Pathfinder Announces New Award to Improve Health in Egypt

Pathfinder International is pleased to be awarded a new USAID/Egypt grant for $3,950,000 over the next two years.

This project will build upon the decades of sound health programming that Pathfinder has carried out in Egypt. The overall goal of this project, entitled Fostering Opportunity or "Forsa" which means "opportunity" in Arabic is to contribute to poverty reduction among vulnerable youth in rural Upper Egypt by applying an integrated approach that addresses health and wealth improvements enhancing social protection.

A key focus of this project will be to provide immediate assistance to young men and women in rural areas of Egypt. The project will:

• Provide immediate employment opportunities for youth in rural Upper Egypt by establishing a network of community health outreach workers to encourage greater access to health delivery services; and,
• Build the capacity of women in rural Upper Egypt and assist them technically and financially to start their own businesses.

Through partnerships with local community development associations, jobs will be created in communities. Youth outreach workers will be trained to conduct home visits to increase family planning, maternal and child health, and reproductive health awareness among women. These outreach workers will receive extensive training to enable them to carry out the home visits and will be paid for their work.

The project will also build the capacity of women to develop their own businesses. Women will be trained by the project in entrepreneurship and receive necessary technical and financial assistance to establish microenterprises, which will serve as alternative sources of income for many poor households.

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