The National Council for Women (NCW) is expanding the number of women benefitting from the Egyptian Women’s Kitchen initiative.
Launched in 2023, the initiative is a pioneering model of sustainable community development projects. It aims to harness women’s cooking skills and turn them into real job opportunities, helping to improve family living standards and support the most vulnerable groups.
Recently in Dar Al-Salam in Cairo, 15 women prepared 400 meals after receiving intensive practical training in planning, implementation, and managing work inside the kitchen.
The initiative is based on establishing community kitchens through which women receive professional training on planning, preparing, and organising meals and large banquets, calculating cost-effective quantities, and fully complying with food quality and safety standards under the supervision of professional chefs.
According to Yasmine Zakaria, the council’s director-general of the General Administration for Campaigns and Awareness, the project is not limited to training but extends to actual production, as the women prepare thousands of meals that are distributed among the neediest families, especially during the month of Ramadan as well as other religious occasions, reinforcing the concept of social solidarity.
Zakaria said gyptian Women’s Kitchen succeeded in producing close to 189,000 meals, with the participation of over 10,000 women who were trained in 900 villages and districts all over the country’s governorates, adding that the council places women’s economic empowerment at the top of its priorities by providing practical training programmes that help women improve their income and rely on themselves.
NCW President Amal Ammar praised the success of Egyptian Women’s Kitchen, now in its third year. “This is an inspiring initiative for women’s economic and social empowerment, providing real job opportunities for women and contributing to integrating them into the formal economy. Women who are being trained have started their own business as most of them are household wives and in many cases are the sole breadwinner for their families,” Ammar said.
According to Ammar, the endeavour aims to encourage more women to work. At 17 per cent, the female participation rate in the labour market is well below the Vision 2030 target of 24 per cent, according to a report titled “Women’s economic empowerment in Egypt: where do we stand?”
Ammar affirmed that investment in women is an investment in the nation’s future and that financially empowering women does not only reflect on their families but also helps build a more stable and just society.
Among women who benefited from Egyptian Women’s Kitchen, Um Ahmed, a housewife in her mid-40s, noted she had “never imagined that my simple cooking skills would one day turn into a real opportunity that restores my self-confidence and contributes to my household’s income”.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 26 February, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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