Community Initiatives - Arts and Dialogue

Active Citizens volunteers saw that films could be a great trigger for dialogue about local and global issues.  Films were screened in different cultural centres across two governorates. Following each screening there was a question and answer session to explore the relevance of the film and reflect on its main values and messages in relation to Active Citizenship. Issues discussed related to reconciliation, stereotypes, inclusion, co-existence and special needs rights. 

Promoting values of citizenship to children using arts to raise awareness. We created a series of Muppet shows with songs about citizenship and peace. This was delivered in ten schools and orphanages, followed by discussions with children and care-givers about the values that each show tackled.  Scripts covered reflect, respect, courage, inclusion and other values. The success of this initiative led to private schools and businesses offering to pay to host the sketches, ensuring sustainability.

Volunteers are organising international days to raise awareness among young people about community issues.  They initiated International Volunteer day with the participation of 13 NGOs in Minya, followed by the International Day for People with Special Needs and the Minya Book Fair.  Following this success, a team of 20 active citizens, decided to promote themselves as event planners and organisers to their network, ensuring sustainability for their initiative.

This initiative aims to promote acceptance and dialogue among young people, breaking down barriers between  polarised communities in Egyptian society. Volunteers  are doing this through training workshops, competitions, and games.  The initiative is implemented mainly in 15th of May City, which is in the far south of Cairo and is considered as a vulnerable area. These training activities are covering their own actual costs. (Cairo, Alexandria, and Minya)

Two participants with a passion for arts used forum theatre as a way to raise awareness and stimulate debate on local issues. Theatre troupe ‘Wa Lessa’ integrated forum theatre in their interactive performances on child labour, sexual harassment, women in society and interfaith understanding. Another group created a performance called ‘Alien Creatures’ to address stereotyping and prejudice among young people. The performances were held in cultural centres and social clubs in other governorates.

Storytelling workshops for women were used by a group of female active citizens to foster self-expression and personal transformation.  Participants were then invited to join storytelling sessions to share their fears, dreams, and aspirations. During these sessions they shared real personal stories, leading to the development of a performance that was presented several times in Qena. "The Seven Girls" performance focused on the violence facing women in Upper Egyptian society.