Wadi Degla and Safe Egypt Launch Phase Two of the Safe Shield Program to Strengthen Community Protection for Children in Egypt

Wadi Degla and Safe Egypt Launch Phase Wadi Degla and Safe Egypt Foundation unveiled today the second phase of the community protection program “Safe Shield,” during a special event attended by representatives from various government ministries, bodies, and agencies, alongside experts, specialists, and public figures. This follows the successful completion of phase one, which was implemented across 55 institutions in 4 governorates, targeting the creation of safer environments for children and families in Egypt. Phase two expands the program’s reach to more than 75 institutions, including 10 youth centers across multiple governorates.

The program is part of Wadi Degla’s vision for community sustainability, grounded in a broader concept of development that extends beyond real estate projects and sports services to encompass investment in families and building a better future for generations to come. Recognizing the role its clubs play as an effective institutional channel with a direct impact on the lives of children and their families, Wadi Degla has integrated the program into its network of clubs across the governorates, providing a supportive environment that embeds best practices in community protection and extends its reach to children, families, and caregivers alike. The result is an integrated system that creates safe and supportive environments capable of producing generations who drive positive change and achieve sustainable development. This is the essence of the vision: that genuine investment lies not only in the infrastructure built, but in the people shaped by it.

Speaking on the reasoning behind the project, Dr. Raymond Ahdy, CEO of Wadi Degla, remarked: “In the process of choosing our community initiative we were looking for a project that reflected our value of serving the Egyptian family. This is what brought us to our partnership with Safe Egypt Foundation, and the launch of the Safe Shield, because we believe that a safe child is the real investment in Egypt’s future.” Fundamentally, child protection, according to Raymond, is a developmental and economic issue rooted in deep social dimensions. To him, “An unsafe childhood is not a passing event. It is a negative cycle that impedes a child’s cognitive and academic growth, and reflects negatively on productivity, which is the primary driver of the national economy’s future.” This is strongly supported by the numbers he cites, according to which the World Bank estimates that exposure to violence in childhood leads to a lifetime reduction in productivity of up to 14%, and the global economic cost of violence against children is estimated at 8% of GDP. Beyond that, violence in schools alone is estimated to cause losses of approximately 11 trillion dollars in future earnings globally. In Egypt, these figures are not merely indicators of a social or moral crisis. They represent a developmental and economic priority directly linked to the quality of education, levels of productivity, and the long-term stability of society. He adds that “With 60% of Egypt’s population under the age of thirty, addressing child protection becomes an urgent national responsibility that cannot be deferred or ignored.”

The Safe Shield program aims to empower teachers, nursery caregivers, sports coaches, and families, equipping them with practical tools to protect children psychologically and behaviorally, prevent all forms of abuse, neglect, and bullying, and spread a culture more aware of children’s rights, emotional expression, and psychological care, contributing to the creation of educational and family environments that are more supportive of children’s growth and mental wellbeing.

Describing the model and the results of phase one, Sara Aziz, Founder and CEO of Safe Egypt Foundation, explained: “Safe Shield represents a practical model for child protection and mental health promotion in schools and community institutions. It embodies a genuine partnership between civil society and the private sector on one hand, and government institutions and bodies on the other, in the pursuit of sustainable development.” In phase one, the program built the capabilities of 165 teachers and caregivers across 55 institutions comprising 50 nurseries and 5 schools in 4 governorates, reaching directly and indirectly more than 32,000 children and families in areas including the New Administrative Capital, Al Asmarat, and the governorates of Qalyubia, Alexandria, and Giza. Results across all institutions exceeded 90% in content quality, trainer performance, and practical application capacity. On the significance of those results, Sara Aziz noted: “These figures reflect the strength of the methodology and its replicability. We achieved results exceeding 90% because the program is designed to build lasting capability among the adults closest to children, not to run a training cycle and move on.”

The impact of the program is measurable in specific behavioral terms. According to Sara Aziz, “The proportion of adults capable of monitoring indicators of abuse rose from 46% to 81% within three months, while the proportion taking actual protective measures increased from 25% to 48%. These figures prove that investment in training and capacity building is directly and effectively reflected in protective behaviors and child safety, not merely in raising awareness.” Field supervision has also commenced at a number of sites, demonstrating that the program is not limited to the theoretical dimension but is focused on follow-up and measuring the sustainability of behavioral change on the ground.

In this context, Raymond noted that these efforts carry particular significance in light of estimates indicating that raising child protection and safety rates, and attending to children’s psychological and physical wellbeing in Egypt, could contribute to annual economic gains of up to 18 billion dollars. Adding to this, he pointed to a 2015 Egyptian study suggesting that the scale of this economic impact could reach approximately 96.2 billion dollars. In his view, “These are not abstract projections. They are a measure of what Egypt stands to gain by treating child protection as the economic and developmental priority it is.”

On the expansion into clubs and youth centers, Emad Atef, Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Wadi Degla Holding, explained that Wadi Degla has never viewed its clubs merely as sports facilities, but as strategic hubs for building families, nurturing generations, and shaping values. As he put it: “Joining the Safe Shield program was a natural step, investing in a system that serves more than 1.2 million members and 330,000 families across 11 clubs, 22 academies, and 322 sports facilities throughout the country.” This reach, according to Emad, gives the group a direct and effective channel for accessing children through coaches and activity leaders who are among the most present adults in a child’s life outside the family and school. Starting from the understanding that sport does not automatically provide protection but draws its strength from the competence of adults and the culture of the institution, phase two has expanded in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth and Sports to include 10 youth centers distributed across various governorates in Egypt, adopting the Train-the-Trainer model to ensure multiplied impact. He concluded: “With this transition, Wadi Degla redefines the role of clubs from traditional sports activity to a pivotal developmental role that places child protection and family empowerment at the heart of its institutional mission.”

What has been achieved is no longer limited in scope. It has become a practical model that consolidates community protection policies in Egypt, thanks to the strategic vision of the Egyptian government, which has made family building and generational development a central priority in its development agenda, in the belief that child protection is the foundation of a strong and sustainable society, and in alignment with Egypt Vision 2030’s goals of investing in people and comprehensive development. This success would not have been possible without the government’s sustained support for the program, alongside institutional partnerships with the Ministry of Social Solidarity, the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ leadership in making children’s mental health a national priority