Partner: UNFPA and Ministry of Youth & Sports
Year of Implementation: 2017-2018
Etijah recognizes the unique power of sports to attract, mobilize, and inspire people. By its very nature, sport is about participation, inclusion, and citizenship. It stands for human values such as: respect for the opponent, acceptance of binding rules, teamwork and fairness, all of which are principles which are embedded in the Charter of the United Nations.
As Etijah is committed to investing in youth, and underscores the rights of youth in development and the need to capitalize on the potential of adolescents and youth to contribute to positive social transformation, it used Sports for Development approach to raise awareness about sexual and reproductive health as well as gender-based violence at Safe Spaces Project, Sanad Project, and Population Awareness Club in collaboration with UNFPA in 2017 & 2018. The activities that were carried on included:
1. Training of Trainers (ToT):
Etijah carried out two training of trainers: the first training aimed to build capacity of young people on using the sports activities to raise awareness about reproductive health among Egyptian youth form different governorates, especially upper Egypt and marginalized ones, at youth centers in collaboration with Ministry of Youth and Sports; the second training aimed to help the young people to use the sports activities to raise awareness about gender-based violence among the Syrian refugees at Safe Spaces. Five days were organized about Sports for Development that trained participants from 12 governorates. The training empowered 55 young people to become trainers. The training managed to:
- Provide an insight on sports and its development through history of humanity
- Expose the participants to different examples where sports have been used for development in different societies and with different perspectives.
- Allow the participants to think of what defines our culture and identity and how our culture can be greatly affected by different factors.
- Introduce the participants to the concept itself and gave them the chance to think of the basic items that might differ from culture to another.
- Educate the participants about the administrative aspect of a sports event that is used for development and understand the logistics and mass people managing during a sports event.
2. Sports Awareness Events:
Etijah, in collabotation with Ministry of Youth and UNFPA, organized 8 sports for development events were organized during 2017 & 2018 in Qena, Aswan, Fayoum, Asuit , Sohag and Beni Suif within youth centers to raise awareness of the youth about SRH and GBV. The events were attended by 2245 beneficiaries, 1245 in 2018 and 1100 in 2017. The events included different sports and awareness activities:
- Wendo (self defense) Classes
- Art Therapy
- Zumba Training
- SRH Sessions
- Football Matches
- Theater Performances
- Medical Convoys