Hope Village Society

Cairo, Egypt

http://hopevillagesociety.moonfruit.com/

The Hope Village Society (HVS) has been working for street children in Cairo for more than twenty years. It follows a highly professional approach to the problems and needs of thousands of youngsters who are in difficulty on the streets of city with a population approaching 20 million.

Its objectives are:
• to provide care and shelter to the children of both genders until the age when they are able to depend on themselves
• the rehabilitation and training the children socially, psychologically behaviorally and professionally
• setting productive and training projects to sustain continuity and stability of society
• conducting scientific researches relating to street children, and offering technical help and training to other groups that work in the same field
• providing microcredit loans to families of street children and re-integrating them to the community
• networking and exchanging experiences with other associations and organisations.

HVS runs a number of outreach activities.

They ‘map’ where the street children are on a regular basis (because the children move around and re-locate). They run day care reception centres, short-term shelters, and long-term residential centres.

Several features of their work are particularly noteworthy. They have a high proportion of professional staff who are either trained social workers or psychologists. They are therefore able to support and advise the children in their care in the best possible way. They take responsibility for their children right through until they are living independently (when older) with a job and somewhere satisfactory to live. They are open to advice and suggestion about their work, and try to learn from what others are doing. In addition, they welcome (suitably qualified) volunteers.

We met them again recently, as they were part of the Egyptian team at the Street Child World Cup in Rio in 2014. We did not make a further grant in 2018, as it has been difficult to maintain the contact. Our grant for Mi Arca was specifically for a three year period, and we had fulfilled our obligation to StreetInvest.