About the Mo'assessa

Al Mo’assessa-t-al Ahliya Li Janoub Sina’ is a non-profit organization, registered as an Egyptian charity (South Sinai 2-2006) in November 2006. Its name in English means 'The Community Foundation for South Sinai', and it was the first registered community foundation in Egypt. The charity provides a way for people who care about South Sinai to support projects that will make a real difference to the lives of local people, especially Bedouin. People here are full of ideas about how to improve their communities, but there are few independent voluntary organizations to help them achieve their goals. In particular, there is a lack of accessible funding for small local groups or individuals, and this is where the Mo’assessa aims to be different.

The geography and social organization of Sinai mean that the greatest need is concentrated in Bedouin communities. Many Bedouin experience great material poverty, lack basic services and have had little share in the wealth created by Sinai's busy tourist industry. The Mo’assessa is committed to small-scale development that supports Bedouin communities in ways that are both sustainable and culturally appropriate. Our job is to enable local people to tackle community needs, and to provide good stewardship to people who wish to support South Sinai.

We have five agreed areas for grant-making and projects:

  • sustainable development and job creation
  • education
  • health
  • conservation of environment and heritage
  • community capacity-building and social welfare

As well as establishing a permanent fund to finance community initiatives, we are helping to address some of the problems people face here by investigating sustainable ways in which Bedouin-made products can be developed, produced and fairly-traded. These things take time, however, and it is important meanwhile to find a balance between long-term development goals and people’s short-term needs. To this end our work includes small hardship and medical grants for individuals as well as projects of wider benefit. Please see Our Work for more details.

About Community Foundations

A community foundation is a charity that builds an endowed fund from the combined donations of our donors. Endowment is the key to a successful community foundation: donations are invested in the fund and only the investment returns are spent each year to make small grants to community projects or individuals. As donations increase and the fund grows, the returns available for grant-making increase. Eventually, a successful community foundation becomes sustainable, meeting its own running costs from a small percentage of its returns and having an annual budget for accessible grants that meet community needs.

The community foundation model has seen a rapid expansion in recent years and is starting to take root in the Middle East. At the Mo'assessa, we build upon the strong tradition of philanthropic giving in Islam and are careful that the investments and returns upon which the model relies are in keeping with Islamic principles.

To find out more about community foundations, visit: