Reviving Hearts That Were Born to Advocate for the Cause of Children and Youth Without Parental Care: Wataneya Society’s Youth Forum

Abstract

In Egypt, there are 12,000 children in residential care; however, this figure is underestimated due to the number of unregistered care homes. Like elsewhere in the world, children raised in residential care in Egypt usually receive inadequate quality of care. Nevertheless, when they reach 18–21 years old, they are abruptly required to leave care and manage all the details of their lives, while often unsupported, unprepared and unequipped to make the move. In addition, they carry the burden of a strong societal stigma, affecting them psychologically and standing in the way of their personal, social and professional well-being. To support youths’ transition to independence, Wataneya Society launched the ’Youth Forum’ in 2017. To date, the Youth Forum targets youth aged 18 and above with the following objectives: (a) providing a safe space for the youth to exchange their thoughts and experiences; (b) enabling youth to discuss the challenges they face and come up with possible solutions; and (c) empowering youth to communicate their voice to the concerned authorities and equipping them with the needed skills to become agents of change to their cause. Years of regular meetups imprinted the Youth Forum’s ripple effects on Wataneya Society’s different projects, such as Sanad Conference in 2019, which was the first regional conference on leaving care in the Arab World; the Care Leavers independence programme, which is a programme to develop the after-care system in Egypt; and Mobader (meaning ‘being proactive’) programme, which is led by the youth to enable them to practise community leadership skills. This article will highlight case studies of two of the Youth Forum’s participants to demonstrate: (a) the main challenges children and youth in residential care in Egypt face that affect their transition to independence; (b) how the Youth Forum tackles those challenges through its main objectives, activities and development processes; (c) the main outcomes of the Youth Forum and how it is connected to Wataneya Society’s different projects and the reform of the alternative care system in Egypt; and (d) key learned lessons from the process of implementation of the Youth Forum. The article will employ a framework adopted from the World Health Organization (2017).