Photo Essay

Celebrating the International Youth Day

UNICEF Egypt participates in Abu-Quir Youth Camp, organizing life skills sessions through Meshwary project trainers.

Dalia Younis

31 July 2018

UNICEF Egypt’s Adolescent Development and Participation Programme supported the Ministry of Youth and Sports (MoYS) in implementing ‘Meshwary’ (My Journey) Project Phase I (2008-2011) and II (2012-2016). The project aimed at equipping disadvantaged young people (13 – 24 years) with enterprise, employability, financial and life skills to enable them to be economically and socially-empowered to make strategic choices about their future. This takes place through sessions at youth centers and in events with a high flow of the target audience such as the Abo-keer Youth Camp that was organized as a collaboration between many UN agencies in celebration of the International Youth Day 2017.

In the third phase of the project that started in 2017, supported by the Italian Cooperation, UNICEF and the MoYS is prioritizing poor and low-income districts in five governorates; the main focus will be on communities with a high number of vulnerable adolescents and youth and/or consolidated trends of irregular/illegal migration.

UNICEF/Egypt 2017/Mohamed Abd El-Wahab

“We want to deliver a message, whether it's to one person or thousands of people”. Ali is one of the founders of an initiative called ‘Start With Us’ for youth development and encouraging them to do charity in Assuit. He told UNICEF Egypt team that their first awareness campaign was in Assuit Unicersity where he studies; and it was called ‘Be Sure’. It aimed to raise awareness against rumor spreading and encouraging youth to research and verify news and information before sharing them on social media.

UNICEF/Egypt 2017/Mohamed Abd El-Wahab

“This is ‘I love you’ in sign language”. Aya studies at the Faculty of Education with a major in ‘special needs’ and she wants to develop her skills inside and outside college. She told UNICEF Egypt team that she is learning sign language at a youth center at Kafr El-Sheikh (where she lives) through a hearing-impaired high school student! His father was eager to develop his speech skills as a child till he was able to have a cochlear implant.

UNICEF/Egypt 2017/Mohamed Abd El-Wahab

“These sneakers commute with me for 6 hours daily”. Nermeen lives in Qalleen, Kafr El-sheikh. To develop her skills, she commutes for 6 hours daily to attend different training sessions in Kafr El-Sheikh and Alexandria. Despite the challenges, she believes this will ultimately make her special among the thousands who graduate each year from the Faculty of Commerce where she studies.

UNICEF/Egypt 2017/Mohamed Abd El-Wahab

“Everyone keeps telling me I can't be a criminal lawyer because I’m a girl. But I insist.” Menna earned her Bachelor of Law this year. While discussing her passion for criminal law as a career with others, they are usually surprised and tell her that such field has no place for girls. Menna, on the other hand, believes that a girl can prove herself in any domain as long as she’s passionate about it. Criminal law was her favorite course at college.