Papers by Sarah Sabry
Cities for Children and Youth research series, 2021
Child poverty and the violation of children’s rights are increasingly urban phenomena. An estimat... more Child poverty and the violation of children’s rights are increasingly urban phenomena. An estimated billion people live in overcrowded, inadequate housing without basic services or secure tenure. More than a third are children and adolescents, living in conditions that challenge their rights, wellbeing, and long-term prospects. Yet urban children have surprisingly few global champions, and can often be overlooked in more general agendas. This briefing provides an introduction to the status of children in urban areas, focusing on the most marginalised and deprived children and the range of issues they face, including the impacts of migration, poverty, hunger, conflict, disease and vulnerability to disaster. But it also highlights the opportunities to manage urbanisation better so that children and adolescents in cities can survive, learn, contribute and thrive.
Environment and Urbanization, Jan 1, 2010
This paper suggests that the incidence of poverty is severely underestimated in Greater Cairo. Th... more This paper suggests that the incidence of poverty is severely underestimated in Greater Cairo. This is because poverty lines are set too low in relation to the costs of the most basic of needs in the city and because census data that inform household surveys, on which poverty line studies are based, under-count the people living in ashwa’iyyat (informal settlements). The paper assesses the costs of food and non-food needs in eight informal areas in Greater Cairo and compares these costs with the allowances made for them in Egypt’s poverty lines (which are meant to indicate the income needed to afford these food and non-food needs). Those who live in ashwa’iyyat frequently pay more for many food items than those who live in some of Cairo’s most prosperous neighbourhoods. The food allowance in poverty lines fails to factor in the cost of a nutritious diet as it is based on the actual diets of the poor. All households interviewed face non-food costs that are much higher than the allowance for these in even the more generous poverty lines. Yet, they still live in very poor conditions. Such costs include rent, keeping children in school, transport (for income earners and students), health care, water, sanitation and electricity. Raising the value of poverty lines to adequately reflect the real costs of food and non-food needs would considerably increase the incidence of poverty in Greater Cairo. Poverty lines must be set at levels that make sufficient allowance for the real costs of living: enough and nutritious food, reasonable quality accommodation, water, sanitation, electricity, keeping children in school, transport, health care and medicines when needed.
SOAS - Development Viewpoint
This paper engages with the global debate about the meaningfulness, validity and reliability of t... more This paper engages with the global debate about the meaningfulness, validity and reliability of the poverty-line approach by examining the Egyptian poverty lines in relation to the reality of the lives of the urban poor in Greater Cairo. It reviews Egypt’s various poverty lines, and the data which inform them, and then questions their value in relation to the real costs of some basic living needs in eight of Greater Cairo’s informal areas in 2008. The paper concludes that the incidence of poverty is severely underestimated in Greater Cairo. This is because poverty lines are set too low in relation to the costs of even the most basic of needs, and because the household survey data which inform poverty-line studies under-sample people living in informal settlements, as they are based on census data which under-count the populations of informal areas.
The Encyclopaedia of Women and Islamic Cultures , 2006
Environment and Urbanization, Jan 1, 2005
This paper assesses the Egyptian government’s Social Aid and Assistance programme, mainly by inte... more This paper assesses the Egyptian government’s Social Aid and Assistance programme, mainly by interviewing households in two low-income areas of Cairo, and comparing what the programme offers with these households’ actual needs and vulnerabilities. This programme exists to support the most vulnerable in Egypt (those who cannot work and are not covered by any other insurance scheme) by providing them with a minimum monthly income. It is meant to benefit in particular the elderly, households with disabled persons, and women who are widows or divorced and bringing up children. The interviewees pointed to many limitations in what was provided, for instance too little money in relation to daily costs and too many eligible people unaware that they could receive it. The research also highlighted problems with the programme’s administration - for instance, the hostility of those who managed it towards those who applied, the complex application process (particularly difficult for illiterate people), the documentation required (which many women do not have), the refusals given with no explanation and, even if the application was successful, the long delay before benefits start
Newspaper Articles by Sarah Sabry
The decision to establish the ministry of urban renewal and informal settlements was a leap forwa... more The decision to establish the ministry of urban renewal and informal settlements was a leap forward and the decision to cancel it and shift its work to the Ministry of Housing could be a grave mistake. These are the reasons why.
Book reviews by Sarah Sabry
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Papers by Sarah Sabry
Newspaper Articles by Sarah Sabry
Book reviews by Sarah Sabry