Snapshot review of Two World Bank COVID-19 Health support programs in Egypt
“Stakeholder Engagement Plan” with the World Bank stating that “equal access to information is
provided to all stakeholders” as part of their “openness and life cycle approach”10.
As mentioned earlier, a meeting was conducted between the researchers and the World Bank
representatives and general clarifications about the functioning of the project were provided. It
was also stipulated that full information about the status of the implementation and the targeted
intervention areas will be published, however, no information were published after the meeting
and till the end of August 2021.
In accordance with a clause in the loan agreement guaranteeing “Stakeholder Engagement and
Information Disclosure” effective as of October 2018. The World Bank found, from the preparation
phase of this project, that the government represented by the MoHP and the cabinet of ministers
“are intensifying the information sharing process and the engagement with stakeholders through
the various established and existing platforms”11.
Following the presentation of key findings of an earlier version of this study at the Spring Meetings
2021 held in March 2021, the researchers received an invitation to participate in a Community
Discussion online session on the CERC. Held on April 2021, this session included a presentation
of the CERC and its different components. With the exception of half a dozen exceptions,
participants were practically all from local MOHP administrators and reached more than 800
participants. This is a definite step in the right direction when it comes to stakeholders
engagement and availability of information, however, due to the large number of the invited
participants, the session was mostly a unilateral webinar with little to no discussion or interaction
from the attendees. It was also quite clear that this large attendance was due to direct instructions
given by the MOHP.
Although a step in the right direction, beyond the number of attendees, the representation and
value of their attendance remains highly questionable. Critically important groups of stakeholders
were sadly not included (including the medical syndicate for example), a very limited attendance
of civil society representatives and a lecture-styled session makes more of a unilateral information
session then an actual community discussion platform.
On another note, access to information provided by the MOHP remains highly controversial.
Accuracy of the information provided regarding progress of the COVID pandemic in Egypt is
heavily critiqued and the government’s aggressive response to any voices that do not perfectly
adopt the official narrative makes this area largely defective.
Al Husseiniya Hospital- A Case Study
The MoHP’s facebook page is indeed sharing awareness messages almost daily to citizens and
providing updates on the Minister’s visits to hospitals, continually releasing statements assuring
citizens that the pandemic response is well under control12. However, and especially in
consideration of the loan agreement clause stating that the government of Egypt (GOE) must
10
World Bank, Egypt COVID-19 Emergency Response Stakeholder Engagement Plan
Ibid.
12
“[Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population] وزارة الصحة والسكان المصرية.” Facebook. Facebook. Accessed
March 1, 2021. https://www.facebook.com/egypt.mohp/.
11
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