Youth Ministry & Safe Egypt Launch Mental Health Programme

For a young athlete, sports clubs or youth centres can be much more than a place to train. It is where friendships are formed, confidence is built and identities begin to take shape. But it can also be where pressure, bullying, harassment or other struggles surface, often without the adults around them knowing how to respond.

Signed in the presence of Minister of Youth and Sports Gohar Nabil, the cooperation protocol between Egypt’s Ministry of Youth and Sports and Safe Egypt for Training and Consultancy brings mental health, safeguarding and early intervention into youth centres, clubs and sports facilities across Egypt, expanding access to these resources for young people where they train and spend their time.

Safe Egypt has spent more than a decade working around protection from violence, prevention and psychosocial support, bringing children and adolescents into the conversation alongside the adults around them, including parents, coaches and other professionals. Now, that experience is being brought into Egypt’s wider youth and sports system.

Sara Aziz, Safe Egypt’s Founder and CEO, explains how the protocol will expand mental health and safeguarding support across youth centres and sports facilities. "The initiative will include training around bullying, harassment and assault, alongside broader mental health awareness for young people and athletes. Additionally, administrators and staff in sports facilities and youth centres will learn how to identify concerns early, approach children appropriately and respond when someone reports an issue."

Parents are another part of that equation. Through sessions at youth centres, the programme will look at the relationship between parent, child and sport, including how families can find a healthier balance between encouragement, expectations and the pressure to perform.

"The partnership also brings the RAJUL programme into the picture, one of the most unique components of this protocol." Aziz highlighted to SceneSports.

The program opens up a conversation around masculinity and fatherhood. One part will work with boys and young men at youth centres, exploring the difference between manhood and masculinity and encouraging healthier ideas around identity, responsibility and relationships.

The second turns towards fathers, focusing on effective fatherhood and the role they play in creating a supportive environment for their children.