Salwa Elhalawani, BA, MSc, MPhil

PhD student

Within the context of co management, Salwa is studying participation of local community in protected area management. In particular, the influence of the governmental authorities and foreign aid projects on local community participation.

Biography

Salwa is a sociologist and anthropologist by education. She first started her work in development back in 1997. Since then she has been accumulating extensive experience working with the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) and its Nature Conservation Sector (NCS), through development projects that were funded by many international NGOs such as USAID, IUCN, the Italian Cooperation, the EU Delegation and UNDP in Egypt.

Salwa’s engagement in international and sustainable development took her to indigenous communities in the eastern desert of Egypt, South Sinai and the southern Red Sea area. Her experience spans capacity building to protected area management units, monitoring and evaluation, social development, and cultural heritage preservation.

Career

2007- 2008: Monitoring and Evaluation Expert/Community Development/ Gender Expert, EU Programme: South Sinai Development Programme
2005- 2007: Project Coordinator, UNDP/IUCN/Egyptian Italian Environmental Cooperation Programme funded project: Nature Conservation Sector Capacity Building
1998- 2004: Programme Assistant, USAID funded project: Egyptian Environmental Policy Programme
1997- 1998: Project Administrator, USAID funded project: Environmentally Sustainable Tourism Project
1996-1997: Programme Coordinator, Ministry of Development and Local Management, Organization for Reconstructing and Developing the Egyptian Villages (ORDEV)

Qualifications

MPhil: Geographical Research, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge, 2009
MSc: Environment Science, Dept. of Humanities, Institute of Environmental Studies and Research, Ain Shams University, 2007
BA: Social Work, The Higher Institute of Social Work, Cairo University, 1994

Awards and scholarships

BP Cambridge for Egypt Scholars, Cambridge Trusts
Phillip Lake travel grant, Department of Geography
Tim & Wendy Whitmore travel grant, Department of Geography
Fitzwilliam College hardship

Research

Thesis title: Local community Participation in Protected Area Management: Egypt as a Case Study.

At present, protected area management internationally is moving towards participatory management as a progressive shift in both concept and approach. However, the agenda-setting process of conservation still continues to be dominated by government keeping the local people aside and undermining their role.

Co management is one form of community conservation initiative. Its success depends on three major elements: government policy, local community willingness to participate and share responsibilities, and the availability of funding, which is usually provided by foreign aid projects to support co management activities. Within the co management context, this research is exploring the interaction and dynamics amongst these three essential factors in Egypt. The conclusion of this research will identify key issues of co-management within the Egyptian context, evaluate the Egyptian experience against available theoretical literature and provide a comparative study with experiences elsewhere in the world.

Publications

Selected publications

Salwa Elhalawani (2008): Environmental Awareness of Bedouin Woman and her Role in Sustainable Development, Journal of Environmental Science, Ain Shams University, Cairo, vol. 28.