E-Learning Empowers Women in Rural Egypt

The Egypt Civil Society Support (ECSS) project’s e-learning courses are offering women in rural Egypt an opportunity to acquire skills and training without having to leave their homes or family obligations.

In 2004 Lamia Saad El Araby began working full time in the public relations department of the local Beni Sweif government; shortly after, she began volunteering at the local civil society organization, Vision for Environmental Activities Training and Consultation Services (VEATCS). Following marriage and the birth of her twins three years ago, however, Lamia found it necessary to transition to a part-time staff position. Due to her family responsibilities and remote location, Lamia began to feel that she was not progressing in her career because she was unable to travel to larger cities to attend trainings or workshops. Therefore, when she heard about the ECSS e-learning site (www.ecssel.org) and online courses from colleagues at VEATCS, she realized she had found the perfect solution.

Now she is able to participate in training courses on specialized topics without having to take leave from her part-time job or travel away from home. To date, Lamia has successfully completed four ECSS courses— Introduction to Social Media, Developing a Social Media Marketing Plan, Results-Based Monitoring, and Results-Based Evaluation—exceling on her exams with scores of 85 percent or more.

Using her newly acquired social media skills, Lamia created a Facebook group and a blog for VEATCS. As a result, the organization welcomed increasing numbers of members and volunteers. She also planned and implemented an environmental awareness campaign called “The Value of Each Drop,” which attracted significant traffic on Facebook from Egypt and other Arab countries. In cooperation with other VEATCS staff, Lamia wrote a new proposal for the World Bank using a results-based approach, a strategy she learned from her participation in the two online monitoring and evaluation courses. In recognition of her efforts, VEATCS recently promoted Lamia to Public Relations Manager, which is a part-time paid position.

Lamia credits ECSS for her new skills and promotion. She expressed that e-learning is a convenient and effective tool, and that the ECSS e-learning portal provides courses on specialized technical topics that are not offered in training centers in her local community. She also added that her husband is supportive and has encouraged her to pursue more advanced courses through ECSS. 

ECSS has witnessed increasing numbers of women from governorates outside of Cairo enrolling in e-learning courses; approximately 47 percent of all individuals currently registered on the ECSS e-learning site are female.