In the context of the CSP project, Y’ahl El-Hay - يا 'هل الحي, the internal interventions have started in three clinics in Greater Cairo: the Family Health Center in 10th of Ramdan City, the Family Health Unit in 6th of October City, and the Health center in El Salam Awal area. External interventions will start later this month in the public spaces/open areas that are attached to the clinics. Students and volunteers are currently working on the designs through a participatory approach. Y' ahl El-Hay aims at developing public health clinics and its surrounding spaces through a participatory approach, in order to enhance their capacity and support their role as a social place. Under the umbrella of Terre des hommes Egypt this project has built on extensive partnerships between several enthusiastic partners: Œcumene Studio which designs and constructs the project; and the Ministry of Health.

NilFurat Project aspires to create a common space for learning and intercultural dialogue between women from the local host community and refugee communities in Egypt. Building on the richness of cultural diversity, 70 Egyptian, African, and Syrian women, in Cairo, have been able to acquire training and exchange knowledge through art and production.

UNHCR Egypt extended its reception hours last week and received 3,876 individuals (1,709 families), approaching the office to renew their documents, update their information and add new family members to their records. Continuous verification contributes to a better understanding of the profile and needs of people registered with UNHCR. This exercise has also considerably reduced the waiting period to obtain a renewal appointment in our offices, which decreased from 3 months to 1 month. Additionally, 86 Syrian families also had the opportunity to complete their vulnerability assessment interviews.

UNHCR and the Ministry of Education held the opening ceremony of their joint teacher training programme for 2016. The training focused on developing the required skills for Arabic Language teachers who are working with primary students. The event was attended by Ms. Marian Schilperoord UNHCR Senior Operations Manager who gave a speech about the importance that UNHCR gives to the education of refugees. Ms. Schilperoord thanked the Ministry of Education for its generosity in admitting Syrian and Sudanese refugees in public schools at same footing as Egyptians. While Ms. Mai Mahmoud, UNHCR Associate Protection Officer presented UNHCR’s mandate to help the teachers understand better the circumstances of the refugee student they meet every day in their classroom.

UNHCR Community Support Programmes (CSPs) on December 29, 2016, held reflective and informative training sessions on the experience of engaging with host and refugee communities in Egypt. The sessions reiterated the objectives of the projects, reviewed their processes, and explored new possibilities.

UNHCR Egypt, in coordination with the Government of Egypt, inaugurated the latest “Schoolyard for All” projects implemented in 'Amr Ibn El As' and 'Omar Ibn el Khattab' Schools in Sheikh Zayed City. The project aims to create child-friendly spaces, allowing local ‪‎Egyptian and refugee school children the chance to play together in a safe environment and foster a better educational atmosphere.

On the January 22, 2017 UNHCR in collaboration with Caritas Alexandria celebrated the successful livelihood projects in Alexandria at the Jesuit Cultural Center as part of UNHCR Egypt’s livelihood program.

UNHCR Representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt and to the League of Arab States, Mr. Karim Atassi met with Ms. Inas Fergany, Director of Refugee and Migration Department at League of Arab States, on January 15, 2017. The meeting started by remarking on the good relationship that the two institutions have been developing over the last two years. Subsequently it touched on the areas of cooperation for 2017, which included the follow-up on the Global Compact on responsibility sharing for refugees that should be adopted in 2018, the Arab Convention on Regulating the Refugee situation in the Arab World and the necessity to move forward with developing a National Consultative Asylum Law for the member states part of the Arab League.

On the January 4, 2017, UNHCR Representative to the Arab Republic of Egypt and to the League of Arab States, Mr. Karim Atassi met with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, H.E. Mr. Aboul Gheit, to discuss cooperation in regards to the current regional refugee situation. During the meeting, the Secretary General stressed the need to strengthen the existing cooperation between both institutions and highlighted the importance of capacity building of the League of Arab States on issues related to refugees as well as the importance of the adoption of Arab Convention on regulating the refugee situation; that is being discussed among the member states. H.E Mr. Aboul Gheit acknowledged UNHCR’s efforts in favor of refugees worldwide and in particular in the Arab region.

On the February 27, 2017 UNHCR Egypt participated at the International Cultural Festival at the 6th October University. This year, the festival focused on the global refugee crisis.