The Ezbet El-Nasr Youth Network worked closely with the District authority to design and produce traffic signs to mark their community with the name the community identifies itself with.   In a community ceremony, the traffic signs were inaugurated as a first step in a new future, marking the area as “Ezbet El-Nasr”. To outsiders the area was previously known only by the Jewish cemetery bordering it. The aim of the youth initiative was to give a stronger identity to the community living in the area. The ceremony was attended by Dr. Nemaat Saty, Head of Centeral Department for Parliament and Civic Education, Ministry of Youth and Dr. Azza al Doury from the same department, Basateen District Chief Tarek Al Yemini, and Hesham El Zeftawi and Sundus Balata from the Egyptian-German Participatory Development Programme in Urban Areas (PDP). Regina Kipper, Coordinator of the measure “Promotion of Youth Participation in Informal Areas in Greater Cairo” at PDP said: “The establishment of these signs is not only a great way to demonstrate community identity, but also a great initiative from the youth network of Ezbet El-Nasr.” Four youth networks – including the network of Ezbet El-Nasr – were established in 2011 as part of the Youth Fast Track Measure which is financed by the German Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ). The measure aims at empowering young Egyptians between the ages of 18 to 35, enabling them to participate effectively in planning and decision-making processes in their local communities. The youth networks were established in four informal areas in Greater Cairo (Masaken Geziret El-Dahab and Markaz El-Abhath / Warraq in Giza Governorate, and Ain Shams and Ezbet El-Nasr in Cairo Governorate). The aim of the networks is to give young Egyptians the chance to play a stronger role in their communities and enable them to engage in a constructive dialogue with the local authorities. Through dialogue platforms, the young people are currently designing and planning development initiatives together with the local authorities to benefit their local communities. Ezbet El-Nasr is an informal settlement on desert and state-owned land, with over 72.000 inhabitants. It is formally attributed to the southern districts of Cairo and the Al-Basateen district. It is bound by the Ring Road to the South, the Autostrad to the East and a slaughterhouse to the North. A historic Jewish cemetery is embedded into its western parts. The history of the area’s construction goes back more than 40 years and is strongly linked to an influx of rural migrants from Fayoum, Beni Sweif, Menia, Asyout, Sohag and Qena. Ezbet El-Nasr is in many ways physically and socially segregated from the rest of the city. Although many basic services can be found in the area, the quality and maintenance of these are often unsatisfactory. The PDP is an Egyptian-German development programme, working to upgrade informal settlements in Greater Cairo – such as Ezbet El-Nasr – in ways that involve the residents of those areas. The overall aim is to enhance their living conditions and alleviate urban poverty through improving local services and environmental conditions. Approximately 60% of people in Greater Cairo live in unplanned, densely populated areas that lack basic services and social infrastructure, and are suffering from environmental pollution.