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Manshiet Nasser is considered one of the biggest informal settlements in Cairo, with about 600,000 residents. "Informal settlement means development without plans, without construction permit and without purchasing the land, which is owned by the state" (Rashed, 2003). This centrally placed but fallow, rocky desert terrain east of Fatimid Cairo extends beyond the cliffs of the Mokattam mountains and has been developed informally since the early 1960s by incomers from Upper Egypt, but also by an impoverished section of the population that had been driven out of central Cairo.
Manshiet Nasser is not a slum, but a relatively poor part of the city, now almost in the city centre, with multi-storey buildings and lively commercial streets, shops and teahouses, with workshops, craft premises and even a little industrial area – a lively urban quarter, but a quarter that is entirely lacking in any legal basis, and also has no access to drinking water; sewage and waste disposal facilities are inadequate, there are no social services, schools, training establishments, health provision, sport and leisure facilities or open and green spaces. The German Society for Technical Co-operation and the KfW development bank are carrying out participatory development projects to establish and secure basic needs, in close co-operation with the Cairo Governorate, civil society organizations and non-governmental organizations. The key element is that residents are involved in the planning processes and that local democracy is promoted; the residents are encouraged to put forward their own solutions in order that aid projects can be tailored to their needs