In Wednesday 2 November, UNFPA Egypt in collaboration with more than ten UN Agencies commemorated the International Year of Volunteers +10 and the International Year of Youth under the title, “A Celebration of Egypt’s Youth and the Spirit of Volunteerism”.
The event, open to the public, took place from 3 to 9pm at El Sawy Cultural Wheel in Cairo. UNFPA distributed information concerning its activities on young people in Egypt and encouraged them to join hands with the UN and to have the opportunity to learn new skills and to contribute to community development through volunteering.
Indeed, volunteering empowers young people and gives them a chance to change the world from within their own communities, especially when enabled by strong partnerships at every level.
The young Egyptians who participated in the celebration, in addition to the interactive sessions with the UN agencies, enjoyed a wide range of entertainment from the concert with Shady Ahmed and Masar Egbari to dance performances (Sameteen Dance Troupe) and movie screenings. In the context of the 7 billion day, 3 short movies from the 7 billion actions campaign were presented to raise awareness around key population issues such as reproductive health, poverty, women empowerment, youth, environment sustainability, ageing, and urbanization.
At the end of the day, the aim of the event was fully met, as 800 young Egyptians decided to become effective agents of change by joining the millions of volunteers around the world.