Espousing the interests of the inhabitants of E’zbet Haggana, an informal settlement of several hundreds of thousands close to Cairo International Airport, Al-Shehab has disseminated a rights-based and democratic conception of development as it has engaged the residents. , it is unique among civil society organizations in the area in that it does not carry a religious label and is equally open to Muslims and Copts, as it is to men and women, boys and girls, Egyptians and Sudanese refugees, vigourously asserting their equal dignity and legitimate claim to consideration of their family members, peers and authorities, and indeed of their own selves.

ِِِِ ِAlshehab believes in make a serious effort to involve their beneficiaries in their planning, through surveys of residents, seminars with them to discuss needs and priorities, and periodic assessments of the Center’s work. Sitting in on several staff weekly planning meetings

The Centre has developed an impressive diversity of initiatives to meet local needs: the enrichment of learning opportunities for local schoolchildren who have no access to private tutors, training for and organization of piece work for women without access to cash, ophthalmic and other medical consultation blitzes where clinics and state hospitals have come to the Centre to offer services to the people of Haggana, periodic fund-raising among residents to rent trucks to take away garbage, construction of sewer connections and stable rooves for hundreds of shanty homes, Summer camps or weekly activities such as drawing or football where Egyptian and refugee children come to-gether, AIDS prevention information.

Al-Shehab Foundation for Comprehensive Development is an NGO that started its activities in Ezbet Al-Haggana, a slum area of Cairo, in January 2001.

It was founded as a Civil Nonprofit Company, named Al-Shehab Center for Comprehensive Development, whose goal was to develop the local community in different disciplines.