President Sadat policies of giving more room for private sector in the economy in the seventies went hand in hand with giving room for NGOs to work. The increasing withdrawal of the state from services such as education and health, and the worsening of economic conditions forced/enabled NGOs to play increasing roles in providing services and charity.
NGOs gradually became important actors in development working in under-developed areas, trying to alleviate poverty and better the living conditions of the people.
Upper Egypt (south of Egypt) has the lowest development rates and it embraces the poorest villages all overt Egypt. This paper is going to discuss efforts exerted by NGOs in conflict management/transformation.
Role of NGOs in conflict management/transformation is of two folds; the first is direct actions taken in case of erupting conflicts such as stop the escalation, providing relief to the victims, mediation and conciliation. The second fold is studying roots of the conflict, different social mechanisms used to counter the conflict and potentials for aborting violence and conflict. Looking at the case in Egypt, NGOs practice the first fold of its role with relative success, yet nothing is done in the second part. The aim of this paper is to discuss potentials for integrating both folds and empower research in this respect. The paper will draw on a specific case study of the Regional center for Mediation and Dialogue (formerly known as the center for Conflict Transformation and Democratization).