Egypt: The state, foreign aid and community participation in urban shelter projects

Abstract

The interplay between international policies and the interests and internal pressures of the state is examined in the context of project‐based community participation in urban shelter provision in Egypt. Three contrasting upgrading projects are used. Using the concept of interest mediation, the paper argues that, whilst the state may be receptive to external pressure for community participation, this reciprocity is constrained by the extent to which external agendas fit domestic needs and the social contract between the state and various class interests. The paper shows how the well‐recognized malleability of the concept and the limitations to effective implementation, cannot be explained by conventional project evaluation methodology and technical or bureaucratic factors. Instead, a method is used which links macro‐level international interests (such as aid agendas, geostrategic objectives) to micro‐level grass‐roots variables. Despite the growing centrality of the urban sector and modes of community participation in the changing paradigms of development, local outcomes are primarily influenced by decisions made in the broader context of the political economy—not by the specific objectives of housing sector policies or methods of community involvement in their implementation.

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