of Al-Jihad, Al-Tawfiq, and Al-Fada.
Regarding agricultural diversification, the report highlights efforts to improve agricultural production, build the capacity of farmers, support agricultural cooperatives, and enhance irrigation efficiency. Key activities included:
The project also worked on rehabilitating 41,250 linear meters of irrigation channels in the Motobus area, Kafr El Sheikh, through 7 public tenders, addressing water delivery issues at the ends of irrigation channels, enabling the re-cultivation of land that previously lacked irrigation access.
It also contributed to establishing and constructing a main pumping line in the village of Al-Karama, which will help address irrigation problems for 2,997 acres in the Wadi Al-Nakrah area.
The project also proceed with the development work on irrigation system and rehabilitating stations in addition to supplying solar power units for irrigation development.
The report referred to installing 25 pumps and solar panels in Wadi Al-Nakrah to convert irrigation systems from flood irrigation to drip irrigation for 75 farmers covering 375 acres.
On climate change activities, the report mentions the signing of an agreement with the Agricultural Research Center’s Climate Change and New Energy Information Center to establish the first agricultural weather monitoring program and early warning system in the project areas. This includes the installation of 5 agricultural weather stations and 2 information simplification offices, with early warning messages being sent to beneficiaries.
The Ministry of Planning, Economic Development, and International Cooperation’s report also notes that the FAO has implemented 172 new field schools in the project’s areas, focusing on plant, animal, and climate change topics. In addition, 160 field schools have been implemented in collaboration with the project’s management team, utilizing facilitators previously trained by the FAO. A further 100 field schools are currently being implemented. The establishment of 5 marketing cooperatives in the project areas is also underway to enhance marketing activities in newly reclaimed areas. Furthermore, 303 women from the village of Samaha have been supported with equipment to help them improve their livelihoods.
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