Young volunteers from the Nawah Community Art Team from Sohag reflected on their experiences with community theater in a panel discussion on November 10 at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh.

The volunteers are part of a group of young people from different governorates in Egypt who participated in workshops on climate change and then developed a play to raise the awareness of their community members on the impact of climate change and its risk on girls’ and women’s health and access to services.

The panel, titled “Theater & Climate Change: UNFPA’s Edutainment Model of Community Engagement,” brought together Soad El-Sayed, UNFPA Youth Analyst, Manal Gamal, Head of the Central Department for Projects and Youth Training at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mohamed Hozayen, Head pf the Zad Team, Mark Safwat and Rimonda Boulis, from the Nawah team in Sohag.

“We have seen how strong of a tool art is,” El-Sayed said, “we used it not only to raise the awareness of communities, but to build the agency of young people first.”

El-Sayed explained that this program equips young people with edutainment tools as well as other life skills.

“So you end up with agents who want to promote change within their communities,” she said.

This community theatre comes as part of the Population Awareness Clubs, which operate in different Youth Centers around the country, in partnership with the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Etijah Institute and Zad Art Team. The clubs host different awareness activities to empower young people as well as raise their awareness around population issues using different edutainment tools.

“Before volunteering for Nawah, I was introvert,” Boulis said, “now I am expressive, I make my own choices and communicate better.”

Boulis said the communication skills she acquired enabled her to convince her parents to let her travel outside of her governorate of Sohag for the first time.

The Nawah team from Sohag were invited to Sharm El-Sheikh to perform the play they developed on the impact on climate change on women and girls at COP27.

“Our main challenge was merging climate change and the challenges women and girls face [during climate crises], especially in our Upper Egyptian society,” Safwat said.

He added that they had brainstorming sessions where they exchanged stories from real life, which ultimate inspired their script.

To watch the “Devil’s Sea” performance, click here.