The Ministry of Youth and Sports and UNFPA inaugurated a new Safe Space in Sheikh Zayed this week, designed for refugee women and girls and their host communities to access gender-based violence response services – including psychosocial, legal, and referral to health services.

The event was attended by Minister of Youth and Sports Dr. Ashraf Sobhy and UNFPA Assistant Representative Germaine Haddad, and included an exhibition of craft products, handmade by women and girls who take part in the Safe Spaces’ vocational training workshops. 

The event also included a sports for development activity, raising awareness around gender-based violence and reproductive health using sports.

The Safe Space is located in the Sheikh Zayed Youth Center and brings the total of UNFPA-operated Safe Spaces to 14 in seven different governorates.

This is also one of eight Safe Spaces designed to support the integration of young refugees, hosting gender-based violence awareness and prevention activities, as well as income generation activities.

Other Safe Spaces are located in Cairo, Giza, Alexandria, Sharqeya, Qaluibiya, Damietta, and Aswan, hosted with implementing partners such as Care International and Etijah Youth and Development Consultancy Institute, and within youth centres under the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The Safe Spaces are designed for refugee women and girls and their host communities 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.

Services have reached nearly 24,000 boys, girls, men, and women in 2019, with the support of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation and the Embassy of Denmark in Egypt.