Big Heart Foundation assesses its projects in Egypt

SHARJAH, 29th January, 2018 (WAM) -- The Big Heart Foundation, TBHF, has visited Egypt to assess the development of a number of social projects it is helping to fund in Egypt. The trip was made to evaluate the current impact of the trio of activities and to assess the progress made with them so far. The joint delegation comprised TBHF members and their partners in Egypt, including Mariam Al Hammadi, Director of TBHF; Randa Aboul-Hosn, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Country Director in Egypt; and Dr. Heba Handoussa, Director of Egypt Network for Integrated Development (ENID) initiative. The first of TBHF’s projects was the re-opening of a healthcare centre in Luxor in Upper Egypt. With a budget of US$270,740, TBHF has funded the renovation and development of the centre’s medical units. Egypt Network for Integrated Development (ENID), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation, MIIC, partnered with TBHF on the facilitation of the project. "We are delighted with this humanitarian initiative that will play a vital role in maintaining the health of citizens in the area through its provision of healthcare, diagnostic, therapeutic and rehabilitative services to thousands of people. We will further enhance our successful partnership with TBHF to provide yet more support to the most underprivileged areas and to work together to deliver quality services to disadvantaged people in the country," said Randa Aboul-Hosn, UNDP Country Director in Egypt. Also during their visit, TBHF delegates toured a centre to improve women’s education. The representatives were taken around the project’s literacy and vocational training departments and explored the enrolment level of women in its various academic courses. They stopped at the traditional handicrafts section, which has succeeded in empowering dozens of women by enabling them to generate independent sources of income through helping them start their own handicraft businesses. "TBHF’s projects in Egypt align with the directives of H.H. Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of His Highness the Ruler of Sharjah and Chairperson of TBHF, to enhance humanitarian action in fraternal countries and to contribute to improving the lives of people there by providing educational and healthcare services to them. This visit was aimed at measuring the impact of our three current projects in the country and to assess the extent to which they cater to the needs of the target group," said Mariam Al Hammadi, Director of TBHF. The delegates also visited Cairo to review TBHF’s third project in Egypt, the Abbasia Hospital for Mental Health. TBHF’s grant of $311,459 to the hospital has supported the development of a Child and Adolescent Unit, which offers therapy sessions to a large segment of patients, as well as funded the construction of a day-care centre for children with autism.