ICA began work in Egypt in 1976 with a demonstration self-help development model in Bayad, the biggest village in the Bayad El Arab Local Government Unit, situated on the poorer east bank of the Nile, in the Upper Egyptian governorate of Beni Suef, 120 km south of Cairo.

Within 4 years, the model expanded to include all the other mother villages and satellites in the Local Unit. The work of the ICA has since expanded to other areas in the governorate in order to capitalize on the experience gained and to broaden the impact of the methods and techniques developed over the previous years.

The Institute worked under an agreement with the Governor of Beni Suef and in partnership with the Local Units and 35 CDAs on capacity building and integrated project activities in the east and west bank of the Nile, thus covering the entire governorate of Beni Suef and serving a population of around 500,000.

In March 1999, the Institute signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Social Affairs granting the ICA the right to pursue development efforts in all of Egypt's governorates. This allowed ICA to resume community development work in Aswan governorate where the Institute has established an office and initiated programs with 5 CDAs, with plans to increase the number of served communities to 15.

The impact of ICA's development activities reaches other governorates in Egypt, as well as Africa and the Middle East through its Communication Development Sector. The Sector provides training programs and consultancies for a number of local and international organizations in the region, such as implementing an NGO Internship Project with many local NGOs spread across Egypt.

ICA MENA implements its programs according to a five-year strategic plan. In September 2000, ICA (MENA) developed its plan for (2001-2006), which would introduce it to the new millennium. However, the process was far from being conventional, as it was built on two main pillars: Using a participatory approach that involved not only all ICA staff, but also counterparts, partners and clients. Secondly, an Impact Assessment Study of 10 years of ICA's commitment to the socio-economic development in Egypt. In addition to the above, the new Strategic Plan has taken into consideration the current development trends as expressed by the Egyptian government, UN bodies, international organizations and other NGOs.