Poverty represents one of the development challenges that faces the developing countries in general and Egypt in particular. Though poverty alleviation came on the top priorities of the third millennium goals, as in 2002 about 20.4% of Egyptian people were suffering from objective (absolute) poverty which means that about 13.7 million people are unable to fulfill their basic needs and about 31.8% suffer from subjective poverty. Poverty risk looks ostensibly equal between men and women, but women in general and female headed households suffer more. Therefore small-scale enterprises are one of the mechanisms that lead to poverty alleviation especially among females. This requires coordination among all relevant stakeholders governmental and non- governmental, besides to reform the financial sector and stimulate it to deal with local and financial needs of small-scale enterprises, and to facilitate poor people’s access to appropriate financial services. In light of the previous review, the current study aims at describing poverty status in Egypt and the system that incubate small-scale enterprises and stakeholders as well as beneficiaries and rural women in particular. The study depended on review of literature and secondary data and case studies that reflects one of the civil society organizations experience working in development through providing small-scale enterprises for poor people in rural areas. The case studies covers three governorates: Fayoum, Beni-suef and Menia with a total number of 20 case studies who received livestock production projects with no interest rate, aiming at identifying the problems and solutions to improve the performance of small-scale enterprise providers as well as beneficiaries. The results revealed that successful stories can be attributed to the strong will of beneficiaries to improve their livelihoods, besides the role of the organization in collaborating with local leaderships within the villages, which helped to identify and monitor those beneficiaries. Based on contracting between the provider and beneficiaries to guarantee rights and obligations of both partners, also providing training and follow-up and evaluation played great role in the success of the projects and its sustainability. As for the failures, it was related to poor capabilities of the beneficiaries (widowers) who were affected by various challenges one of which is socialization, lack of skills and health problems.

This study explored the opinions of central level extension employees about whether the Egyptian agricultural extension system needs to be reformed or not, and the alternatives they consider to be the best-fit options for extension in Egypt. The study covered 98 extension employees at the central level; findings show that all aspects of the Egyptian extension system are good candidates for reform and possible restructuring. These aspects could be ranked as financing, policy & organizational structure, staffing, and field operations as reported by 100%, 95%, 91%, and 68% of the respondents, respectively. Concerning the overall extension system, about 91% of the respondents reported that the Egyptian extension system is a good candidate for reform and possible restructuring. Findings also show that devolution, deconcentration, and delegation were the appropriate arrangements for extension decentralization as mentioned by 85%, 82%, and 55% of the respondents, respectively. Moreover, alternatives of providing and financing extension services were suggested and prioritized.

The study aimed mainly to explore the customary judgment in the study area from the viewpoint of respondents, identify their personal and social characteristics, and determine barriers faced the local judgment and their suggestions to overcome it. Data were collected from 33 proposed respondents distributed on seven tribes in North Sinai governorate, using questionnaire form during May 2010. Frequencies, percentages, and average were used for data display. Findings show that about one third of respondents are illiterate, 81.8% of them are located in the category of high leadership, and 72.7% of them are highly exposed. The most important criteria of the selection of customary judges are heredity, biography, and social status. The main sanctions imposed by local judges are fines (camels), oath, and compensation. The most important obstacles facing customary judgment are the highly expenses incurred by the judges in the transition to conflect place and communication, with weak financial potential of some judges, and relying on the judicial wisdom and sideburns only without reference to the experienced people, especially in the emerging issues on the Sinai community

The purpose of this study is to measure the job characteristics of agricultural extension centers' personnel in Assiut governorate using Hackman and Oldham’s Model, and to examine the model fit with the current study. The job diagnostic survey was used as the assessment tool to measure the components of the job characteristics model. Data were collected from all of the agricultural extension centers' personnel in Assiut governorate (84 personnel) by questionnaire. The job characteristics model’s overall fit with the data was evaluated using common model goodness of fit measures estimated by AMOS. The results showed that dealing with others and feedback received the highest ratings; autonomy and skill variety received the lowest ratings from the core job characteristics. The moderate feelings towards the core job dimensions yielded a low motivating potential score. Knowledge of results yielded the highest rating and experienced responsibility yielded the lowest rating from the psychological states. Internal work motivation received the highest rating and growth satisfaction received the lowest rating from the personal/work outcomes. Stimulating work environment yielded the highest rating and pay satisfaction yielded the lowest rating from the moderators of the model. The various indices of overall goodness of fit for the model lent sufficient support for the results to be an acceptable representation of the job characteristics model.