United Group

The seminar was held at the main hall of Alexandria Engineers Club. It was opened by Mr. Louis Lotfy, head of the association, speech in which he welcomed the cooperation with the United Group through the CATT project in which NGOs perform their role in monitoring public expenditures. Mr. Louis defined public funds as an entrance for the seminar.

In the framework of the activities of the project "Community Action towards Transparency" project, implemented by the United Group with the support of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and on the basis of the protocols of cooperation signed between the United Group and NGOs, dated December 16, 2009, the "General Assembly for Human Rights" association organized a discussion seminar on wasting public funds at "The Irrigation Company for Public Work."

The seminar witnessed the attendance of numerous communities including; representatives of civil society organizations, members of local councils in Menofia, and a number of lawyers, journalists and parties' secretaries. Mr. Muhammad Ali, the representative of the United Group, spoke about the project's objective, represented in consolidating and strengthening the important role of civil society organizations in monitoring public expenditures as the way to achieve the higher goal of preserving public funds in a way that contributes to the development and advancement of society.

The seminar started by the speech of Mr. Hamdi Abdel Azim al-Najjar, who welcomed the audience and thanked the United Group and its representative Mr. Muhammad Ali. Furthermore he identified the role of NGOs in monitoring negative phenomena in society and highlighted the devastating effects of the prevalence of public funds abuse.

After that Mr. Al-Najjar presented an incident of public funds abuse monitored by the Central Auditing Organization at "The Irrigation Company for Public Work" that recorded a net loss of about 22.384 million pounds.

The association "The Democratic Dream" was established by the launching decision No. 7777 of 2009 in Cairo. This association was established with the help of the Legal Aid Unit of NGOs, in the scope of activities and the free services provided by the "Empowering Civil Society and the Legal Profession" project.

The Unit has been keen to declare the association within the scheduled legal period. The Unit is willing to offer the service of establishing NGOs and associations, in addition to the rest of its free services and activities, to many more of the civil society associations targeted by the project.