PIP: Maqattam, with a population of 17,000, is the largest of Cairo's garbage settlements. Twice a day, girls and young women aged 12-20 years sift through garbage in search of food scraps to feed their pigs, bundle animal bones, pick through glass and metal, and separate paper and plastic. 20 years ago, the Association for the Protection of the Environment (APE), an Egyptian nonprofit organization, began working in the settlement in an effort to improve both the standard of living in the community and women's status. A composting plant for pig manure was first installed, removing the product from yards and generating income for development. A second project involved 500 Cairo families who separated organic and inorganic garbage before pick-up by the garbage-collecting families, reducing by 50% the hours which Maqattam women and girls spend sorting. Particular effort was made to connect girls to nonfamilial institutions in the attempt to create employment which was close to home, acceptable to the community, readily learned, requiring low material investment, and having a market. To develop girls' skills and offer them a chance to earn income, the developers chose rug weaving, patchwork, and papermaking, while some young women have become home-visiting health workers. Project leaders are now looking into how to encourage men to be supportive of young women who assume new roles. The development project also opened an infant and child care center.