Egypt

Egypt introduced its first social protection related programme in the 1920s through food and energy subsidies. Thereafter, laws on social insurance, such as work injury, unemployment, sickness and maternity, old age, disability and survivor benefits were introduced. In 1980, the government introduced its first social assistance programme named the Social Solidarity Pension, which aimed to prevent poverty among households with no men able to work. In 2018, the programme transfers a minimum cash amount of US$133 every month to 1,600,000 households. In 2014, another programme, named Takaful and Karama (Solidarity and Dignity) was introduced to promote children’s human development through health and education related conditional cash transfers, while promoting social inclusion among older persons and persons with disabilities through unconditional cash transfers. The transfer payments for the programme, which reached 2,250,000 households in 2018, range from US$202.37 to US$389.17 per month for children and US$217.93 to US$653.80 for older person as well as persons with disability. The Social Solidarity Pension programme does not allow for appeals to be made in the event that applicants are against selection decisions, but the Takaful and Karama programme does allow for such appeals. The social assistance programmes are implemented by the central government, with assistance from donors in the case of the Takaful and Karama programme.