An OSS delegation received by Dr. Hosam Shawky, President of the Desert Research Center in Cairo, February, 25th, 2024Egypt

An OSS delegation, represented by Ms. Khaoula Jaoui, Mr. Steve Muhanji and Mr. Haithem Rejeb, made a courtesy visit on Sunday, February 25, 2024, to Dr. Hosam Shawky, President of the Desert Research Center (DRC) in Cairo, Egypt. Dr. Samy Abo Ragab, Director of the Economic and Social Department, Dr. Mahmad Cherif, hydraulics expert and Dr. Dalila Abou Zid gender expert from DRC took part in the meeting. Dr. Abo Ragab took the floor to introduce the DRC structure, mission and a number of the projects executed.

Ms. Jaoui expressed her appreciation with the initiatives and the efforts that DRC is undertaking within Egypt and noted the various complementarities towards climate action.

Mr. Muhanji presented the OSS and the objectives it is pursuing, before introducing the “Climate Change Adaptation to Improve livelihoods in Siwa Oasis (CCAILSO)" Project. He highlighted the importance of the consultation process for the alignment of the project’s concrete actions with the true situation on the ground underpinning the local community’s needs in order to enhance their resilience and adaptive capacity to the Climate Change impacts. 

It is worth noting that this mission aims to better understand the context of the proposed project area, challenges and to identify the adaptive measures to be undertaken at local level with a view to finetuning the project proposed activities.

The OSS commitment to its member countries and the project initiatives were acknowledged by Dr. Hosam Shawky, involving the organization of the consultation with the local communities in Siwa Oasis as part of the project development process. 

This meeting was preceded by the visit of the OSS delegation and DRC representatives to the proposed project area and the start of the consultation process with the local communities in Siwa.