This is a conditional cash transfer initiative launched by the Ministry of Social Solidarity as a national social safety-net mechanism to protect the poor through income support. The program is one of Egypt's largest human capital development investments supporting millions of Egyptian families with monthly cash transfers.
This program has been a mainstay in the GoE social safety net infrastructure assisting millions of Egyptians. The food subsidy system includes two main subsystems: a ration card (RC) which offer RC holders specific quotas of subsidized commodities (sugar, oil, rice, and tea) and subsidized Balady Bread (BB), which is distributed through market outlets.
It is a comprehensive rural development program that aims to ensure quality of life by alleviating, multidimensional poverty. The program aims to expand the Social Safety Net (SSN) to include the neediest villages with a focus on meeting their social and economic needs.
Prior to the implementation of the "Decent Life" initiative, the national poverty rate reached 32.5% in 2017/2018 and is mainly concentrated in rural communities, especially in Upper Egypt. Therefore, the government decided to expand the scope of the social protection and poverty reduction program and launch the first phase of a decent life in January 2019 to target the 375 poorest villages, adding that in 2019/2020 the poverty rate decreased to 29.7%, and compared to 2017/2018 and 2019/ 2020, poverty in rural villages decreased by 3.6% and this indicates the significant positive impact of decent life interventions on poverty, especially in Upper Egypt.
In 2021, the second and third phases of the Decent Life Initiative were launched, targeting all rural villages (4,584 villages) with a budget of more than 800 billion LE.
Interventions within the framework of a decent life, also focused on job creation, which has helped mitigate the negative effects of COVID-19 on employment during the pandemic, in addition to: providing all infrastructure, facilities, health and educational services, sports, and cultural activities.
WFP supports the Egyptian government through implementing its activities within the “Decent Life” framework and towards achieving EGYPT-VISION 2030.
