the PPIC-Work impact... Dr M's thoughts

As the PPIC-Work project continues in its final year of programming, one of the fun parts of my job is interviewing different people involved in the project for their thoughts. Here's a discussion I had with "Dr. M"...

But before we get going, let me give you a bit of context. Mamdouh Foad is the Executive Director of EACID – the Egyptian Association for Community Initiatives and Development – an MFI based in Aswan that serves as one of the core partners of the PPIC-Work project. Dr. Mamdouh (here shown with his wife and field coordinator Seham) is also the in-country Associate Director of the project and has been involved in PPIC-Work from the earliest planning stages. For all you MEDA members in the crowd he and EACID host MEDA tours that come through Egypt, connecting you folks to the local dynamics of the project.

While we're talking context, let me tell you a bit about the organization too. EACID has a history of working with micro and small enterprises in business startup and expansion. In this work, EACID learned that often, Egyptian children are drawn into work as businesses grow. Dr. Mamdouh, Richard Carothers and others asked themselves how they could use their knowledge of business support and microfinance in Egypt to maintain best practices in the industry and at the same time improve the situation for working children. Voila, in 2002, the PPIC-Work project was born.

So what pray tell is the impact of the PPIC-Work project?
Through PPIC-Work Dr. Mamdouh believes MEDA/PTE and their Egyptian partners are building a model whereby MFIs can play an active role in helping children who work without being confrontational to the business owners. By developing a series of participatory social interventions to improve the learning opportunities and working conditions of children who work, he describes project partners as “at the cutting edge” of the microfinance industry. As he explains, “Micro-credit is a very powerful tool. It’s a limitation if we only use it for accessibility… We as an MFI have to discover what we can do with it. It’s not only the accessibility: we can go beyond that. Now, it’s a fact: our skills and expertise have a very dramatic effect over the lives of businesses – for business owners, the businesses themselves, for the workers, for the children for even the community, for even laws and decisions and different stakeholders. I think we have begun to realize our own strengths here.”

Since Dr. Mamdouh has been involved with PPIC-Work from the very beginning, he has a unique perspective of the fruits of the project. In his own words: “If you saw the same children you are seeing now, [six years ago], you would not believe it!” When EACID first started their education classes, rights awareness sessions and artistic programming the children had low self-esteem, poor social skills, and felt stigmatized because they were working. They believed that others would look down on them as poor, as inferior, as children without a future who should not be associated with because they had to work. Dr. Mamdouh suggests that if you look at these same children now they have become more open, have a high self-esteem, believe they have a bright future, are proud that they are working, know about something called their rights and are practicing and demanding these. In short, he says, “There has been a 180 degree change.”

Dr Mamdouh recognizes that microfinance is not a magic tool that can solve all the complex challenges of poverty or inequality… it has its limitations. He suggests that even as an MFI “You need [to offer] other support programs, and non-financial services to provide a complete package.” Furthermore, protecting the interests of working children is bigger than any one organization can address alone. He explains, “That’s why we are sharing our information, techniques and model with other MFIs. We’d like to see these ideas implemented worldwide even!” He and the PPIC-Work team are optimistic that the intervention tools developed over the past six years will reach a much larger group of working children through the creation of a regional project in 2009. Insha’allah - God willing!

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In the coming months stay tuned for perspectives of parents and business owners about the impact of Canadian taxpayers' investments. One of these days, you may even get my twenty piesters!