Focus on the villages

Dahshur is located 10 km south of Saqqara and 35 km south of Cairo. It is a 3.5 km long field of pyramids forming part of the World Heritage site of Memphis and its Necropolis – the Pyramid Fields from Giza to Dahshur, inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1979. The Dahshur area has signifi– cant growth of population and high unemployment. Moreover, it has also been witnessing a rapid growth in tourist visits. A collaborative programme has been initiated, exclusively focused on the Dahshur villages. The principal goal was to facilitate community development to improve living conditions and promote greater ownership of the area.

The MDG-F Culture and Development Joint Programme, entitled Mobilization of Dahshur World Heritage Site for Community Development, was led by the Ministry of Culture (Supreme Council of Antiquities), Ministry of Tourism, Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency, Social Fund for Development and the Industrial Modernization Centre. The international partners were UNDP, UNESCO, UNIDO, UNWTO and ILO. The project period was four years from April 2009. The designated donor support of US$3.1 million came from the Spanish MDG Fund. The targeted area is the Dahshur component of the World Heritage site and the five surrounding villages.