Laila Iskander

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Daily News Egypt

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Laila Rashed Iskandar Kamel is now the Minister of State for Environment Affairs in Egypt under the interim government of Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi. Her track record in Cairo’s waste management brought her to the attention of the statesmen in her country; she is the founder of “Community and International Development Group” (CID), a holistic consultation firm which aims to bridge grassroots communities and giant manufacturers so they can both work for the good of the community. Her work with the “zaballeens,” or garbage people, earned her the “Goldman Environmental Prize” in 1994.

Achievements

Why Laila Iskander is Extraordinary

Laila Rashed Iskandar Kamel is a force to be reckoned with, indeed. She founded the “Community and International Development Group” in 1995 to help garbage collectors in Cairo become entrepreneurs and not just scavengers. She now serves as Minister of State for Environment Affairs under the leadership of Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi. She has regaled the world with her heart for service; although she has never experienced poverty, having been born into a wealthy family, it did not keep her from spending a good year of her life aiding the marginalized population of Coptic Christians living in the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt.

Before she began serving the government of Egypt, she was first the Volunteer Field Director for the Rag Recycling Center at the Association for the Protection of the Environment. She has written books and articles telling the public and the government how they can best keep Cairo clean. In an article she wrote in 2009, she suggested:

“The sustainable waste- collection system advocated here includes the following features:

- A return to door-to-door collection;
- The need for public- awareness campaigns in the media, among NGOs, at schools and so on, asking residents to divide their waste into organic and non-organic materials;
- An end to the distribution of plastic bags, since these are bad for the environment;
- Payment for the service from government and municipal finance;
- The organisation of unemployed young people working in the waste- collection sector into small teams, companies, or cooperatives to serve low- income neighbourhoods;
- The introduction of unemployed young people to a "clean collection" and recycling trade that includes sorting, recovering, processing and trading;
- The extension of credit and electricity to all small and medium-sized collectors and recyclers;
- The issuing of licences according to neighbourhood;
- The direction of organic waste to composting plants and the need to ensure that collectors are paid by the plants for clean organic waste." (SOURCE: Al-Ahram Weekly)

With the founding of CID Consulting, she was able to put her vision to practice. She was also behind the schools and other livelihood industries in Mokattam. Prior to that, she received the “Goldman Environmental Prize” in 1994. In 2006, she received the “Schwab Award for Social Entrepreneurship.”

Top Reasons why Laila Iskander is Extraordinary

She collaborated with garbage collectors and founded an informal recycling school in 1982.
She received the “Goldman Environmental Prize” in 1994.
She founded “CID Consulting” in 1995.
She once acted as UNESCO’s UNLD Resource Person for the Arab region.
In 2006, the CID received the “Schwab Award for Social Entrepreneurship.”
She once acted as Director and Lead Author of the Business Solutions for Human Development Report.
She now serves as Minister of State for Environment Affairs.
She once served as a consultant to the Egyptian Minister of Environment on Waste Management.
She was a jury member for UNESCO’s “International Literacy Prize.”
She has also been involved in other livelihood industries in Mokattam.

Biography

Biography of Laila Iskander

Date of Birth: | Born in: / Nationality: Egypt

Laila has never known poverty, having been born into a wealthy family. But, after having seen how some of her fellow Egyptians eke out a living by recycling and scavenging for garbage, she was impressed by their earnestness. What else could she do but help these people, who were very much willing to do everything to help themselves?

Laila went on to establish an informal school which aims to equip people with basic know-how to create a systemic recycling industry. Most of the zaballeens she met were illiterate; for them to do business without being taken advantage of, Laila set up the “Community and International Development Group,” or CID. It’s a consultancy firm that helps grassroots communities thrive in their industries by equipping them with knowledge and business networks.

Engaging in Social Entrepreneurship

Laila Rashed Iskandar was born to a well-to-do family, and is a graduate of Economics, Political Science and Business from Cairo University. She then went overseas to secure her Master’s in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Laila eventually completed her Doctorate of Education at the Teacher's College at Columbia University in New York.

Having been educated overseas, Laila saw a world beyond her home country. She could have pursued a more lucrative career with her impeccable credentials, but instead opted to stay in Egypt. In 1982, she discovered a community of “zaballeens,” or garbage collectors, living in the outskirts of Cairo. The people had to support their families by making use of what the city dwellers threw away. This practice somehow keeps the community clean; food that gets thrown is collected and fed to the pigs. Unlike most Egyptians, the zaballeens are predominantly Christian.

Laila saw an opportunity to help. With the zaballeens lacking education, she observed that they did their daily rounds without knowing basic accounting or being able to read. Their lack of education made them vulnerable to people who took advantage of their illiteracy. This was what Laila hoped to change.

“Kamel's Rug-Weaving Center”

The zabbaleens’ industriousness gave Laila all the reason she needed to do her best to give them a better quality of life. She established the “Kamel's Rug-Weaving Center,” where girls are taught how to weave using reclaimed cotton. Weaving has been an age-old industry in Egypt; by teaching teenagers and young girls to weave, they are made to appreciate their ancestors’ culture.

The “Community and International Development Group”

Laila also founded an informal school for the zaballeen kids. If the kids could be educated, then Laila knew she could help create a new generation of better parents and businesspeople. In the school, kids are taught how to read using the packaging of garbage containers they collect in a day’s round.

In 1995, Laila set up the “Community and International Development Group” to “enable individuals, organizations, and communities to grow and communicate more effectively.” In 2006, eleven years after its founding, CID won the “Schwab Award for Social Entrepreneurship.”

Serving as Minister of State for Environment Affairs

Because of Laila’s heart for service, she was appointed as Minister of State for Environment Affairs in Prime Minister Hazem El Beblawi’s interim government. She is still actively involved in Egypt’s grassroots communities and is a strong proponent of making recycling a social entrepreneurship.

She has convinced Procter & Gamble to pay kids for every container granulated and recycled to prevent counterfeiters from filling the bottles with fake contents to sell under their brand name. Now, the kids learn accounting and how to use excel sheets by keeping tabs of their earnings.

More than that, Laila keeps their hopes up by educating their youth. She’d like the community to make garbage collection less of a dirty job by creating a system, and that can only take place if the people in their industry are well-equipped to do their work not only with passion, but also with science. By teaching them how to read, for instance, Laila made map-reading possible for them. Now, they can do their rounds in a more organized way. Also, the zaballeens are being taught how to analyze contracts so they can do business and make recycling more of a career than a trade for those who have no choice but to do the dirty work.

Organizations and Programs Supported

CID Consulting
Kamel's Rug-Weaving Center
Alfanar
UNESCO
Environment Affairs
CWG
International Institute for Environment and Development
Sinai Recycling Project
Association for the Protection of the Environment

Awards and Achievements

1982: Collaborated with garbage collectors and founded an informal recycling school
1988: Served as Volunteer Field Director for the Rag Recycling Center at the Association for the Protection of the Environment
1994: Released Mokattam garbage village in Cairo, Egypt
1994: Received the “Goldman Environmental Prize”
1995: Founded “CID Consulting”
2005-2007: Acted as UNESCO’s UNLD Resource Person for the Arab region
2006: CID received the “Schwab Award for Social Entrepreneurship”
2007: Acted as Director and Lead Author of the Business Solutions for Human Development Report
Serves as Minister of State for Environment Affairs
Serves as a trustee at Alfanar
Served as a consultant to the Egyptian Minister of Environment on Waste Management
Served as a jury member to UNESCO’s “International Literacy Prize”
Sits on the Board of Trustees of the International Institute for Environment and Development
Executive Team Member of CWG
Involved in the “Sinai Recycling Project”