Megawra’s inception in 2011 started with a partnership with the Contemporary Image Collective (CIC) through the production of a film titled ‘What a Building Wants to Be’ about Egyptian architects and urbanists discussing their design process.

Over the years, Megawra developed several partnerships with national, regional and international private and public institutions. Our understanding of partnership as a pooling of resources can take on a number of formats such as joint hosting of events, conceptualising projects and ideas together, and provision of support.

In 2014, we participated in Townhouse’s “Adad” program in which five cultural institutions co-curated monthly week-long programming at Townhouse’s Rawabet space. Our contribution focused on an event that critically explored alternative modes of university education in Egypt.

Pursuing this further, we partnered in 2021 with 10tooba and Mansour for Architecture and Conservation, collectively forming the Tahayyuz Alliance. Through it, we continue to ignite the conversation around alternative modalities for teaching architecture.

We have worked on activities that explore these ideas from our early start through a strong partnership with Ain Shams university. With them, in 2013 we set up the Ain Shams Neighbourhood Initiative, and collectively partnered with Cairo From Below (CFB) to organise a workshop linked to CFB’s “Our Urban Futures” competition and to host the award ceremony.

We have a longstanding partnership with Takween-ICD springing from their excellent track record in research and development of the Built Environment. We have worked together to develop water treatment solutions and heritage and environmental education activities for children in Matariyya.

Our international partnerships include the Through Walls cultural exchange project with Avenue 50 Studio, which in 2018 brought together female artists from Los Angeles, USA and Egypt. Other art related partnerships included the 2017 Quseir artist residency and exhibition with Cairo Urban Sketchers and the Robert Bosch Cultural Managers Program, as well as on-going partnerships with individual artists and performers such as Agnes Michalczyk and Chirine El Ansary.