Egypt: Living Without the State in Cairo’s Slums

Cairo For the residents of the Middle East and Africa's largest city, Cairo, 2013 ended with the often repeated government promise to finally provide basic services and development in the slums, where half of the city's residents live.

But instead of waiting for Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi's slum renewal project, announced in November, to bear fruit, many are simply coping as best they can without the state.

When basic services are lacking, it is often down to slum dwellers to use their own initiative. They dig land, construct septic tanks and water pipes, install storage barrels, and raise community funds to get private engineers to build sewage pipes and connect them to the main network.

"These communities have an inherent self-reliance in finding ways to get by," said Thomas Culhane, co-founder of Solar CITIES, an NGO that invests in solar and renewable energy in poor communities.

Few sit around waiting for the government to fulfil its promises.

"There's a lot of mistrust among slum residents regarding the government's intentions. They've been promised so many things, yet nothing's been delivered," said Khalil Shaat, technical advisor at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ).

According to official government figures, Cairo has 112 informal areas. Out of those, 24 are classified as "category I", or life-threatening. Twenty-eight are "category II", meaning unsuitable housing; 11 are "category III", meaning health-threatening; and 49 are "planned".

Ezzat Naem Guindy, the founder of the Spirit of Youth Association for Environmental Service (SOY), which works in Manshiet Nasser, one of Cairo's largest slums, says the area is a "model" in terms of self-reliance. While the government is not completely absent, poor infrastructure and the irregular provision of public services create serious problems.

IRIN took a look at how Manshiet Nasser slum residents survive, and how they compensate for the lack of state support with their own networks of services.

Water and sewage

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Egypt: Living Without the State in Cairo's Slums