The Siwa Sustainable Development Initiative (SSD) is the brainchild of Environmental Quality International (EQI). It brings privately-led market-oriented solutions to one of Egypt’s most isolated, impoverished and unique communities. It demonstrates how private-public investments can preserve fragile ecosystems; create sustainable local economies; and generate balanced rewards to investors, thereby promoting sustainable development. Our environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic actions include reviving the endangered architectural heritage and handicrafts of Siwa Oasis; creating local community awareness of the value of preserving their natural and cultural heritage; and direct investment in ecotourism, organic farming, and other for-profit activities and sociocultural services.

Environmental Quality International (EQI) is implementing a project entitled Safeguarding Hassan Fathy’s Architectural Legacy in New Gourna, which is funded by UNESCO. The works focus on the rehabilitation/reconstruction of 5 of Hassan Fathy’s unique buildings in New Gourna, near Luxor, using traditional mud-brick construction methods and other local materials. The New Gourna settlement, which was built in the mid-twentieth century, is now registered under Law 119/ 2008 for significant buildings and sites of heritage value, and falls under the responsibility the Ministry of Culture’s National Organisation for Urban Harmony (NOUH). The implementation of this project is urgent, because many of the settlement’s buildings have already collapsed, or lie in a dangerous state of disrepair.

All proposed restoration works will be carried out in compliance with UNESCO’s directives, and the 1972 Convention on the Protection of the World Cultural and Natural Protection. Previous restoration works had actually already been carried out in New Gourna, but these relied upon the use of cement and red-bricks, contravening the 1972 Convention, by paying little heed to the original design and authentic earthen materials used by Hassan Fathy. In order to remedy this issue, the EQI team will endeavour to remove these elements, and rebuild the missing parts according to Hassan Fathy’s plans, using the authentic earthen architectural principles and materials of Upper Egypt. At no point will EQI use sand, cement, red-bricks, or chemicals in restoring the mud-brick elements; likewise, no grouting or chemical treatment of the soil will be applied for the restoration of the foundations. Natural oils will be used, rather than artificial chemicals, for the restoration of wooden parts

The Revival of the Egyptian Museum Initiative (REMI) was originally conceived in May 2012 through a public/private partnership between the Ministry of Antiquities, the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and Environmental Quality International (EQI). The project has expanded in the interim period from covering a few halls to the whole interior of the Museum. Currently funded by the European Union, the initiative strives to return the Egyptian Museum to its former years of glory, transforming it into a sustainable centre for socio-cultural and economic development, and attracting a greater number of visitors to the country.