by UNV Egypt for Al-Ahram weekly

17 April 2008

Cairo, Egypt: Young Egyptians are increasingly becoming aware of the opportunity they have to play a key role in shaping their present and future communities and are progressively identifying creative means of engaging themselves in the development process.

Volunteering is fast emerging as one such vital channel leading to participatory development. Youth demonstrating their solidarity by willingly contributing their time and effort has a crucial impact on the development of society and further expands young people's sense of civic responsibility, tolerance and respect.

Sara Refaat, former UNV volunteer, describes her experience: "As a graduate student of political science and human rights law, I had always been interested in observing and studying Egyptian society. Egypt is a very diverse society, but I never fully realized the complexity and beauty of this country until I had the chance to visit 22 Governorates as part of my volunteer work."

Volunteering also allows young people to acquire valuable skills and experiences that will help them in their professional careers and future lives. "As a UNV volunteer," notes Sara, "I was responsible for monitoring and evaluating a project aimed at renovating 150 schools in 27 Governorates in Egypt. On a professional level, I gained a lot of experience. Besides successfully conducting the field visits and carrying out my tasks, I enhanced my communication skills, through communicating with people from different backgrounds, interacting with government officials, and people from various public institutions."

"On a personal level," she continues, "I learned a lot about the Egyptian culture, way of living, and also Egypt’s countless natural resources. Finally, through my UNV assignment, I hope I made a difference towards developing Egyptian society. Without doubt my UNV assignment made a difference to the person I am now." Hence, ensuring adequate volunteer opportunities for young people is highly beneficial to society at large.

Volunteerism and civic participation are integral values of the Egyptian people that are deeply embedded in the country's history, traditions and culture. However, promoting enhanced youth participation and volunteerism entails overcoming certain negative social and cultural stereotypes that limit the role of youth in society and sometimes work to jeopardize the key role that youth can play in the development process.

Above all, many young Egyptians face serious barriers to their personal development, such as lack of access to health, education and adequate employment opportunities, all of which compromise their ability to participate meaningfully in the development of their communities through volunteering.

Promoting youth volunteerism inevitably requires a shift in how adults and young people view themselves and more importantly, a shift in how society at large perceives the role of youth in the development process. Young people should not be seen as passive recipients but rather as essential contributors to the development of their societies.

Volunteering for development entails tackling issues that directly affect youth, such as: poverty, universal primary education, gender equality and empowerment, reducing child mortality, maternal health, HIV-AIDS and other diseases, ensuring environmental sustainability and youth unemployment. Seizing the enthusiasm and commitment of young people through volunteerism offers the perfect vector to face these challenges and guarantee future sustainability.

However, the sustainability of youth volunteer initiatives is ultimately dependent on the existence of an enabling and supportive environment for volunteerism. It is therefore crucial to work toward ensuring all sectors of Egyptian society’s support for volunteer activities and promoting the establishment of socio-political and economic structures that encourage and sustain the work of young Egyptian volunteers.

Volunteer activities supported by the United Nations Volunteers programme build on Egypt's existing volunteering and civic participation potential by encouraging activities that channel the efforts of Egyptian society towards achieving development goals. At present a total of 70 national UNV volunteers work in 11 sectors, namely: activism, children, education, environment, gender, human rights, ICT, poverty, private sector, youth and refugees.

14 Egyptians currently work abroad as international UNV volunteers in Bangladesh, Malawi, Timor Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.
 


Female Genital Mutilation-free village model and UNV volunteers

The FGM-Free Village Model constitutes an excellent example of how advocacy, volunteerism and youth participation can serve to mobilise society at large even on sensitive cultural issues such as female genital mutilation (FGM).

The FGM-Free Village Model project constitutes a national initiative aimed at eliminating the practice of FGM in Egypt by addressing issues linked to social pressure on women and young girls and targeting a total of 120 villages across the country. It is being implemented by the National Council of Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) with the support of UNDP and various donors.

The success of this experience shows the importance of involving volunteers. In this project, the key role played by enthusiastic groups of young UNV volunteers has led to the adoption of an innovative approach that targeted entire communities and has succeeded in engaging religious leaders, doctors, lawyers, judges, government officials, media, youth, community leaders and NGOs in the campaign.

At present, 43 national UNV volunteers are involved in the project.



The Think Twice project

The Think Twice project works with 10 NGOs and with 120 youths in advocating children and youth rights in selected communities using arts and media tools, while promoting volunteerism. The project sets up the bases to enable children and youth to express themselves, be heard and play an active role in the development of their communities through arts, educational tools and media.

The youth have worked under the leading and mentoring role of 10 UNV volunteers. They received training on child rights and responsibilities, photography, puppet theatre and animations. They implemented community initiatives and provided services for children and youth with a special focus on promoting the participation of marginalized groups in seven governorates.