Attention Grabbing in Development

Something I have really enjoyed about the Egypt country programme here at UNFPA is the focus on building initiatives that are modern and attention grabbing. I cannot tell you how many times I have experienced trainings that use unfamiliar terminology and only consist of a powerpoint presentation. While the Sustainable Development Goals are incredibly important, a 13 year old is not going to gain much by sitting around a conference room for an hour, learning that SDG 10 has a target of "By 2030, reduce to less than 3 per cent the transaction costs of migrant remittances and eliminate remittance corridors with costs higher than 5 per cent." While inequalities in that young person's country may have a great impact on his/her livelihood, spelling out the target definition is not going to make a sustainable change.

Instead projects should find an attractive "in" and move with that. A few weeks ago, UNFPA Egypt launched our Music for Development Initiative in Alexandria. It brought together a diverse array of local Alexandrian bands who not only played their music, but also wrote and performed songs themed around issues of gender-based violence, female empowerment, and sexual reproductive health. There were over 2,000 people in attendance ranging from young to wise, Egyptian and international. 

Music is something that has always been very dear to my heart and it was a special experience to witness it being used for development. Another topic of interest for me: sports. Last week the youth team brought in 25 sports coaches from across Egypt for a 3-day training on Sports in Development. The training focused on developing skills to teach sexual reproductive health topics through sports and physical activity. A study that was done here in Egypt in 2014 found that 59.2% of young girls report to not be physically active, which is twice the rate of young boys at 33% (Survey of Young People in Egypt, 2014). The inclusion of girls and persons living with disabilities was a central focus when we were developing the training outline as both face incredible barriers to enjoy physical activity. Guest speakers and athletes came to support the initiative, including one of my favorite agencies: Skateistan. This Afghanistan native NGO attracts youth to education through learning how to skateboard. It has helped in breaking social norms for girls and has shown the power of physical activity can have in creating an inclusive environment for all.

As well, UNFPA Egypt joined forces with Cairo Runners and hosted a 5K run for National Population Day. I helped the team design some promotional content that we used to advertise on Facebook and social media. Here is one that was used.

Now we are in preparations to host the UN International Youth Day Camp that will take place from the 12-16th of August. We are in the process of collecting youth ages 18-29 from across Egypt to come and spend the 4 days developing campaigns around the pillars of "People, Prosperity, and Planet." We will be teaching them about how to build successful campaigns for media and development in general. As someone who loves camp, I cannot wait! But I also look forward to seeing what these youth will come up with and it excites me of the prospect to meet young, passionate Egyptians.