The Spatial Politics of Urban Water in Cairo, Egypt
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Cambridge
Department Name: Geography
Abstract
Water scarcity is a controversial issue in the Middle East and North Africa region (MENA). There are daily water shortages across the region and future scenarios depict water crises and riots reminiscent of the 2011 regional uprisings. My research focuses on how the management and spatial distribution of urban water has become an important site of politics and contestations in the region.
My doctoral dissertation studied the spatial politics of water in Egypt and questioned the ways in which traditional frames of water provision associated with the state is not the case in many countries. I explored the question of how water is provided and distributed on three levels.
The first is that of the global scale where donors in the MENA region traditionally promote solutions of privatising water as the answer to efficient and equitable distribution. In Egypt, for example, the World Bank and USAID were active in past decades to reform the water sector and only recently were they able to change the state's approach from water as a right, to water as a priced commodity. Some of these interventions include removing water subsidies, increasing the role of the private sector, and following a public discourse of a single official network ideal. These interventions, however, have not alleviated the systemic inequalities of water in the country.
My second scale of inquiry interrogates the state's policies and actions that unequally distribute water by prioritising some settlements for public service provision and neglecting others. I found arbitrary decision-making processes at the national scale also reflected locally by its street-level bureaucrats. For example, to implement new water tariffs, local water workers partake in governance regimes of 'guesstimating' what people's water bills should be based on wealth and legality. This arbitrary policymaking process is crucial to understand the disconnect between public policy frameworks and grounded local governance practices that do not adhere to formal regimes.
Due to an informalised top down approach, for my third level of water practices, I deconstructed how local communities mobilise and use different types of negotiations and contestations to secure water rights. I found that elites suffering from water shortages use their networks of privilege to secure free tankers from the local government. While marginalized communities, on the other hand, completely bypass the state by installing parallel pipe systems coproduced by members of the neighbourhood and in collusion with the local bureaucracy.
My doctoral research results have thus illuminated an under-explored terrain of informal water practices across scales, class and geography, and argues against local mainstream solutions for water privatisation. Building on this research in Egypt, I aim to develop my wider research program on the politics of water in the region. I will focus on questions of urban governance, water and contestation in Beirut, Lebanon. The case of water in Egypt operates in an autocratic environment, whereas Beirut represents a more fragmented and divided city, with a new set of spatial and political relations. For instance, Beirut's municipal managed infrastructure is fractured by sectarianism and state corruption, and only recently, inclusive solidarity movements have organised around water and service provision like the 'Beirut My City' movement.
This study is crucial in the MENA context because of the future shortage alerts relating to climate change and also to the fraught political situations in these countries. Global academic literature has remained disconnected and silent on the politics of water which contributed to the 2011 waves of uprising across the region and will continue to play a decisive role in the spatial politics of the region. The fellowship will allow the dissemination of my results from the Egyptian case study, as well as develop my future case study in Beirut.
My doctoral dissertation studied the spatial politics of water in Egypt and questioned the ways in which traditional frames of water provision associated with the state is not the case in many countries. I explored the question of how water is provided and distributed on three levels.
The first is that of the global scale where donors in the MENA region traditionally promote solutions of privatising water as the answer to efficient and equitable distribution. In Egypt, for example, the World Bank and USAID were active in past decades to reform the water sector and only recently were they able to change the state's approach from water as a right, to water as a priced commodity. Some of these interventions include removing water subsidies, increasing the role of the private sector, and following a public discourse of a single official network ideal. These interventions, however, have not alleviated the systemic inequalities of water in the country.
My second scale of inquiry interrogates the state's policies and actions that unequally distribute water by prioritising some settlements for public service provision and neglecting others. I found arbitrary decision-making processes at the national scale also reflected locally by its street-level bureaucrats. For example, to implement new water tariffs, local water workers partake in governance regimes of 'guesstimating' what people's water bills should be based on wealth and legality. This arbitrary policymaking process is crucial to understand the disconnect between public policy frameworks and grounded local governance practices that do not adhere to formal regimes.
Due to an informalised top down approach, for my third level of water practices, I deconstructed how local communities mobilise and use different types of negotiations and contestations to secure water rights. I found that elites suffering from water shortages use their networks of privilege to secure free tankers from the local government. While marginalized communities, on the other hand, completely bypass the state by installing parallel pipe systems coproduced by members of the neighbourhood and in collusion with the local bureaucracy.
My doctoral research results have thus illuminated an under-explored terrain of informal water practices across scales, class and geography, and argues against local mainstream solutions for water privatisation. Building on this research in Egypt, I aim to develop my wider research program on the politics of water in the region. I will focus on questions of urban governance, water and contestation in Beirut, Lebanon. The case of water in Egypt operates in an autocratic environment, whereas Beirut represents a more fragmented and divided city, with a new set of spatial and political relations. For instance, Beirut's municipal managed infrastructure is fractured by sectarianism and state corruption, and only recently, inclusive solidarity movements have organised around water and service provision like the 'Beirut My City' movement.
This study is crucial in the MENA context because of the future shortage alerts relating to climate change and also to the fraught political situations in these countries. Global academic literature has remained disconnected and silent on the politics of water which contributed to the 2011 waves of uprising across the region and will continue to play a decisive role in the spatial politics of the region. The fellowship will allow the dissemination of my results from the Egyptian case study, as well as develop my future case study in Beirut.
Organisations
- University of Cambridge (Lead Research Organisation)
- UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD (Collaboration)
- University of Sheffield (Collaboration)
- Federal University of São Paulo (Collaboration)
- Texas A&M University-Central Texas (Collaboration)
- The University of Texas at San Antonio (Collaboration)
- University of East Anglia (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (Collaboration)
Publications

Apostolopoulou E
(2022)
Radical social innovations and the spatialities of grassroots activism: navigating pathways for tackling inequality and reinventing the commons
in Journal of Political Ecology

Cawood S.
(2022)
Hybridity in Practice: Responding to Water Insecurity in São Paulo, Dhaka and Cairo
in Water Alternatives

Dasgupta S
(2021)
Beyond a standardised urban lexicon: which vocabulary matters?
in International Development Planning Review

Empinotti V
(2021)
Advancing urban water security: The urbanization of water-society relations and entry-points for political engagement
in Water International

Nochta T
(2021)
Knowledge politics in the smart city: A case study of strategic urban planning in Cambridge, UK
in Data & Policy

Wahby N
(2023)
Review of Zaazaa A., Khalil, O., Abdo, I., Adham, K., Khalil, D., Ismail, S., El-Taliawi, A., & Shawkat Y. (2022) Nashtari Kul shay'[We Buy Everything: Housing and Urban Changes in Egypt - First Edition.] Al-Maraya for Culture and Arts.
in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research


Wahby N
(2022)
Selective Crisis: Water Shortages in Cairo's Elite and Informal Areas
in Arab Studies Journal

Wahby N
(2021)
Urban informality and the state: Repairing Cairo's waters through Gehood Zateya
in Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Title | Arab Urbanism |
Description | Along with fellow Cambridge urban scholar- Nadi AbuSaadeh-, we launched the 'Arab Urbanism' as an independent and open bi-lingual platform for documenting, debating, and disseminating critical ideas regarding the past, present, and future of cities in the Arab region. This project challenges mainstream definitions of Arab Urbanism, and concretizes the study of urban politics in MENA cities. Of the activities is an experimental Arab Urbanism Magazine that creates a platform of design, theory and practice that offers a cross-disciplinary space to develop new approaches to regional urbanism. By bridging the gap between artists, academics, planners, and ordinary residents, we develop, share and deconstruct the realities of building, living, and surviving in Arab cities. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | We put out a call for papers, designs, and creative engagements and received over 80 submissions. We are currently overseeing the editorial process and the launching of the website with the first issue of submissions, as well as fundraising to produce a paper magazine. |
URL | https://www.araburbanism.com/ |
Description | The research associated with this funding has resulted in several academic and non-academic outputs. Academic outputs The ESRC postdoctoral research fellowship has enabled me to expand my collaborations across the Global South. I participated in partnerships with the following: - Collaborative writing with the University of Sheffield and Federal University of Sao Paulo - Collaborative writing with the Jindal Global University - Collaborative research seminar with the University of Sheffield - Collaborative research and teaching with the London School of Economics - Collaborative research with a global political ecology network A total of one single authored article has been submitted, one contribution to a public outreach platform, and four co-authored journal articles have been submitted to journals specialised in environmental issues, political ecology, and political economy. I am also in the stages of revising the book manuscript for publication with either Cambridge University Press or Stanford University Press. |
Exploitation Route | The outcomes of this funding have contributed to expanding infrastructure case studies from the Global South, and particularly the Middle East and North Africa region. The current research has resulted in expanded networks across different Southern contexts to bring insights from an underrepresented region into global debates. I have also expanded urban debates at the American University in Cairo, by engaging in cross-country teaching activities, such as with the London School of Economics. I also currently supervise several masters students on urban and social security issues in the MENA region, mostly public sector bureaucrats, to develop critical perspectives on public policies in the region. My engagement with local and international institutions will also enable the movement of more critical ideas around infrastructural governance, the right to the city and urban policy-making. |
Sectors | Communities and Social Services/Policy Environment Government Democracy and Justice |
Description | Non-academic Outputs My research on water, political economy and public administration has enabled me to contribute to policy conversations in Egypt in the following ways: - I contributed to the training of government bureaucrats with a state think tank on the ethics of qualitative research, importance of stakeholder engagement, and inclusive public policies. - I contributed to public knowledge e-zine Jadaliyya with an article for a general audience: https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/41995 - I currently mentor graduate students and public servants in a Public Policy innovation hub who work toward developing inclusive policies for different social policy issues. - I co-edit the Middle East Urban Studies series with the American University in Cairo Press which enlists both academic, professional and artistic contributions from the region on urban issues. - I have co-established the Arab Urbanism platform which brings together researchers, practitioners, architects, artists and ordinary citizens to write, theorise and collate data from the region |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Government, Democracy and Justice |
Impact Types | Policy & public services |
Description | Conference organizer Association for Middle East Public Policy and Administration, UNDESA, MENAPAR, OECD Sigma Public Administration section joint conference |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
URL | https://www.bipa.gov.bh/en/menapar-ameppa/ |
Description | Conference organizer Association for Middle East Public Policy and Administration,. Head of scientific committee. |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | This is an annual conference where new partnerships are developed with regional policymakers. |
URL | https://gapp.aucegypt.edu/news/public-policy-and-administration-department-organized-eleventh-meetin... |
Description | ILO Egypt and the Public Policy Hub Enhancing Gender Equity in Trade Union Advocacy |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
URL | https://in.aucegypt.edu/announcements/public-policy-hub-hosts-training-national-syndicates-and-trade... |
Description | Ministry of Economic Development and Planning, and Public Policy Executive Education Program, American University in Cairo |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
URL | https://www.facebook.com/AUC.GAPP.ExecEd/ |
Description | Egypt Case Study- Urban Institute, University of Sheffield |
Amount | £11,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2024 |
End | 03/2025 |
Description | Governance and Local Development Institute Short-term Research Grants |
Amount | 28,229 kr (SEK) |
Organisation | University of Gothenburg |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | Sweden |
Start | 11/2023 |
End | 11/2024 |
Description | Middle East and North Africa Social Policy Network Second Round Funding call |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Bath |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2023 |
End | 06/2024 |
Description | USF Seminar Series Award |
Amount | £14,950 (GBP) |
Organisation | Urban Studies Foundation |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 09/2023 |
End | 06/2024 |
Description | Grassroots Innovation and Environmentalism |
Organisation | University of Cambridge |
Department | Department of Geography |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | A collaborative peer-reviewed article putting forward a new theoretical approach to environmentalism and grassroots development. I provided a case study on Egypt. |
Collaborator Contribution | Collaborative article writing, and inter-disciplinary research design. |
Impact | Still active process to produce peer-reviewed article, based on previously work completed that led to the manuscript "The right to Nature" published as part of Routledge's Environmentalism series. Submitted journal article for review to "The Journal of Political Ecology" |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | H-WISE International network |
Organisation | University of Texas |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Being part of an organised panel at the American Association of Geographers (AAG) set to take place in Denver April 2020. |
Collaborator Contribution | The H-Wise International network brings together researchers across the globe working on water security issues. |
Impact | A full day of panels, roundtable, and world cafe will be held at the AAG. There will also be a resulting peer-reviewed writing process for a special issue in Water International. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Postcolonial Approaches to Water Security |
Organisation | Federal University of São Paulo |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a collaborative writing process with three team members: a professor and postgraduate fellow from the university of Sao Paulo, and another postdoctoral fellow at the University of the West of England. I contribute the research on the Middle East and political economy of water. |
Collaborator Contribution | The different partners contribute different research streams to the writing process,. |
Impact | The contribution is multi-disciplinary combining 3 case studies from Bangladesh, Egypt and Brazil on the connections and disconnection of water infrastructures. The collaboration resulted in a peer review article that has been submitted to Water International |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Postcolonial Approaches to Water Security |
Organisation | University of Sheffield |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | This is a collaborative writing process with three team members: a professor and postgraduate fellow from the university of Sao Paulo, and another postdoctoral fellow at the University of the West of England. I contribute the research on the Middle East and political economy of water. |
Collaborator Contribution | The different partners contribute different research streams to the writing process,. |
Impact | The contribution is multi-disciplinary combining 3 case studies from Bangladesh, Egypt and Brazil on the connections and disconnection of water infrastructures. The collaboration resulted in a peer review article that has been submitted to Water International |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Resilience Policy in the Global South |
Organisation | University of Oxford |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I have done research on urban water resilience in the case of Egypt. We are currently applying for a British Academy research project on resilience policy and gender in Egypt. |
Collaborator Contribution | They have organised travel for me to come to the UK for workshop at the University of Cambridge (June 2023) and organised a panel at the Development Studies Association June 2023. We are currently applying for a British Academy research project on resilience policy and gender in Egypt. |
Impact | This has resulted first in a policy brief as part of the AUC policy brief series. Wahby, Sanghoon-Park, A, and Bhangaonkar, R. Shedding Light on Resilience Policy: Case Studies from Egypt, India, and the UK. GAPP Policy Brief Series: https://documents.aucegypt.edu/Docs/GAPP/GAPP%20Policy%20Brief%20Issue%2020.pdf This has resulted in two presentations at a closed Cambridge workshop, and a panel on resilience at the Development Studies Association https://www.qeh.ox.ac.uk/news/odid-academics-and-dphils-present-dsa-2023 A British Academy application will be submitted for funding a large project on resilience and gender. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | Urban Water Security- New Theoretical Approaches |
Organisation | Federal University of São Paulo |
Country | Brazil |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I contributed to a workshop and writing process for a multi-author paper putting forward new theoretical approach to water security, with global case studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues at all three universities are leading the writing process to bring together over 20 authors on this paper. |
Impact | Yes the collaboration is multi-disciplinary with different experts in multiple areas of water security. Journal article has been submitted with the following citation: Empinotti, V.L., Budds, J., Jepson, W., Millington, N., Ferrara, L.N, Geere, J., Grandisoli, E., da Paz, M.G.A., Puga, B.P., Alves, E.M., Cawood, S., Jacobi, P.R., Kinjo, V.U., Lampis, A., Moretti, R., Octavianti, T., Periotto, N. Quinn, R., Quintslr, S., Sulaiman, S., Vicente, P.A., Wahby, N. (2021). Advancing urban water security: the urbanization of water-society relations and entry-points for political engagement. Water International |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Urban Water Security- New Theoretical Approaches |
Organisation | Texas A&M University-Central Texas |
Country | United States |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I contributed to a workshop and writing process for a multi-author paper putting forward new theoretical approach to water security, with global case studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues at all three universities are leading the writing process to bring together over 20 authors on this paper. |
Impact | Yes the collaboration is multi-disciplinary with different experts in multiple areas of water security. Journal article has been submitted with the following citation: Empinotti, V.L., Budds, J., Jepson, W., Millington, N., Ferrara, L.N, Geere, J., Grandisoli, E., da Paz, M.G.A., Puga, B.P., Alves, E.M., Cawood, S., Jacobi, P.R., Kinjo, V.U., Lampis, A., Moretti, R., Octavianti, T., Periotto, N. Quinn, R., Quintslr, S., Sulaiman, S., Vicente, P.A., Wahby, N. (2021). Advancing urban water security: the urbanization of water-society relations and entry-points for political engagement. Water International |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Urban Water Security- New Theoretical Approaches |
Organisation | University of East Anglia |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I contributed to a workshop and writing process for a multi-author paper putting forward new theoretical approach to water security, with global case studies. |
Collaborator Contribution | Colleagues at all three universities are leading the writing process to bring together over 20 authors on this paper. |
Impact | Yes the collaboration is multi-disciplinary with different experts in multiple areas of water security. Journal article has been submitted with the following citation: Empinotti, V.L., Budds, J., Jepson, W., Millington, N., Ferrara, L.N, Geere, J., Grandisoli, E., da Paz, M.G.A., Puga, B.P., Alves, E.M., Cawood, S., Jacobi, P.R., Kinjo, V.U., Lampis, A., Moretti, R., Octavianti, T., Periotto, N. Quinn, R., Quintslr, S., Sulaiman, S., Vicente, P.A., Wahby, N. (2021). Advancing urban water security: the urbanization of water-society relations and entry-points for political engagement. Water International |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Arab Political Science Network Book Writing Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Took part in a mentoring group to develop draft data chapters for the forthcoming book manuscript. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | COP27 Presenter in the AUC Pavilion, Green Zone |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Presenter of LSE-AUC Climate Urbanism Initiative outputs; and presenter of AUC-Cambridge Resilience Policy Network outputs |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.aucegypt.edu/climate-change/events#previousevents |
Description | Co-organiser Centre d'Etudes et de documentation Economique, Juridique et Sociale Annual Conference on Urban Ecologies |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | I am involved in the organisation of the CEDEJ annual conference, with a focus on Urban Ecologies. I am leading the AUC's role as a partner in this conference. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://cedej-eg.org/index.php/2023/06/06/conference-urban-ecologies-of-the-lower-nile-valley-june-1... |
Description | Conference Presentation Development Studies Association |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | PResentation titled Urban Water Security Post-Pandemic: Assessing Resilient Community Infrastructures in Cairo |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Convener- AUC Public Policy and Administration Research Colloquium |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Convened a research seminar series at the Department of Public Policy and Public Administration, bringing in academics and policymakers to speak about relevant topics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Guest Lecture on Political Economy of Infrastructure- University of Virginia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | I gave a lecture in Dr. Tessa Farmer's undergraduate class at the University of Virginia. The class was part of the Global Studies curriculum and focused on the liberalisation of infrastructure globally, and the local political economy of water in Egypt. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Guest lecture at Netherlands Vlamms Institute (NVIC Cairo) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a public lecture for the research community in Cairo and was entitled Uneven Urban Waterscapes: Informality, Infrastructure and the State in Cairo. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.facebook.com/NVICairo/events/?ref=page_internal |
Description | IHE Delft Institute for Water Education Training Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Received training on Climate Change impacts on the Water Resources Sector in Egypt, trained on climate change models and forecasting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Institute for Diplomacy-International Studies Association Case Studies as Method Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | I attended a workshop to learn the case study method and interact with others to produce future case studies for dissemination. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | London School of Economics-AUC Climate Urbanism Initiative |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Lead the implementation with London School of Economics scholars- - Local scholars' roundtable, Professor Michael mason Public lecture, student-led design thinking workshop |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2022/12/13/climate-urbanism-in-the-arab-world-an-lse-and-auc-academic-co... |
Description | MENASP University of Birmingham Early Career Researchers Seminar Series |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk on "selling your research ideas" and the landscape of academic funding. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
URL | https://www.menasp.com/en/news/ecr-webinar-selling-your-research-ideas-to-reviewers-tips-for-writing... |
Description | Mentoring Public Policy Hub |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I mentored one research team that was to present a policy paper and policy brief on developing solutions to social policies in Egypt, specifically decentralisation of solid waste management in rural areas. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://gapp.aucegypt.edu/public-policy-hub |
Description | Mentoring Public Policy Hub |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | I mentored one research team that was to present a poicy paper and policy brief on developing solutions to social policies in Egypt, specifically health policies in urban areas. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.facebook.com/PublicPolicyHUB/ |
Description | Nile University Guest Lecture for Undergraduate course |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk entitled Debates in Economic Sustainability and Urban Development Policy to undergraduate students at a local Egyptian university. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
Description | Policy training for civil society practitioners |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | In collaboration with AUC Public Policy Hub and OXFAM, I participated in a training round that included around 50 civil society researchers from local civil society organisations, OXFAM researchers in Egypt and Tunisia, and postgraduate researchers. The trainings were focused on the entrepreneurship sector and green initiatives, I gave 4 days training on inclusive policy making, qualitative research, effective stakeholder engagement, analysis of public policies and constructing alternatives, and evaluating policy outcomes. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://gapp.aucegypt.edu/public-policy-hub |
Description | Policy training for state researchers |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | I provided 45 governmental researchers from a state think tank a one-day training on inclusive policy making, ethics of research, and effective stakeholder engagement. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Public Policy Hub Research Mentoring, American University in Cairo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Mentor for policy paper development on Localizing Policy for Climate Mitigation |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://gapp.aucegypt.edu/public-policy-hub |
Description | Research Ethics in the Middle East and North Africa |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Presented on the ethics of doing urban research in the region, as well as my experiences as IRB reviewer for AUC. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
URL | https://www.mei.columbia.edu/remena-about |
Description | UNDP- Decentralisation International - GIZ Webinar on Social Inclusion and Urban Development in the Middle East |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I was invited to participate in a Webinar organised by UNDP, GIZ, and the Local Public Sector Alliance. The webinar is entitled "Urban Governance, Social Inclusion and Fragility" and is part of the the series on Decentralization and Local Development in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). I particularly spoke to urban issues in Egypt, as well as new policy updates on access to infrastructure and water services in the country. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://decentralization.net/2021/11/decentralization-and-local-development-in-the-middle-east-north... |
Description | United Nations University- WIDER & GPEDC Conference on Effective Development |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | PResented on Corporatization and Technopolitics: Water Billing in Cairo's Urban Areas |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
Description | Use of academic book chapter for class teaching at the American University in Cairo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | I was contacted by a lecturer at the American University in Cairo to use my book chapter "Egyptian Environmentalism and Urban Grassroots Mobilization", as part of the core curriculum in teaching academic writing to undergraduate students in the university, based in the Composition and Rhetoric Department. Ms. Melanie Carter has used the book chapter for two consecutive terms as a way to engage with students on critical environmental studies in Egypt. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021,2022 |
Description | Workshop presentation Cambridge Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Third sector organisations |
Results and Impact | Presentation entitled Connecting Policy and Practice in Urban Water Resilience in the Middle East with a group working on resilience policy worldwide. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |