CAIRO, EGYPT — A theatre-based education training using Y-PEER manuals and trainers was held in Cairo between 30 May and 3rd June at the National Council for Childhood and Motherhood (NCCM) premises. The aim of the training was to learn a new methodology in sharing information with young people through theater techniques and to be able to develop and perform role plays and skits.
A total of 27 outreach workers coming from five different districts of 6th October Governorate attended the training. The event was focused in theatre-based Peer Education, using the health messages that these outreach workers were previously trained on, such as Early Marriage, Family Planning and Gender.
The five-day training consisted on four workshops in educational theater followed by performance rehearsal. The first workshop “Zip to Script” consisted of helping the participants to interactively develop scripts for short scenes. The second, “Building the Character”, helped them to understand what builds characters in theater and to be able to develop and understand backstories. In the third one, “Marrying the Message to the Audience”, the participants had to adapt the developed theatre piece to different target groups (by age, education, cultural background, values, etc.). Finally, the “Performance Post Facilitation” enabled them to discuss with audience the scenes played and involved the audience in discussion.
The same training has been conducted for young people more than five times in Egypt since 2007, but this is the first addressed specifically to outreach workers. Two more similar trainings are expected for next July and September.
