US embassy cable - 05CAIRO2853

UNCLAS CAIRO 002853 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
FOR NEA, NEA/ELA, NEA/PI 
USAID FOR ANE (GOLD) AND DCHA/DG (KAUFMAN) 
TUNIS FOR MULREAN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PHUM, KDEM, KMPI, PGOV, PREL, EG 
SUBJECT: APRIL 12 MEETING OF EMBASSY'S INSTITUTIONS OF 
DEMOCRACY WORKING GROUP (IDWG) 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect accordingly. 
 
1.  (SBU)  Summary:  On April 12, the Charge chaired a 
regular meeting of post's IDWG, which was attended by 
American and LES staff from the Public Affairs Section 
(including information and cultural affairs staff, as well as 
the grants specialist), the combined Economic-Political 
Section (ECPO), and USAID (including USAID Deputy Director 
and D&G staff).  The IDWG, which meets every other Tuesday is 
the body that post has used for the past five years to 
coordinate USG democracy and governance assistance in Egypt. 
Post plans to provide Washington with summaries of IDWG 
meetings as we develop our 2005 elections initiatives and 
related programs.  Topics discussed in the April 12 meeting 
included next steps in post's D&G strategy and related 
issues.  End summary. 
 
2.  (SBU)  ECPO opened the meeting with a discussion of next 
steps on D&G programming.  ECPO noted that the formation in 
Washington of an "Egypt Elections Working Group" offered 
opportunities for coordination and consultation on this and 
related D&G issues.  Among the other issues discussed 
regarding D&G next steps were the programming opportunities 
now available to the IDWG as a result of the release of 
$900,000 in 632(a) funds (which have been transferred from 
USAID to the Embassy).  IDWG participants also discussed the 
possible media reaction to the planned announcement next 
month of additional Ambassador's Self Help Fund grants. 
USAID offered to use an upcoming meeting with Egyptian civil 
society organizations who are seeking D&G funding under the 
USAID Annual Program Statement mechanism to assess the degree 
to which post needs to disseminate additional information 
about the processes and procedures of USG direct funding for 
D&G work in Egypt. 
 
3.  (SBU)  USAID briefed the IDWG on a recent donors meeting 
that USAID had hosted to discuss capacity building for 
Egyptian NGOs.  The NGO Service Center, a USAID project that 
is concluding this year as it transitions to independent 
status as the Egyptian NGO Support Center, presented the 
donors with a candid assessment of the challenges under 
Egyptian law of strengthening civil society. 
 
4.  (SBU)  ECPO advised the IDWG that MEPI (Tunis) regional 
coordinator Peter Mulrean plans to visit Egypt during the 
week of May 8 for the purpose of discussing additional MEPI 
support to D&G activities.  ECPO also alerted the IDWG to the 
May 1 deadline for receipt of concept paper proposals from 
Egyptian civil society groups for funds under the MEPI small 
grant program. 
 
5.  (SBU)  Finally, ECPO briefed the IDWG on our initial 
assessment (reported septel) of the first Annual Report of 
Egypt's National Council for Human Rights.  IDWG participants 
agreed that the report may suggest additional programming 
opportunities and that it would likely provide a useful 
critique of existing GOE practices. 
 
 
Visit Embassy Cairo's Classified Website: 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/cairo 
 
You can also access this site through the 
State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. 
 
GRAY