Her enthusiasm about the environment and knowledge of engineering led to her explore idea of addressing the lack of housing for poor communities in Cairo by providing new environmentally friendly living spaces in the city.

Rostom currently works as a training & CSR specialist at the Solar Energy Co. Her work mainly involves managing initiatives which the company is leading in the field of social development and working with international organisations, NGOs, donor agencies, as well as governmental bodies.

Rostom also works with UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organisation) in implementing energy management systems in Egyptian industrial facilities.

In January 2014, Radwa was granted a fellowship from the DO School in Hamburg, Germany. At this time she had an idea: to provide a humane shelter for slum dwellers in Egypt. After receiving several training, workshops and coaching sessions, the idea was developed a project under the name Hand Over.

Hand Over, a sub-project from the “Ezbet Project”, seeks to provide sustainable, affordable and durable houses for slum dwellers by empowering architecture and civil engineering students/graduates, along with the local residents, and jointly they design and implement sustainable shelters for slum dwellers.

In its first year, Hand Over will rebuild one housing unit in Abu-Qarn district using the rammed earth technique, with a team formed of 27 engineering students/graduates and a group from the local residents. Once the first prototype has been successfully delivered, residents will be able to own their own homes through the offering of flexible payment arrangements.

Hand Over’s vision is expand this solution to include all slum areas in Egypt.