Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: B, University of Birmingham (International Development Department- School of Public Policy), course: Urban Development, language: English, abstract: This paper summarises the characteristics of urban poverty in Greater Cairo (GC) region as one of the most important regions not only in Egypt but also in MENA region. The targeted region is administratively extended across three governorates which are Cairo, Giza, and Qaliobeia. It includes the urban areas of the three governorates with exception to only some scattered areas that constitutes an area of about 2900 km2. Discussed within are the factors that contributed to urban poverty within GC and its associated problems. The paper also discusses the experienced difficulties by the Egyptian Government while alleviating the urban poverty prevalence, which resulted from the complex nature of poverty in urban areas of GC region. In order to understand the nature of urban poverty in GC it is important to recognise the definition of Urban Poverty which refers to poverty in urban areas. However, poverty has lots of definitions according to the approach that used for defining it; whether it is a monetary approach based on incomes and consumptions, or based on the capabilities of people or their social situation if they are included or excluded or based on a participatory approach that considers how poor people defined themselves as poor (Laderchi, Saith and Stewart, 2003). The World Bank refers to the Urban Poor as those who are deprived from access to employment opportunities and income, adequate and secure housing and services, living in peaceful and healthy environments with social protection mechanisms, and access to adequate health and education opportunities (World Bank, 2008) Urban Poverty has a different nature from a place to another as each region has its unique national, demographic, economic and governance contexts. Furthermore, the factors that formulated its nature in every country are different (Sims, 2003).

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Geography / Earth Science - Demographics, Urban Management, Planning, grade: B, University of Birmingham (International Development Department- School of Public Policy), course: Urban Development, language: English, abstract: This paper summarises the characteristics of urban poverty in Greater Cairo (GC) region as one of the most important regions not only in Egypt but also in MENA region. The targeted region is administratively extended across three governorates which are Cairo, Giza, and Qaliobeia. It includes the urban areas of the three governorates with exception to only some scattered areas that constitutes an area of about 2900 km2. Discussed within are the factors that contributed to urban poverty within GC and its associated problems. The paper also discusses the experienced difficulties by the Egyptian Government while alleviating the urban poverty prevalence, which resulted from the complex nature of poverty in urban areas of GC region. In order to understand the nature of urban poverty in GC it is important to recognise the definition of Urban Poverty which refers to poverty in urban areas. However, poverty has lots of definitions according to the approach that used for defining it; whether it is a monetary approach based on incomes and consumptions, or based on the capabilities of people or their social situation if they are included or excluded or based on a participatory approach that considers how poor people defined themselves as poor (Laderchi, Saith and Stewart, 2003). The World Bank refers to the Urban Poor as those who are deprived from access to employment opportunities and income, adequate and secure housing and services, living in peaceful and healthy environments with social protection mechanisms, and access to adequate health and education opportunities (World Bank, 2008) Urban Poverty has a different nature from a place to another as each region has its unique national, demographic, e

After a decade of slow economic growth Egypt's rate of growth recovered in the late 1990s, averaging more than five percent a year. But the effect of this growth on poverty patterns has not been systematically examined using consistent, comparable household datasets. In this paper, the authors use the rich set of unit-level data from the most recent Egyptian household surveys (1995-96 and 1999-2000) to assess changes in poverty and inequality between 1995 and 2000. Their analysis is based on household-specific poverty lines that account for the differences in regional prices, as well as differences in the consumption preferences and size and age composition of poor households. The results show that average household expenditures rose in the second half of the 1990s and the poverty rate fell from 20 percent to less than 17 percent. But, in addition to the ongoing divide in the urban-rural standard of living, a new geographical/regional divide emerged in the late 1990s. Poverty was found predominantly among less-educated individuals, particularly those working in agriculture and construction, and among seasonal and occasional workers. These groups could suffer the most from the slowing economic growth evident after 1999-2000.

What does it mean to be marginalized? Is it a passive condition that the disadvantaged simply have to endure? Or is it a manufactured label, reproduced and by its nature transitory? In the wake of the new uprising in Egypt, this insightful collection explores issues of power, politics and inequality in Egypt and the Middle East. It argues that the notion of marginality tends to mask the true power relations that perpetuate poverty and exclusion. It is these dynamic processes of political and economic transformation that need explanation. The book provides a revealing analysis of key areas of Egyptian political economy, such as labour, urbanization and the creation of slums, disability, refugees, street children, and agrarian livelihoods, reaching the impactful conclusion that marginalization does not mean total exclusion. What is marginalized can be called upon to play a dynamic part in the future -- as is the case with the revolution that toppled President Mubarak.

Inside Inequality in the Arab Republic of Egypt: Facts and Perceptions Across People, Time, and Space comprises four papers prepared in the framework of the Egypt inequality study financed by the World Bank. The first paper, by Sherine Al-Shawarby, reviews the studies on inequality in Egypt since the 1950s with the double objective of illustrating the importance attributed to inequality through time and of presenting and compare the main published statistics on inequality. The second paper, by Branko Milanovic, turns to the global and spatial dimensions of inequality. The Egyptian society remains deeply divided across space and in terms of welfare, and this study unveils some of the hidden features of this inequality. The third paper, by Paolo Verme, studies facts and perceptions of inequality during the 2000-2009 period, which preceded the Egyptian revolution. The fourth paper, by Sahar El Tawila, May Gadallah, and Enas Ali A.El-Majeed, assesses the state of poverty and inequality among the poorest villages of Egypt. The paper attempts to explain the level of inequality in an effort to disentangle those factors that derive from household abilities from those factors that derive from local opportunities. Inside Inequality in the Arab Republic of Egypt provides some initial elements that could explain the apparent mismatch between inequality measured with household surveys and inequality aversion measured by values surveys. This is a particularly important and timely topic to address in light of the unfolding developments in the Arab region. The book should be of interest to any observer of the political and economic evolution of the Arab region in the past few years and to poverty and inequality specialists interested in a deeper understanding of the distribution of incomes in Egypt and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region. World Bank Studies are available individually or on standing order. The World Bank Studies series is also available online through the Open Knowledge Repository (https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/) and the World Bank e-Library (www.worldbank.org/elibrary). Book jacket.