The launch of PV solar system installed at Tawasul Community School in Istable Antar took place in the presence of Mr. Sylvain Merlin, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Deputy Resident Representative, Dr. Mohamed Bayoumi, UNDP Assistant Representative, Dr. Emad Adly, National Coordinator of the GEF Small Grants Programme, and Engineer Ashraf Fawzi, Director of Energy Projects at the Industrial Modernization Center (IMC), and Mr. Yasser Omar, General Manager of the Educational Administration of Old Cairo (Misr Al-Qadima), and Mr. Farag Al-Shaer, General Director of Community Education at the Ministry of Education, Dr. Hend Farouh, Project Manager of the National Project Grid-Connected Small-Scale Solar Systems “Egypt-PV”, and a number of energy experts and civil society specialists.

The PV solar system was implemented with the support of “Egypt-PV”, which is implemented by the IMC in collaboration with UNDP and funded by the Global Environment Facility.

Mrs. Yasmina Abu Youssef, Founder of Tawasol Association for the development of Istable Antar, stated that building Tawasol Community School came within the framework of the association’s endeavor to contribute to the development of Ezbet Khairallah impoverished area and in the belief of the importance of the role of civil society and community participation in solving the school dropout problem in addition to creating job opportunities. The school is considered a new accomplishment for the association, which was established 12 years ago, to serve and develop Ezbet Khairallah. This comes within the framework of the government’s interest in developing unsafe places and informal areas, reducing school dropout and facing unemployment. The school also includes a handcraft training center for the youth and women of Ezbet Khayrallah, Establ Antar, Dar Al Salam and Mokattam areas, to help them increase their income in addition to providing permanent job opportunities for the local community in the association.

Mr. Sylvain Merlin, UNDP Deputy Resident Representative, stated that this success is the culmination of Egypt-PV results, which represents part of Egypt’s great efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the supporting efforts in the implementation of Egypt 2030 strategy for sustainable development, as well as the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, especially the goal to double renewable energy generation by 2023, in addition to the Paris agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to promote the installation of small PV systems to utilize the available solar energy in Egypt in generating electricity in all sectors. Mr. Merlin praised Tawasol School, which presents a model that integrates the social dimension through its contribution to the sustainability of the school that benefits the area and the local community, and the environmental dimension concerned with renewable energy. This model will encourage more NGOs to follow their lead.

Dr. Hend Farouh, “Egypt-PV” Project Manager said that this PV solar system, of total capacity 50-kilowatt hour, alleviates the burden of the increased electricity bill while helps in the reduction of CO2 emissions up to 50 tons / year.