Oct 5, 2023

The Ministry of Culture and “Misr Al Khair” hold a round table on “The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Achieving Cultural Justice”

• Director of the Cultural Development Fund: We seek to develop the cultural presence in the Egyptian street and work to reach every citizen through civil society institutions
• Dr. Mohamed Rifai: Culture is one of the soft forces and contributes effectively to shaping the citizen’s behavior and influencing his life
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  Culture is one of the basic pillars of achieving sustainable development. As the main component supporting building the character of the Egyptian citizen, and the main source of building societies, and based on this role, the Ministry of Culture and the “Misr Al Khair” Foundation held a round table, today, Tuesday, on “The Role of Civil Society Organizations in Achieving Cultural Justice,” with the participation and presence of Dr. Walid Qanoush, Director of the Cultural Development Fund at the Ministry of Culture, on behalf of Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, Minister of Culture, Dr. Mohamed Rifai, CEO of the Misr Al-Kheir Foundation, and Dr. Mohamed Mamdouh. Dr. Walid Qanoush, Director of the Cultural Development Fund at the Ministry of Culture, said on behalf of Dr. Nevin Al-Kilani, Minister of Culture, in his speech that the Ministry of Culture seeks and looks forward to developing the presence of the cultural process in The Egyptian street and work to reach every Egyptian citizen through civil society institutions and the diversity of the goals of civil society institutions in spreading cultural awareness, conveying the greetings of the Minister of Culture to all participants in the round table activities.
  Qanoush explained that culture in its conscious sense affects the behavior of the citizen in the street, expressing his aspiration for the participants in the round table to work on providing recommendations and proposals to expand the concept of culture to include all possible behaviors, and I hope to focus more on children and youth.
  The director of the Fund expressed Cultural Development expressed his happiness in cooperating with the “Misr El Kheir” Foundation because of its major role in society in an unconventional way, saying: We provide all possible support in terms of providing facilities, logistical support, and initiatives of civil society institutions that direct serious projects to the Ministry that are implementable on the ground.
  In his speech, Dr. Mohamed Rifai, CEO of the Misr El Kheir Foundation, stressed the importance of the role that culture plays in shaping the citizen’s behavior and influencing his life as it is one of the soft forces that must be exploited and focused on spreading Positive behaviors and concepts that contribute effectively to building the character of the Egyptian citizen in line with achieving sustainable development and the vision of the Egyptian state 2030.
  The CEO of the Misr Al Khair Foundation explained that culture is one of the things that has a major impact on Egypt’s role, whether at the Arab world level or at the world level, as it represents Egypt’s soft powers, saying: We will work very well to activate this role and work will be done to intensify cultural and recreational activities in the various governorates.
  Dr. Mohamed reviewed. Rifai highlighted the role played by the Misr Al Kheir Foundation in spreading awareness and positive concepts in society through its various sectors, based on its basic slogan, “Human development is our primary mission,” pointing to the interest of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi in civil society and his praise of the great role played by civil society institutions in society.
  For his part, Dr. Mohamed Mamdouh, Head of the NGO Development Sector at the Misr Al Khair Foundation, stressed the importance of having bridges of communication between NGOs in Egypt and their counterparts in the Arab world, Pointing out that culture is one of Egypt's soft forces that influence the behavior of the Egyptian citizen, he hoped that the round table would produce a number of effective recommendations that contribute to spreading cultural justice and strengthening cultural identity.
  It is worth noting that the round table, in cooperation between the Ministry of Culture and the Misr El Kheir Foundation, aims to provide a dialogue forum between sustainable development partners from the government sector and civil society organizations, to consult on the most important proposals related to strengthening and supporting the role of civil society organizations to achieve cultural justice, in integration with the efforts made by the state. The outcomes of the roundtable dialogue represent an important input for formulating a policy paper on recommendations for strengthening the role of civil society in achieving cultural justice in Egypt.