Social inclusion, citizenship rights and poverty alleviation policies in Egypt

Hania Sholkamy, American University in Cairo
Zeinab Khadr, American University in Cairo

Poverty alleviation social policies are usually deeply embedded with notions of citizenship and rights and are based on principles of empowerment, participation, joint responsibility and voice. The paper reviews the current discourse on social inclusion and citizenship right in poverty alleviation policies with particular emphasis on the Egyptian experience in comparison with existing social protection and policy innovations in other countries. The empirical section of the paper assesses the current perceptions of Egyptians of their citizenship rights as well as the current levels of engagement in the social programs with particular emphasis on the marginalized population groups. Data for this section comes from a series of baseline surveys conducted in preparation for launching two pilot social programs for poverty alleviation. This work will enable current social protection providers such as the state and civil society to address the special needs of vulnerable groups and to acknowledge processes that create vulnerabilities.