Background:
Rosetta is under the jurisdiction of Al-Beheira Governorate and is located 12 km away from the mouth of the Rosetta branch of the Nile River, along its western bank. The city is approximately 65 km east of Alexandria and 55 km away from Damanhour, the capital of Al-Beheira Governorate.
Five slum areas are on the periphery of the old centre of the city with a total area of 2.15 km². The estimated population of the slum areas in 2005 was approximately 20,391, which represents 29 percent of the total population of the city. Women in slum areas experience poor quality of life, low standards of public services, and high rates of violence. Although the crime rate is high, religious and customary practices sometimes protect women from common violence. Rosetta suffers from many environmental problems, including widespread pollution, lack of drainage facilities coupled with a delay in completing the wastewater treatment plant.

The aim of RUSPS was to develop options for formal inter-agency collaboration in order to create a coordination body integrating a wide range of stakeholders in a single response mechanism.

Objectives:
To contribute to urban poverty reduction and policy development in Egypt through an urban sector profile study — a rapid assessment of needs, response mechanisms and capacity gaps — to be addressed at the local, national and regional levels.

Activities:

1. Research on the general background of the urban sector in Rosetta, based on the findings of the Rosetta assessment report, a desk study, interviews, and a city consultation that was held in Rosetta on 30th April 2006. The background includes data on administration, urban and economic planning, informal economy and the private sector, urban poverty, infrastructure, water, sanitation, public transport, street lighting, energy, health and education.
2. A synthesis of the four main areas: - governance, gender, HIV/AIDS, slums and environment in terms of institutional set-up, regulatory framework, resource mobilisation and performance. This step highlights agreed priorities and includes a list of identified projects.
3. SWOT analysis and outlining of priority project proposals for each theme. The proposals include beneficiaries, partners, estimated costs, objectives, activities and outputs.

Results:

• Study introduced to stakeholders and TORs tailored to local contexts
• Urban indicators collected, city assessment and profiling completed
• City consultations undertaken by including different stakeholders from all levels of urban society and priorities identified and agreed upon
• Capacity building gaps identified at the local level
• Priorities identified and project proposals formulated

The Rosetta priority needs identified by RUSPS include preparing the city as a tourist destination — putting up signs and publishing a tourist guide —, developing and enhancing leadership skills at the local council to enable the creation of urban development strategy, involving all stakeholders. Training the local authority to deal with slum areas, establishing a fund to care for widows and female-headed households and supporting decentralisation of environmental management and institutional set-up of the Rosetta Environmental Management Unit will be crucial contributions to the overall process.

The published profile can be found under publications. (Link)