Overview:

The aim of the Joint Programme is fostering sustainable development and revenue generation in the community of Dahshour through attracting tourism and developing creative industries whilst protecting the area of the Dahshour pyramids and its ecosystem. Thus, the overall goal of the Joint Programme is centred on Egypt’s UNDAF Outcome 3 (2007-2011), which promotes environmental sustainability and reduction of regional human development disparities. 

The joint programme focused on improving the livelihoods and working conditions of the local population through targeted employment-generation activities, with special focus given to women and youth employment, as well as the development of locally driven micro and small enterprises (MSEs). Through the different activities more than 550 permanent jobs and 350 temporary jobs were created. This number will continue to increase after the project thanks to sustainability mechanisms put in place, including the development of community-owned and operated M/SMEs providing the population with access to micro-finance mechanisms. 

The programme managed to revive 5 heritage handicrafts and links between the producers, NGOs, designers, trade fairs and traders which enabled the trainees to sell products with a value of EGP 24 thousand (about $4,000) and have contracts and agreement to guarantee sustainability. 

The programme also supported the Government’s preservation and sustainable development of the historical assets of Dahshour and its pyramids as part of the Memphis and its Necropolis Word Heritage Site through the development of the Site Management and Spatial Master Plan of Memphis and its Necropolis, and supported it through capacity building initiatives.

Additionally, the joint programme targeted the preservation of Dahshour seasonal Lake. As a result of the studies undertaken, the Lake was placed under environmental management by the government and in the tentative list for protected areas.

The programme launched a massive Educational, Training and Awareness Programme in the community which reached 500 school students, 300 members of the community and 10 involved governmental bodies, and aimed at raising the environmental awareness and creating a platform for dialogue between the community members and the governmental authorities about the environmental issues.

The JP supported the development of a Spatial Tourism Plan that was reviewed by stockholders and incorporated to the National Tourism Development Plan. As a result, the Government of Egypt, committed LE 50 million for the implementation of the Spatial Tourism Plan recommendations. The first tranche of LE 10 million was  disbursed? and used for paving roads leading to Dahshour.

Outcome 1:

Employment, especially of youth and women in heritage arts, crafts, tourism and creative industries increased, contributing to poverty alleviation and Empowerment.

Outcome Achievements:

• Through the different activities more than 550 permanent jobs and 350 temporary jobs were created. This number will continue to increase after the project thanks to sustainability mechanisms created by the JP, such as: (i) The Microfinance fund – managed by BEST Foundation as a source of financing new and current MSMEs. Over 300 loans with a value of about $220,000 have been granted; (ii) The Handicraft Production Unit will capitalize artisans whom have been trained by the programme and the links established with the traders/designers and trade fairs; (iii) The Tourism Coordination Unit will act as an intermediary between Service Providers and Tourists/Tour Operators. Moreover, the unit will leverage many of the assets and products created by the programme; (iv) New Premises of the Dahshour Antiquity Inspectorate will enable MSA to reinforce the Inspectorate with more staff.
• The programme encouraged women participation  and empowerment:  25% of the loans were for women (compared to 6% in the baseline). In the Handicraft training, 85% were women. 25% women representation in the board of the LED Forum.
• The programme managed to revive 5 heritage handicrafts (palm tree branches, arjoun, jewelry, textiles, kilims) where 427 artisans were trained on. 63 received advanced “Mastercrafts” training, capable of training new apprentices. The program established links between the producers, NGOs, designers, trade fairs and traders which enabled the trainees to sell products with a value of EGP 24 thousand (about $4,000) and have contracts and agreement to guarantee sustainability.
• The programme supported the design of tourism circuits, compiling a detailed inventory of tangible and intangible tourism resources, training and certifying 29 members of the local community as “Local Touristic Guides”, producing marketing and promotional material.

Outcome 2:

Enhanced institutional capacity to manage cultural heritage and natural resources.

Outcome Achievements:

• Development of the Site Management and Spatial Master Plan of Memphis and its Necropolis World Heritage Site with particular attention to Dahshour Cluster was developed and will be used as a platform for the incorporation of all existing plans for other clusters of the same Worlds Heritage Site.
• The Programme also increased capacity through training to key relevant governmental institutions; i.e. Archeological Officials and selected persons from local community have been trained by International consultants on Management and Conservation of Archeological and World Heritage Sites.
• Developed a Spatial Tourism Plan that was reviewed by stockholders, embraced by the government and incorporated to the National Tourism Development Plan. As a result, the Government of Egypt, committed LE 50 million for the implementation of the Spatial Tourism Plan recommendations. The first tranche of LE 10 million was disbursed  and used for paving roads leading to Dahshour.
• The Programme commissioned studies on environmental resources which resulted in the Seasonal Lake of Dahshour to be placed under the environmental management by the government and was placed on the tentative list for protected areas. The two studies were: “Ecological Assessment of the Seasonal Lake of Dahshour (Birket Dahshour) and Associated Ecosystems” and “Opportunities for creating a protected area at Dahshour seasonal lake.”
• The programme also produced 3 very important environmental studies: “Environmental Assessment of Dahshour area”, “Baseline Study of Lake Dahshour and Surrounding Water Bodies” and “Solid Waste Management Study and Action Plan”. They were presented to the local government to serve as a guide in tackling environmental challenges in the area.
• The programme launched a massive Educational, Training and Awareness Programme in the community which outreached to 500 school students, 300 members of the local community and 10 involved governmental bodies. This programme aimed at raising the environmental awareness of the community at all levels and creating a platform for the dialogue between the community members and the governmental authorities about the environmental issues.

Best practices:

• The programme assured community ownership and participation by establishing the LED Forum which represented the community within the project. The programme also assured community sensitization through training more than 140 members of the community which have been trained to become master trainers (ToT) and they managed to train, and share the knowledge with more than 3500 members of the local community in the topics of entrepreneurship and tourism awareness;
• The project uniquely combines, in an integrated manner, cultural heritage aspects, natural heritage dimensions and community development components; 
• The project succeeded in creating a common goal shared by all stakeholders. This vision has strongly captured people´s imagination and as a consequence, raised expectations that went well beyond the scope of the project. 

Lessons learned:

• The design phase of the programme had important pitfalls, most relevant the lack of involvement of key stakeholders, which had negative implications during implementation and on the results achieved.
• While the project accomplished pretty much all it set out to do, expectations raised (most importantly within the community of Dahshour) where much higher than its stated objectives.
• Despite efforts done by the implementing team to produce a revised M&E framework including performance indicators to measure impact, there was still a heavy inclination towards activities and output indicators, without sufficient indicators to capture progress at the level of impact. The presence of M&E officer within the programme would have been very beneficial.
• In the midterm evaluation the relationship among the implementing partners was described as “silos” working in parallel. Towards the end of the JP partners were more engaged and a good number of cooperative efforts were documented. However, it was widely acknowledged that these types of synergies (among governmental partners, UN agencies and at the local level) should have been facilitated and articulated in a more formal manner. The “jointness” of the programme is expressed through its capacity to jointly undertake and execute common activities such as planning, procurement and monitoring. However, the “pass-through” funding method does not provide sufficient basis for joint management of programme components.

More details can be found in the documents below.