Cairenes often think of Fayoum, a region 130 kilometers south of the national capital, as the largest nearby oasis, and home to one of Egypt's most beautiful lakes. Many are oblivious to its ecotourist developments, run by Cooperazione Internazionale Sud-Sud.

Known in English as the International South-South Cooperation (CISS), the Italian NGO has helped the governorate since 2004. CISS' activities have focused on developing ecotourism in Fayoum's capital city (which bears the region's name), and in the process creating work opportunities for locals, reducing poverty and promoting Fayoum's culture.

"It is one of the poorest Egyptian cities," said Carmela Grillone, CISS' representative in Egypt. "Most children go to work instead of school," which is why the NGO selected it as its base in the country, she says. One of the main challenges CISS had to overcome was the local attitude towards outsiders. On that point, the stance of Fayoum's people has improved.

"When I first came here, I was pelted with stones because I was dressed differently and because I was a foreigner," Grillone recalls. "Today, I am greeted, and people come and tell me about their lives." The NGO decided it would teach locals that tourism could become an engine for their economy.

CISS organized a house-to-house awareness program in association with a local organization called the Association of Societal Development. And the results have been positive. "They no longer swear at tourists or even ask them for money," says Mohamad al-Dash, a coordinator with the program.

Foundation-building. The NGO also has helped the city of Nazla to literally clean up its act. It was once covered in garbage, but today its nearly four million inhabitants enjoy a cleaner environment, and are planning to plant trees and decorative flowers in its green spaces.

"We're not doing it only for tourism," says Grillone. "In fact, we don't encourage mass tourism. We believe that the first beneficiaries of ecotourism are the people themselves. They need to maintain their own well-being and to live in a clean society."

To further that goal, Grillone insists on hiring locals as tour guides. Some are even sent off to a course in tourism management in Florence, a city that has lived off its rich cultural heritage for centuries. Those working in the new tourism industry also receive English and Italian courses to improve how well they can communicate with tourists.

Back at Fayoum, the association has established tourist information centers, which are staffed by workers who are trained in communication and knowledgeable about local attractions.

One example is Nazla's famous Pottery Village. People have been making ceramics there since the time of the Pharaohs, which is something CISS has capitalized on. "Instead of leaving [the pottery] plain," al-Dash explains, "we got people from the Al Gadeed valley to train them how to draw pharaonic symbols," which sell for a much higher price.

The next step was to help locals market their products. So the organization held fairs, and signed an export agreement with a trader in Palermo.

"He's looking into the possibility of buying their items and selling them in his shop," Grillone explains. "We're helping them export their products, but we want to get tourists to visit here ... who want to experience this culture, not those who are interested in resorts."

Skills development. At the organization's training center in Nazla, more than 50 women sit learning carpet weaving or Arabic literacy. Education is a big theme in CISS' work, and each of these students has gone through a rigorous selction process.

"We've selected those who are not educated, who don't have a man to sustain them," says Grillone. "Some of them are young girls, some of them are widows and others are divorced." Many say they hope to return home to teach others what they've learned.

"They don't pick women who are studying or those who have kids and cannot dedicate their time," says Karima, another trainee. Those in the Arabic class listen keenly to their teacher, who asks them to repeat words and identify certain letters of the alphabet. "I make sure I make the time to study," says Afaf Rady, one of the students.

"I wanted to learn how to read and write because my children would fool me telling me that they have done their homework, and in fact they haven't. Now, I also teach them." In another corner of the building, Amm Hanafy is busy teaching carpet weaving.

This is the second such course he has carried out for the organization (the first was in another of Fayoum's village, called Shakshouk). "It doesn't take long to complete one carpet. It's just that they're learning this at an advanced age," he says.

Hanafy trains the students on four carpets of various difficulty levels at the same time, so that they never know which carpet they'll be working on. "You're never too old to learn, as long as you have your health, you can learn anything," says Naglaa Mahmoud, one of the trainees. "We have people who are 50 or 55 years old, and they are the best."

Next, CISS plans to help graduates to start their own businesses. In 2006, the NGO established a microcredit program with the Egyptian Social Fund for Development, to allow women to buy a loom and raw material (which can cost up to $182).

They pay back the loan using sales from their carpets. In keeping with its goal of supporting local development, CISS says that down the line, even the training center in which it holds these classes will be left to the villagers.

It's just another of the many ways the NGO would like Fayoum's residents to benefit from opening their home to tourists.