Ebsar Masr Foundation has carried out activities that respond to different needs in the community. Each of them aimed, in its own way, to build knowledge, skills, awareness, participation and capability. This page describes the activities the Foundation has previously conducted.
The Foundation’s experience includes computer training, health awareness, environmental awareness and sports activities. Together they reflect the range of the Foundation’s work: education and digital skills, disability inclusion, health and wellbeing, environmental responsibility, and community participation.
Computer Training for Blind and Sighted Participants
The Foundation has previously conducted training courses in computer use for people who are blind and for sighted people. The training focused on computer use and digital skills.
The activity included both blind and sighted participants. Computers are often treated as tools built around sight, and blind people can be left out of digital learning as a result. By offering computer training to blind participants as well as sighted participants, the Foundation treated digital skills as something everyone should have the opportunity to learn, whatever barrier they start from.
Digital skills connect to many other parts of life. The ability to use a computer can support learning, make it easier to reach information and services, and help a person carry out more tasks independently. For these reasons, the Foundation sees computer training as a form of capability-building rather than a narrow technical subject. This activity relates to the Foundation’s work on Education & Digital Skills and Disability Inclusion.
Health Awareness on Eye Diseases
The Foundation has previously conducted health awareness programs about eye diseases.
The activity focused on awareness: helping people learn about eye diseases. Awareness of this kind does not replace medical care. Its purpose is to help individuals and families understand health issues better, so that they are in a stronger position to recognize when attention may be needed and to make informed decisions about seeking care.
Eye health has a particular place in the Foundation’s identity. Its name, Ebsar, is an Arabic word for sight and perception. This activity relates to the Foundation’s work on Health & Wellbeing, where limited health awareness is one of the barriers the Foundation seeks to reduce.
Waste Recycling Awareness
The Foundation has previously conducted awareness programs about waste recycling.
The activity focused on environmental awareness: encouraging people to think about the waste they produce and the value of handling it responsibly. Awareness at community level matters because the way waste is managed is shaped by the everyday choices of many households, not by a single decision.
This activity reflects one of the commitments that runs across all of the Foundation’s work: environment and sustainability. The Foundation is committed to taking environmental considerations into account in its work, and to environmental awareness, sustainable consumption and the responsible use of resources at community level.
Sports Activities
The Foundation has previously conducted sports activities.
Sport offers a way for people to take part in the life of their community, to spend time with others, and to look after their physical wellbeing. It can bring people together across differences in age and background, and it gives individuals a chance to participate actively rather than only as recipients of a service.
The Foundation sees sports activities as connected to its wider aims of wellbeing and community participation, and to its belief that taking a full part in community life is itself part of development.
From Barriers to Capabilities
The Foundation’s philosophy, From Barriers to Capabilities, sees development as a person’s progress from a barrier that holds them back to a capability or opportunity that helps them move forward. The activities described on this page take different forms, but they share that same purpose.
Computer training addressed a gap in digital skills, and did so in a way that included blind participants. Health awareness on eye diseases addressed limited health knowledge. Waste recycling awareness addressed environmental responsibility at community level. Sports activities offered a route to wellbeing and participation. In each case, the aim was to support knowledge, skills, awareness, inclusion or participation, rather than only to deliver a one-off service.
These activities form part of the practical experience on which the Foundation builds its work across its five areas. As the Foundation’s values set out, we aim to describe our work accurately and not to claim what we have not achieved.