AHED In Words

Currently, the organization has approximately a membership of 100 people with a structure of two bodies:

Members of the board of the association: They work on a completely voluntary base
Officers of thematic programs and technical supportive units.

AHED functions through three major programs, namely:

Health Policies and Systems Program (HPSP)
Disability Program (DP)
Environment and Development Program (EDP)

In addition to the above three Programs, there are two Support Units, namely:

A Technical Support Unit: The Resource, Information, Publications and Documentation Unit.
An Administrative Support Unit.

Regarding the framework of programs' functioning, we can conclude the following:

Inequalities of Health are basically a reflection of inequalities in social and power relations, between different societies and between different groups within the same society.
Disability is not a medical problem; it is mainly a social one. The consequence of disability on the person, i.e. how much a person is marginalised and segregated from society is mainly determined by the prevalent social attitudes, the socio-economic conditions of the person or of the group to which he belongs. Attitudes and the way society deals with disability, is a reflection of the way the society takes into account the varying needs of its different people and their priorities.The conditions of the Environment in which we live are determined by the actions of people living in it. The interests of those in control of the resources mainly determine these actions. Such interests are, in many cases, proved to be narrow, short term and harmful to the continuation, sustainability and development of environment.
The conditions of the Environment in which we live are determined by the actions of people living in it. The interests of those in control of the resources mainly determine these actions. Such interests are, in many cases, proved to be narrow, short term and harmful to the continuation, sustainability and development of environment.

Within the above conceptual framework, AHED envisions a world where:

Health, as a state of the complete physical and psychological social well being, is a basic human right of all members of societies.
All its members have equal access resources and power, irrespective of their race, social and cultural backgrounds, gender, and ethnic group and/or disability.
Community members are directly involved in identifying their needs and priorities as well as the required actions to develop their communities, society and environments.
All people have equal opportunities to realize their full potential and through it developing their society and environment to be more productive, secure and prosperous.

Working towards this vision, AHED was formed of a multi-disciplinary group which strives to assist in the evolvement and implementation of alternative policies and systems in the area of community development in general and in the areas of health, environment and disability in particular. Policies, which are capable of responding to the needs of the Egyptian society as a whole, and the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups in particular; their needs should be identified through their active participation.

Hence, AHED does not see itself as a service provider, but rather an advocate and an actor of change, along with other activists and interest groups.

Within the framework of the above needs, AHED adopted and guided by the following principals which govern its goals and activities:

Community development a pre-requisite to health and environmental development:
Conditions affecting people's health, their environment as well as that of disabled people are in essence, a result of, and intrinsically related to, community and social development.
Holistic approach to health:
Health is perceived (as stated by the Alma Ata declaration, 1978) as a state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not the mere absence of disease and/or infirmity. It is hence, related directly to the quality of life of human beings. All actions directed towards improving the health status should, hence, be directed toward achieving a better quality of life rather than the cure of disease.
Human rights and social justice:
Health is the right of all beings. All people should be entitled to basic services including decent and healthy housing, clean water supply, sanitary sewage, humane working conditions, education, as well as access to basic health services. Discrimination between people on the basis of social status, religion, sex or race are evils which put groups of people in marginalised and disadvantaged positions which degrade their humanity and directly affect their health and well-being. The struggle for health for all people is hence essentially a struggle against discrimination and a part of the struggle for human rights.
Comprehensiveness and multi-sectoral approach to interventions:
Interventions can only succeed in dealing with the underlying causes of ill-health, disability and environmental problems, if they are comprehensive, i.e., they deal with all aspects of the question and with all those concerned. They include dealing with the different conditions leading to ill health, and not only its manifestations. This directly opposes the selective approach which deals mainly with specific pre-identified conditions, such as diarrhea or respiratory tract infections in isolation from those which continue to re-produce ill-health, disability even though in new forms. In addition, for such interventions to be successful, they require the collaboration and integration of the different sectors including health, education, social, transport etc.
Community involvement and empowerment:
Active community involvement in identifying needs, prioritizing, planning, decision making as well as provision of services constitutes the base for effective work as well as its major guarantee for success and sustainability. Communities should hence, be empowered through a process of involvement and active participation to reach, at the end, an active partnership and ownership of projects conducted within their midst. However, true involvement and empowerment means in the end enabling the local communities, and the different target groups within them, particularly the most disadvantaged ones in access to power and resources; i.e., to become a force which is able to affect policies and change.

In general, the following major gaps were identified by AHED in its planning process:

Prevalent policies directed towards the three areas, in general, are:

Developed in a top to bottom fashion. More often than not, they reflect the interests and attitudes of established powerful groups and structures are, professionally oriented and lack the input and involvement of the vast majority of people, particularly on the level of local communities, especially the most marginalised and disadvantaged ones.
Lacking a clear unified national strategy and vision, being mostly selective, and vertical programs rather than a comprehensive system, built on the basis of integrated comprehensive community development.
Built on patchy and deficient information particularly on the level of identifying the causative relations of existing problems in the above three areas; i.e., the underlying causes of ill health, disabling conditions and environmental degradation and hazards.
Local communities, particularly the most disadvantaged and marginalised ones, are placed in a helpless and dependant situation, with no involvement in decisions affecting their lives, health, and society. Local services in the communities, in general, do not reflect the needs and priorities of these communities nor are their mechanisms for their being accountable to them.
Bodies involved in dealing with the above areas, particularly on the level of NGOs, suffer from being born isolated, lacking the knowledge of each other's experiences and lessons. Their roles lack a national strategic vision. Moreover, their isolated work decreases their impact and leads to unnecessary duplication of roles instead of augmenting it.
Service users, and those whose interest is catered for by policy makers and service providers on the national level have no means of representing their interests and needs. They are placed on the receiving end. They lack the organization and links, which are capable of representing them and putting their interests strongly on the national agenda.

Recognizing that:

Health, disability and environment are outcomes of community development as well as significant entry points to its realization.
Alternative policies representing people's needs can only genuinely evolve through their implementation and that their implementation requires the actual participation of people in the process on the grass root levels.
Grass root level models alone can only be islands liable to setbacks and failure if they do not have the backup and support of action on the national level.

AHED adopts a strategy built on the basis of:

Combining the identification of alternative national policies with the development of grass root models. This is seen both as a way of informing national level findings and research as well as making them more relevant and appropriate.
Assisting the development of integrated grass root models, helps both to test strategies and policies on the ground as well as forming a strong base for marketing its lessons and essential approach with the aim of replication and extension and influencing national policy in the final analysis.
Advocacy and lobbying is an essential tool that goes hand in hand with both identifying alternative policies and analyzing the effect of existing ones as well as backing and supporting the experiences of grass root models.
Networking and cooperation with other agencies particularly Health, Disability, Environment and general community development NGOs, represents an important corner stone for developing the learning process as well as strengthening impact through winning allies.

In realizing this role, AHED adopted the following strategies:

Assisting in identifying appropriate strategies and policies, which respond to the needs of the health, environment and disability questions particularly to the needs of the most marginalised and disadvantaged groups from a developmental viewpoint.
Awareness raising and advocating issues related to the above major questions through campaigning, dissemination of information and publications, training .etc.
Developing and/or assisting the development of grass root comprehensive models through which these strategies could be tested, evaluated and their lessons discerned and disseminated.
Helping strengthening cooperation and integration between the different bodies working in the above fields particularly on the NGO level. This is to take place through networking, exchange of experience and information, and identifying areas of joint action and cooperation. This is more essential on the level of national and regional NGOs.
Facilitating and assisting the empowerment of marginalised groups through the development of organizations representing the most disadvantaged and marginalised groups with the aim of becoming a force able to influence policies and policy change.

Since its establishment, AHED 's members represent

the inputs of activist and professionals. This specific origin gave AHED the opportunity to combine working for change with developing scientific sound basis for its approaches and activities. In the meanwhile, this potential created a demand on AHED to utilize its members of organization staff members, and its links with experts to undertake a wide range of activities.

Such activities included:

Action oriented research.
Developing and assisting the development of grass root models in local communities.
Assisting the capacity building of other NGOs.
Being a focal point for networking in Egypt as well as in the region.

At the initial stage, activities were conducted, mainly, through the voluntary inputs of the core group membership and friends. However, this state gradually changed towards a bigger step of institutionalization with aim of having stronger impact. This was, particularly, emphasized in the Strategic Planning (1993, 1995). In the after-mass of the strategic planning, CHEDS was developed as the functional arm of AHED. Within CHEDS, a gradual move from complete voluntarism towards regular paid staff took place.