ICDS News
ICDS Conference on Political and Religious Reform
June 29-30, 2005

On the 29th and 30th of June, on the occasion of its reopening, the Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies will host its annual conference on Political and Religious Reform. The first day of the conference will be devoted to a meeting between the Board of Trustees and the International Advisory Council in order to discuss the Center's performance during the past year. On the 30th of June, discussions in the first session will be centered on political reform in Egypt. The second session under the title “Islamism and Islamic Reformation” will focus on the evolution of “political Islam” and its importance in the process of democratization in Egypt. An open press conference will occur from 5:30 to 6:30 PM to conclude this event.

ICDS’ Micro-Credits Program Holds its Third Awareness Session

On May 18th, the micro-credits program convened its third awareness session which tackled legal issues pertaining to women’s rights. The major objective of the session was to raise the awareness of poor illiterate women on their legal rights in order to enable them to get acquitted with the legal procedures regarding issues like marriage, divorce, conditioned divorce and child custody.

The speaker, lawyer Mohamed Abbas, opened the session by asking the participants to raise particular legal topics of concern. Most of the women requested further information on specific procedures they may pursue in order to guarantee their legal rights. The speaker also answered questions raised by some women on matters related to real estate disputes. Due to the limited time of the session and the increased interest of the participants, the micro-credits team decided to organize other legal awarness sessions in which more subjects will be tackled