Campaign target: 85,000 EGP

Widows and breadwinners in Egypt make up nearly 60% of women in poor communities. Poverty is not only material poverty, for material poverty stems from lack of education, lack of resourcefulness, poverty of skills and fear of attempt. Whole families may remain in a vicious circle of poverty during their lifetime, but this poverty may be inherited through successive generations as long as there is no one to support them and pull them out of this circle. The situation worsens when the husband, the sole breadwinner of the family dies, and the woman finds herself a lonely widow, responsible for providing for her family’s sustenance and raising her children. Therefore, Fanar is working with the “Future Hawa Foundation” in the governorates of Minya, Beni Suef and Alexandria to help widows like Aida obtain training and funding to start small home projects and support them in the growth and success of these projects. You can donate zakat or charity to Al-Fanar’s campaign to help widowed women across Egypt get back on their feet and support their families.

How Your Support Can Make a Difference:

Women across Egypt are experiencing unique and particularly dire effects from the COVID-19 pandemic. With over 2 million people having lost work and millions more a source of income to feed and sustain their families, the pandemic has increased the unequal burden of care carried by women, causing more women than men to leave the labour market. Unemployment among women across Egypt is now 16.2%. The lack of opportunity compounded by the economic and educational hardships brought on by the pandemic has fostered an even greater sense of helplessness and hopelessness. This Ramadan and beyond, let us come together to support vulnerable women across Egypt who are bearing the brunt of the pandemic on so many levels.

Alfanar works to sustainably educate, employ and economically empower vulnerable women and widows living in slum areas, marginalised rural villages and refugee communities by supporting ambitious social enterprises across Egypt.