Egypt’s economy over the last decade has undergone many structural changes, with important implications for the development process. The state run economic policies, which had prevailed earlier, were curtailed and the call for opportunities for partnership with the private sector as well as NGOs to provide social services in the development field was initiated by the government. Therefore, the social science research agendas which were once formulated unilaterally by the universities and academics for whom the emphasis was on the understanding of the processes of change now shifted to emphasize the enhanced role of NGOs and the private sector in the process of development without the necessary substantive linkages between this new sector and the traditional one. Consequently, the social science research agenda remains neither demand driven nor sensitive to the needs of the stakeholders creating a vacuum in certain areas of development oriented research. Stakeho lders for the purpose of this program include beneficiaries, NGOs and government bodies concerned with development, especially in the southern part of Egypt where relative deprivation within the country is most acute. Against this background, it becomes apparent the crucial need for information in the process of development and decision making. It is true that the availability of information may not guarantee success in policies and programs but its absence almost certainly assures failure. Sound policies and effective programs need abundant, reliable, timely and relevant knowledge about the nature of the problems addressed and the alternative approaches to their solution or the amelioration of their consequences.