President of the World Bank Group David Malbas and Egypt's Minister of Social Solidarity Ghada Wali visited a social centre in the village of Kubanieh in Aswan Governorate on Sunday.

Malbas and Wali toured projects that have been implemented by families benefiting from the Takaful (Solidarity) and Karama (Dignity) programme, which aims to support impoverished families.

Takaful and Karama was launched in 2015 to support impoverished families with school-aged children, the elderly and people with special needs, mainly in Upper Egypt.

Minister Wali said during the visit that Takaful and Karama has been a great success, benefiting 8.2 million people.

Wali said that the programme has reached 1,704,391 families as well as 230,000 people with disabilities.

The minister pointed out that according to the International Food Policy Research Institute, the number of families benefiting from the program Takaful increased by 8.4 percent compared to non-supported households.

The program's impact assessment study showed that impoverished families used Takaful support to repay bills and debts, and that the Takaful programme has reduced the probability of households suffering from poverty by 11 percent, according to the global poverty line, and 8 percent according to the regional poverty line.

Wali also pointed out that the Ministry of Social Solidarity pays great attention to the importance of women's economic empowerment.

The ministry designed the conditional cash support programme to provide support to women through cash cards and in documenting official papers and marriage contracts in some border provinces.

Wali said that the number of female exchange card holders was 1,738,964.