Professional Development Foundation (PDF) announced, in a large ceremony, the winners of the NGOs Award of Excellence for the civil society organization, held under the auspices of the Ministry of Social Solidarity, for the third consecutive year.

This year, the winners are 12 NGOs from 12 governorates divided as follows: 4 organizations won financial prizes from EGP 50,000 to 150,000 to each organization, 4 other organizations won in-kind donations, and 4 organizations won certificates of recognition.

The winning projects varied from providing psychological support for the children, rehabilitation and empowerment of persons with disabilities and youth, revival of handicrafts, slum upgrading, to developmental projects which provided job opportunities, support the poorest families and publication of the value of art and make it accessible to all.

Community Development Association in Eljoura city, North Sinai governorate, won the first prize worth EGP 150,000 for the project of providing psychological support for children affected by security conditions in the governorate. True Light Society (el nour el hakiki) in Minya governorate, servicing the visually disabled, won the second prize worth EGP 100,000 on the project of the rehabilitation and empowerment of persons with disabilities, their families and their contacts. The Community Development Association in AlQasr, Al-Wadi Al-jadid governorate, won the third prize, worth EGP 75,000 on the “ With our hands” {beaydina} to revive traditional and nomadic crafts project. Egypt’s Youth Association for Community Development in Fayoum won the fourth prize, worth EGP 50,000 on the “Our children are our future” project, working to establish teaching classes as community schools in order to integrate children dropouts.

The in-kind donations were received by Media Arts for Development in Cairo on the “Community Cinema” project, Hayaty Association for Slums Development in Alexandria on the “180 degree for slum development” project, Future Association for Community Development in Radisseya Aswan on the “Beekeeping and Honey extraction” project, and finally, Assuit Businesswomen Association on “Discover your abilities and invest your talent” project

The third prize category, Certificate of Recognition, was won by 4 organizations: Egyptian Foundation for Development and Training in Sohag on the “Support quality education” project, Nagaa Hammadi Businessmen Club Association in Qena on the “My country house” project, Tamkeen Foundation for Development and Training in Sharkeya on the “Creative child club” project, and finally the Egyptian Small Enterprise Development Foundation in Giza on the “Tricycle” helping families to provide a source of income project.

It is worth mentioning that the winning NGOs were announced by the ceremony’s guest of honor, Anoshka, who expressed her happiness for being a part of the ceremony and recognizing such outstanding efforts done by the NGOs. In addition to the attendance of the President of the Central Administration of the NGOs Sector in the Ministry of Social Solidarity, as a representative for H.E. Dr. Ghada Waly, the Minister of Social Solidarity.

The winning organizations were selected for the Award of Excellence based on a set of conditions and standards evaluated through several stages. On top of these conditions and standards are the innovation rate, the impact of the projects or the services on the society and the number of the program beneficiaries through the evaluation of the program planning stage, the implementation stage as well as the project or program documentation, also the sustainability and continuity.