Ashraf AboArafe
UNFPA, the Ministry of Youth and Sports and Etijah Youth and Development Consultancy Institute will launch the Community Arts Festival with the Zad Art Team, with the support of the European Union and the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation.
The festival will begin on November 21 and run until December 6 at the Civic Education Center. It will also be livestreamed on UNFPA as well as Etijah’s social media accounts.
The festival comes as part of the Population Program and the Humanitarian Program, operating under the Ministry of Youth and Sports in cooperation with UNFPA and Etijah.
The program employs entertainment and art tools, which include music and interactive theater, and aims to raise awareness on gender-based violence, family planning, the concept of the small family and harmful practices against girls and is carried out at Population Clubs around Egypt’s governorates.
Using the power of interactive theater to change social norms, a group of volunteers from Population Awareness Clubs and Safe Spaces in various governorates benefited from the restrictions imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic and unleashed their creativity.
With the help of Zad Art Team, the volunteers developed theatrical scripts through online workshops to raise the awareness of their communities on various issues including female genital mutilation, family planning and gender-based violence.
Population Awareness Clubs operate within different Youth Centers across the country, hosting various activities on population issues and their impact on youth using different tools. UNFPA also operates 14 safe spaces for women and girls in seven different governorates, hosted with implementing partners such as CARE International and Etijah, within the youth centers of the Ministry of Youth and Sports. The Safe Spaces operate with the support of various donors including the European Union, the Italian Agency for Cooperation and Development, the Canadian Embassy in Egypt, and the Norwegian Embassy in Egypt.
The Safe Spaces are designed for women and girls to access gender-based violence response services – including psychosocial, legal, and referral to health services. It is a place where they can also socialize and re-build their social networks, integrate with their Egyptian peers, receive social support, and acquire different skills.
Thirteen theater groups were established in the Safe Spaces and Population Awareness Clubs in 13 governorates, bringing together amateurs of all ages and genders.
Community theater contributes to spreading awareness on various social issues, and promoting dialogue, giving community members the opportunity to write and develop theatrical scripts and tell their stories.
The festival aims to spread awareness and highlight the main role that community theater and the arts in general play in development.
It will feature 13 theatrical productions in addition to music performances – a result of workshops where participants worked on writing and directing these scenes.
