The National Alliance for Civil Development Work (NACDW) plans to distribute assistance to among 14 million beneficiaries throughout the holy month of Ramadan, said the alliance’s chairman Khaled Abdel-Aziz this week.
The NACDW was established by presidential decree in 2024 and comprises more than 36 civil society organisations.
The assistance includes the distribution of 2.3 million food boxes in addition to operating 150 central kitchens to provide 6.4 million Iftar and Sohour meals and organise 250 Iftar banquets. More than 115,000 families are also slated to receive cash assistance or shopping cards.
The plan for Ramadan assistance has been in the works for three months through collaboration between the state and the private sector, said Mustafa Zamzam, chairman of the Sonaa Al-Kheir Foundation for Development and a member of the NACDW.
The plan includes the launch of the “Every Day a Story” initiative, meant to reach the largest number of vulnerable families nationwide during Ramadan, Zamzam told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The initiative is a community-based programme launched by the Ministry of Social Solidarity in cooperation with NGOs and private sector companies to distribute food assistance and implement projects designed to improve quality of life, such as kitchen renovation and the upgrading of basic services.
It is built around the idea that each new day carries a new story of giving and social solidarity.
Zamzam said that special care is being taken to protect the privacy and dignity of beneficiary families, stressing that no photographs are published showing their faces while receiving food boxes or meals from volunteers.
The Egyptian Food Bank (EFB), also a member of the NACDW, delivers food to eligible families through a digital system. Mohsen Sarhan, CEO of the EFB, said it has been continuously developing its mechanisms to ensure the delivery of safe and healthy food to vulnerable families through an integrated framework based on protection, prevention, and empowerment supported by a digital network that places the dignity of beneficiaries at the forefront.
The EFB has a confidential digital eligibility system that operates without direct human intervention, Sarhan added. The selection process is conducted without data-entry personnel knowing the outcome of eligibility assessments and is fully confidential and digitally managed, he noted.
Sarhan explained that EFB beneficiaries enjoy the freedom of picking their favourite items at supermarkets, saying that reliance on pre-packed food boxes has been reduced except in special cases, such as the elderly and the residents of border areas.
Hot meals are provided through the “Tekeyet Al-Mahrousa” initiative and mobile vehicles in a manner that avoids any social stigma while taking into account the specific health needs of different groups, including children, the elderly, and medical patients, he added.
Addressing the rise in prices of Ramadan food boxes, Sarhan explained that the EFB has a broad network of partners and adopts tendering policies to secure the best prices and procure food items at wholesale rates.
He noted that more than a year ago the EFB began implementing a digital strategy to deliver food support through 610 EFB-affiliated supermarkets in each of Egypt’s 27 governorates.
The initiative began with securing food supplies for eligible families and gradually evolved into an integrated model that replaced the traditional food-box system. The new digital system allocates points to eligible families, who then receive a text message containing a code that can be redeemed for food items at supermarkets.
This system allows the EFB to review the allocated balances of beneficiaries and monitor which products are the most in demand in each governorate, allowing procurement strategies to be adjusted accordingly, Sarhan stated.
The EFB is currently developing an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to guide beneficiaries towards healthier food choices by sending text-message advice highlighting the risks associated with certain illnesses, particularly diabetes, cancer, and other diseases.
Zamzam said that digitisation ensures the highest standards of transparency. He added that his organisation maintains a comprehensive database identifying the areas most in need of assistance, as well as all families that have benefited, or continue to benefit, from its services.
Asked whether families prefer cash or in-kind support, Sarhan said experience had shown that families tend to favour in-kind assistance delivered through the points system, as this ensures that support is spent exclusively on food while preserving freedom of choice. It also protects households from the pressure to divert cash assistance towards other needs and allows for better nutritional and health monitoring.
Cash assistance, by contrast, may face challenges related to its use for non-food purposes.
Commenting on preferred choices, Sarhan said that some families prefer ready-made hot meals, while others are more inclined towards raw ingredients. “Hot meals are more suitable for emergency situations, patients, elderly people unable to cook, and those in public squares or outside hospitals,” he said.
“Food ingredients, by contrast, are better suited to families living in their homes, as they provide flexibility to cook according to their own dietary habits.”
Al-Azhar is hosting large Iftar banquets organised by the Zakat and Charity House, which was established by presidential decree in 2014 and operates under the supervision of the grand imam of Al-Azhar. It is also a member of the NACDW.
Sheikh Abdel-Alim Abu Bakr, official spokesperson of the Charity House, said that preparations begin three months in advance of Ramadan through outreach to donors, efforts to mobilise the largest possible volume of contributions, and the securing of offers from major restaurants.
He said the Charity House provides 10,000 Iftar meals daily and distributes 300,000 coupons to the most vulnerable families, which can be freely redeemed through Aman outlets. These are complemented by food boxes allocated to remote governorates where designated supermarkets for redeeming goods may not be available.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity, in cooperation with the Tahya Misr Fund, continues to implement the presidential “Abwab Al-Kheir” initiative nationwide, which aims to ease the burden on vulnerable families and secure their basic needs throughout Ramadan.
Under the initiative, four million hot meals are being provided through kitchens affiliated with the Tahya Misr Fund, alongside its participation in the “Al-Mahrousa” kitchens run by the Ministry of Social Solidarity.
The initiative also includes the distribution of three million food boxes to vulnerable families through convoys.
The Ministry of Social Solidarity and NGOs are also collaborating on the “Ahl Al-Kheir” initiative along with 286 partners operating across 657 distribution points nationwide providing Iftar and Sohour meals.
The Egyptian Red Crescent (ERC) is likewise continuing its food and relief initiatives under its “Hilal Al-Kheir” campaign, which aims to provide food assistance to 6.5 million beneficiaries in Egypt and the Gaza Strip.
The ERC has organised a number of Iftar banquets at facilities for expatriate women, care homes, and elderly residences affiliated to the ERC in various governorates, in addition to distributing Iftar and Sohour meals to vulnerable families.
The “Humanitarian Kitchen” also provides daily hot Iftar meals for travellers and passers-by in the cities of Arish and Rafah.
To avoid the duplication of aid, Abdel-Aziz said that a Civil Work Data Observatory will be established to serve as an information hub tasked with unifying databases and preventing the duplication of benefits.
Meanwhile, the EFB continues to face challenges, Sarhan told the Weekly.
He said that more and more people are in need of assistance due to economic difficulties, especially amid the rising prices. He added that the ERB faces logistical challenges in reaching remote and border areas, and other challenges include changing patterns of food needs and the rising rates of nutrition-related diseases such as anemia, obesity, and diabetes.
He added that ensuring sustainable funding while maintaining food quality remains a key challenge, alongside the shift from quantity-based support to quality-based assistance that takes into account calorie intake and macro- and micronutrient requirements.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 12 March, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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