“Yalla Shabab”.. more than a football league

Aiming to revitalize hope among displaced youth in the Gaza Strip, a proactive group of young activists launched the “Yalla Shabab” initiative, which creates a space for youth to meet, play, and compete in a supportive and healthy atmosphere, where they practice their top interest hobby “football”. This initiative is a joint collaboration between the Social Developmental Forum (SDF) and the Save Youth Future Society (SYFS), funded by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Education Above All (EAA) foundation.
Football amid the war
The initiative mainly entailed a football league for internally displaced young people in the north and middle areas of the Gaza Strip, aiming to provide a safe space where they can re-practice their favorite sport, which they used to do before the war. The initiative’s team launched a call for competing teams, where young players came together in teams of five, relatively named “Together For Palestine, Youth, Liberty”, reflecting their genuine engagement with the current situation.

Ideally, each team had five primary players, and two substitutes, with a team leader, a coach, and a supervisor, who together represented the full technical and administrative capacity. The league was notably competitive and the atmosphere was indeed positive and exciting, away from the brutal war they have been enduring since the past 15 months.
A space to play and discharge
The initiative mainly aimed to foster youth’s well-being amid the lack of such safe spaces where they can play and discharge. “That’s why we designed a sport initiative; football was simply our first and best choice to create such a space. We drafted the proposal and led the implementation. It was rewarding to see young people playing for 4 hours, a short break away from the burdens of displacement, recalling prior war’s days.” Mai Afifa, Yalla Shabab team leader.

The young participant, Ahmad Masoud remarked on his participation saying: “I joined the youth team where we drifted away from shouldering displacement burden to play, compete, and have fun. We didn’t win the match, but a much rewarding incentive, to maintain hope, and to embrace a short break amid the chaos.”
While Ali Jarbou stressed the “uniqueness” of the initiative amid the brutal war. He said “Through Yalla Shabab, SDF created a long-awaited space to discharge the mental pressures we have been enduring. While we used to play football weekly, the war deprived us of this healthy routine.”

Through this platform “Initiatives Bank”
SDF created a space for young leaders to propose micro-community initiatives, where they received coaching and funding to be implemented. 14 community interventions have been launched since December 2024. They have all been supported and funded through this mechanism to foster the community engagement of the young displaced and enhance their well-being amid the brutal Israeli war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023.