The capability we work toward: stability that allows a family to move forward and become self-reliant.
Approved activities: within the fields of social assistance and maternal and child care: financial and in-kind assistance for individuals and families most in need, and collecting surplus clothing from households and redistributing it to people in need.
Program development directions: family support, participatory community development, and linking direct assistance to opportunities that help families become self-reliant.
Why Community and Family Support Is One of Our Five Areas of Work
The family is where most of a person’s opportunities begin. It is usually within a family that a child is able to go to school, that someone who is ill is looked after, and that a young person is supported while finding their way into work. When a family is stable, its members have a base from which to move forward. When it is not, almost every other kind of progress becomes harder.
The barrier this area addresses is set out above: difficult living conditions and crises that can prevent families from achieving stability and deprive children of opportunities to learn and grow. Ebsar Masr works with individuals, families and communities facing barriers that limit their opportunities, and children, mothers and families, as well as families and communities most in need, are among the people the Foundation works for. Community & Family Support is one of the Foundation’s five areas of work because the stability of a family is so often the condition on which everything else depends.
Stable Families, Stronger Communities
Families do not exist in isolation. The wellbeing of each family affects the community around it, and the strength of a community shapes what each family is able to do. When families are under strain, the effects are felt by neighbours, schools and the wider community. When families are stable and able to rely on themselves, they are better placed to contribute to the life of their community.
This is why the Foundation sees family support as part of community development, not separate from it. Its vision is of communities across Egypt where every person has a real chance to overcome what holds them back, and to take a full part in the life of their community. Strengthening families is one of the most direct ways of working toward that vision.
Understanding Circumstances and Reducing Barriers
Every family’s situation is different. The barrier may be a sudden crisis, an ongoing difficulty with living conditions, illness, disability, or the loss of income. Support that works for one family may not meet the needs of another. For this reason, the Foundation’s approach begins with understanding the real circumstances of the people it works with.
The first principle of our approach is to start from real need: we design our work around what people actually need, by listening to them and involving them. In family support, this means asking what is preventing a particular family from achieving stability, and what would help them participate more fully and build their own capabilities.
It also means respecting the dignity of every family. We treat every person we work with as the decision-maker in their own life, not as a recipient of aid. We respect their privacy and choices, and offer support in a way that preserves their self-respect.
What Strengthens Families and Communities
The Foundation sees several elements working together in this area.
Appropriate support. At a difficult moment, practical support can ease the pressure on a family. Within the fields of social assistance and maternal and child care, the Foundation’s approved activities include financial and in-kind assistance for individuals and families most in need, and collecting surplus clothing from households and redistributing it to people in need.
Community participation. Communities know their own needs best. Participatory community development, in which communities take part in identifying their needs and shaping the response, is one of the directions in which the Foundation aims to develop this area.
Knowledge. Awareness and knowledge are part of removing barriers. Families who understand their options are better able to make choices that serve them over the long term.
Access to opportunities. Support is most lasting when it opens a path forward. Linking direct assistance to opportunities that help families become self-reliant is another of the directions in which the Foundation aims to develop its work.
Connected to Our Other Areas of Work
Families face many kinds of barriers at once, and the Foundation’s five areas of work are designed to complement one another. Community & Family Support connects closely with each of the others.
Education and digital skills. Family stability gives children the chance to learn and grow, and learning in turn widens the choices open to the whole family. See Education & Digital Skills.
Disability inclusion. A family that includes a person with a disability may face additional barriers to participation. Supporting the full inclusion of people with disabilities in education, work and community life benefits the whole family. See Disability Inclusion.
Health and wellbeing. Illness within a family can quickly affect its stability, and difficulty accessing care adds to the strain. See Health & Wellbeing.
Economic opportunity. A stable income is one of the foundations of family stability, and the ability to support a family is one of the capabilities that area works toward. See Economic Opportunity.
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. For a family, the barrier may be difficult living conditions or a crisis that threatens its stability. The capability on the other side is stability that allows the family to move forward and become self-reliant.
We measure success by what a person, or a family, has become able to do, not only by what they have received. In this area, the question is not only whether a family received help, but whether it is now in a stronger position to meet its own needs and give its children the opportunities to learn and grow.
Support as a Step, Capability as the Goal
Ebsar Masr is a community development organization, not a short-term relief provider. One of the principles of our approach is that assistance is a tool, and development is the goal. Direct assistance can be the right step: financial or in-kind support can remove or ease a barrier at a moment when a family needs it. Where the Foundation offers such support, it is guided by that principle.
But support on its own is not the end point. Wherever possible, we aim for assistance to lead to a better capability or opportunity for the person or family. The distinction matters: support meets an immediate need, while capability is what allows a family to meet its own needs in the future. Our aim in this area is for support to serve as a step toward self-reliance, not as a lasting substitute for it.
This reflects the question that guides all of the Foundation’s work: what will remain once our work is done?
Working in Partnership with Communities
Community partnership is one of the Foundation’s core values. Communities know their own needs best, so we work with people, not only for them, and we build cooperation with local organizations, volunteers and partners. In this area, that principle is reflected in the development direction of participatory community development.
We believe the best solutions are built together with communities, partner organizations, volunteers, and everyone who shares this goal. Working in partnership improves the quality of our work and extends its reach, and it helps ensure that the change families experience is change they own themselves. This is central to the Foundation’s understanding of sustainable development: lasting change, built with the people it is meant to serve, using resources honestly and responsibly.
If you share an interest in this area, as a volunteer, an organization or a supporter, you are welcome to get in touch through the Get Involved page.