Yalla Challenge 2019: Youth’s ideas for change

In continuation of the activities of the third season of You Change, Social Developmental Forum implemented the Yalla Challenge initiatives challenge to build the capacity of young people to lead community initiatives and digital advocacy campaigns.

3 training days in which 100 male and female participants from the previous seasons of the Yalla Change program participated in a series of theoretical workshops and practical exercises to come up with ideas for community initiatives and advocacy campaigns that touch on priority issues for young people and that will enhance young people’s self-confidence and their ability to change and the community’s confidence in them as well.

The first day included a number of sessions and workshops aimed at directing youth towards identifying the issues they wish to address, in addition to identifying the points of intervention and linking them with the sustainable development goals. The workshops came as follows:

Good education
Active political participation
Safe and positive social networks
The concept of basic services and environmental protection
The importance of initiatives and advocacy campaigns

Teamwork was the basis for the Initiatives Camp, where the participants were divided into groups led by a mentor to guide the youth. The first day of the camp began by reviewing the community initiatives and advocacy campaigns for the previous seasons of Yalla Change programs to motivate young people and give them some inspiration to start thinking about new campaigns and initiatives.

As for the second day, it had an intensive practical training for young people on what initiatives and advocacy campaigns are, how to formulate them, how to choose the problem, analyze it, and provide optimal solutions to it, along with determining the direct impact and long-term impact of any activity. A whole aspect of training was also devoted to selecting and defining the target group, managing resources, time, and evaluation tools.

Young people are now able to formulate campaigns and initiatives and after they have chosen their cause, each group presented the idea of ​​its initiative or campaign and introduced it to the evaluation committee within 6 minutes, a competitive atmosphere to ensure the best performance and persuade the committee to choose their idea.

It is worth noting that this camp is part of the activities of the program to strengthen the capabilities of youth as leaders of change in the Gaza-Yalla Cheng 3 societies in partnership with Norwegian People’s Aid and soon the winning ideas and campaigns will be implemented.