Tadamun: The Cairo Urban Solidarity Initiative held several community meetings in neighborhoods around the Greater Cairo region, engaging men, women, youth, and civil society organizations. The community meetings focused on the accessibility of utilities to all citizens. While participants in the various meetings agreed that utility services (electricity, drinking water, and natural gas) are of vital importance, there was a general consensus the government will not provide effective and convenient access to these services in some areas around Cairo. Some participants further mentioned that the utility application procedures lack clarity, making the calculation of service costs and supervision of the collection process unmanageable; they asked for effective complaint mechanisms, as they viewed complaints as a formal avenue to restore the quality of service and ensure that the proper authorities would be informed to resolve their issues in a timely manner.

Upon receiving this information, Tadamun designed a set of manuals that provide basic knowledge of the procedures needed to obtain government-provided utility services in Greater Cairo. The manuals consolidate information found on service providers’ websites, legal regulations, citizen experiences, and government officials and agencies responsible for providing these services.

These manuals were drafted with accessible language and easy to understand data to maximize the number of citizens that can benefit from it. Ultimately, the manuals should facilitate communication between the residents and government entities, as well as improve community accountability tools for public services in the Greater Cairo area.

These manuals will be distributed in many areas through their respective local organizations.

Drinking water service manual for Greater Cairo.

Electricity service manual for Greater Cairo.

Natural Gas service manual for Greater Cairo.