Egypt - Stories of Nabaweya - Political Awareness for Low Literacy

Series of Booklets Stories of Nabaweya

This series focuses on the main concern of the program, that is increasing political awareness of a large sector of people who are often neglected: the people who can hardly read, and politically are known as ‘the unlimited majority’ (exceeding 50% of the population). This series of booklets was issued for them in particular.

It is a series of booklets explaining some of the main political concepts by means of colorful cartoon drawings and simple stories about important political issues such as electoral cards, electoral programs, public referendums and the people’s assembly.

This series was met with great success in terms of its accuracy and efficacy in explaining concepts. We used a popular character, ‘Nabaweya’, who is a typical woman in our targeted group. She is illiterate and seeks to develop her skills and knowledge by gathering information.

Part 1: Nabaweya and Electoral Cards In preparation for the Egyptian parliamentary elections that took place in November and December 2000, we reprinted the first part of this series of booklets, which discusses the importance of the electoral card, how to obtain it and how to use it.
Part 2: Nabaweya and the Election Campaign Nabaweya learns about the procedures of political campaigns and what they are for.
Part 3: Nabaweya and the Referendum Nabaweya discovers the differences between elections and a referendum and the purpose of a referendum. She learns the importance of expressing her opinion and decides to participate in the next referendum.
Part 4: Nabaweya and Parliamentary Elections This part includes an explanation of the Egyptian parliament, and the important role it plays. In this part, Nabaweya’s skills have developed and she is better able to discuss issues using the information she has learnt throughout the last parts. At the end of this part, Nabaweya became completely convinced of the importance of parliament. She would therefore not only participate by voting, but would also seek to stand for parliament herself.