The Arab Voluntary Union in Bahrain participated in organizing the activities of the Arab-African Forum to Enhance the Role of Volunteers in Facing Climate Change, during the period from March 21-27, in cooperation with the Ministry of Youth & Sports of Egypt, in the presence of Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports.

The forum included more than 35 Arab and African nationalities to discuss mechanisms and how to support the efforts of young volunteers around the world to confront the effects of climate change, and the necessary procedures towards adapting to the consequences of climatic phenomena.

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, said that the world has begun to witness many tangible changes as a result of rapid and successive events, including climate change, and there are major economic and climatic challenges facing the world. He added, saying: "We in Egypt have placed our youth at the forefront of the categories that receive attention and care for a future without conflict, and we have succeeded in creating a common space in which we meet and manage our differences in a civilized manner".

The Arab Voluntary Union in Bahrain participated in the activities of the third edition of the Arab-African Week for Volunteering and Entrepreneurship in Sharm El-Sheikh, from February 24-28, under the patronage of the Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Minister of Youth and Sports, Dr. Ashraf Sobhy.

The forum aims to bring together a select group of young people, institutions, and Egyptian, Arab, and African initiatives to shape their future, share their aspirations and goals to serve their countries, and work hand in hand for a better future. It also aims to highlight important and numerous aspects of Egyptian youth life and participation by reaching innovative solutions and effective vocabulary that are translated into reality through social entrepreneurship.

The week also includes various community institutions, entities, youth initiatives, and startups with social impact at the national, Arab, and African levels. This forum comes within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's declaration of 2022 as the Year of Civil Society, and in line with the Egyptian state's vision towards achieving sustainable development.

Mr. Hassan Buhazza, President of the Arab Voluntary Union and President of the Good Word Society, affirmed that the celebration of the International Day of Human Fraternity, which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on February 4 of each year, and which was adopted under the project submitted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Arab Republic of Egypt, comes as a reflection of the urgent need for humanitarian initiatives in light of the health, political, and social changes that the international community is experiencing.

The President of the Arab Voluntary Union explained that the Kingdom of Bahrain is a model in establishing coexistence, peace, and dialogue between cultures and religions, and an inspiring country for the world in respecting all sects and religions, and spreading the principles of peace, considering peaceful coexistence as the lifeblood of peoples, and a civilizational and human heritage that people in Bahrain have been endowed with since ancient times based on good citizenship and tolerant humanity.

He pointed out that what the Human Fraternity Document included achieves global security and peace, through a culture of tolerance, the dissemination of good morals, the concept of citizenship, the rights of women and children, equality of rights between individuals, and the affirmation of the values of world peace, coexistence, and peaceful coexistence between the countries and peoples of the world.

It is worth noting that the United Nations has called on all member states of the organization and governmental and non-governmental civil society organizations to celebrate this day starting from 2021, by mobilizing the efforts of the international community to promote peace and solidarity on this day of each year, in the hope that security, peace, and peace based on justice and stability will be achieved in the world without wars or destruction.

Egyptian artist Mohamed Sobhi received a delegation from the Arab Voluntary Union, headed by Mr. Hassan Buhazza, President of the Union, and the Financial Director Hussain Al-Saeed, and the Union's coordinators in the Arab Republic of Egypt, director Nour Al-Qurashi and media personality Mustafa Tariq, in the city of "Sunbul" in the Arab Republic of Egypt, in the presence of Dr. Nisreen Abdel Aziz, where during the meeting the Arab Voluntary Union honored the Egyptian artist in appreciation of his overall contributions to artistic and national works. The meeting also discussed the overall forms of cooperation between the Union and the artist Mohamed Sobhi to support Arab and youth voluntary issues, especially after the artist Mohamed Sobhi was chosen as a guest of honor for the Arab-African Youth Forum scheduled to be held next March.

Mr. Hassan Buhazza expressed his happiness at the selection of the artist Mohamed Sobhi as a guest of honor for the forum, which came to light as one of the activities of the World Youth Forum platforms, which revolves around giving Egyptian youth and youth around the world an opportunity to develop and support their various ideas in all fields, and discusses many issues and topics related to the issues and challenges of the Arab region and the African continent, in an open dialogue about the most important concerns of the youth of the Arab and African world.

During the meeting, the President of the Arab Voluntary Union also reviewed the Union's action plans and its role in encouraging and supporting Arab youth to pursue their voluntary projects and activities to serve Arab societies, encouraging and supporting voluntary creativity in the Arab world, in addition to opportunities to develop voluntary work and transform volunteering into a methodology of daily life and expand the circle of cooperation with official institutions in various Arab countries in the field of volunteering.

He explained the necessity of solidarity and cooperation between Arab influencers in spreading voluntary awareness among various circles in the Arab world to serve people and the importance of the role of art in enhancing the role of volunteering and volunteers in various developmental aspects and sustainable development indicators, enhancing the role of volunteers in various aspects of humanitarian response, and the importance of investing youth energies and encouraging creative voluntary cadres and building capacities and community awareness, to advance societies and elevate them.

During the meeting, Buhazza and artist Mohamed Sobhi discussed issues of interest in preparing young people as one of the main sources for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, which represents a large sector in society that can be relied upon due to its ability to contribute to achieving economic and social development, especially in light of global challenges and the trend towards sustainable development strategies and mechanisms to achieve the goals that enable peoples to achieve a better life for humans, respect the natural environment, enhance human awareness of existing environmental problems, rational use of natural resources, and link modern technology to the goals of society.

Dr. Ashraf Sobhy, Minister of Youth and Sports, Chairman of the Executive Office of the Council of Arab Ministers of Youth and Sports, accompanied Mr. Hassan Buhazza, President of the Arab Voluntary Union, a number of African and Arab Ministers of Youth and Sports, and a number of heads of African and Arab institutions, on an inspection tour inside the Youth and Sports City in Sharm El-Sheikh, South Sinai Governorate.

This came on the sidelines of participation in the activities of the fourth edition of the World Youth Forum, held in Sharm El-Sheikh under the patronage of His Excellency President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, President of the Republic, during the period from 10-13 January 2022.

The inspection tour was attended by Mr. Abdel Razzaq Sabqak - Algerian Minister of Youth and Sports, Ms. Miriam Dousou Dalmida - Togolese Minister of Youth and Employment, Ms. Chido Cleopatra Mbemba - African Union Youth Envoy and the accompanying delegation.

The inspection tour was also attended by Mohamed Fathi - Director of the Youth and Sports Directorate in South Sinai, Dr. Ahmed Nazmi - Follow-up Officer at the Minister's Office, Dr. Mohamed Hassan - Assistant Minister, Dr. Amr Farouk - Youth Projects Officer at the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Saad Nadim - Youth Office at the Ministry of Youth and Sports.

The tour included getting acquainted with the city's capabilities of facilities, the indoor hall, the squash complex, the Olympic swimming pool, football fields, gym halls, the residence hotel, conference halls, and workshop halls.

For their part, the African and Arab Ministers of Youth and Sports and the delegations of youth institutions praised the distinguished level of the Youth and Sports City in Sharm El-Sheikh, stressing that it is one of the leading facilities at the level of the Arab world and Africa, explaining that it has a diversity of youth and sports facilities, and has all the capabilities that make it capable of hosting various tournaments.

It is worth mentioning that Dr. Ashraf Sobhy - Minister of Youth and Sports held a number of bilateral meetings with Ministers of Youth and Sports from various countries participating in the activities of the World Youth Forum to discuss joint cooperation from the countries of "UAE, Djibouti, Algeria, Bahrain, in addition to a meeting with the African Union Youth Envoy".

 Mr. Hassan Buhazza, President of the Arab Voluntary Union, affirmed in an interview on Extra News channel, commenting on the first day of the opening of the World Youth Forum, that the World Youth Forum is a global forum, and we are happy in our Arab region that there is a global forum of this size and there is a keenness and interest for us to participate in this distinguished forum and learn about this unique experience.

In his speech, he pointed out that he is keen to participate in all the activities of this forum, whether sessions, working papers, and activities in the forum, as it is an opportunity to get to know our brothers in all countries of the world, explaining that the Youth Forum is an opportunity for acquaintance, understanding, and spreading the culture of voluntary work.

He also pointed out that the forum constitutes an opportunity for meeting, understanding, and participating in voluntary initiatives at the regional and global levels.

He stressed that there is a strong opportunity to promote voluntary work, especially in the availability of social media sites that allow the message to be delivered to all parts of the world.

He also stressed the importance of adopting social issues and initiatives, such as the "Decent Life" initiative, which is witnessing a great momentum in voluntary work, describing it as an ambitious project and a tremendous work.

Emphasizing that it is one of the most important projects being implemented in Egypt, stressing that work in Egypt is proceeding in all fields and sectors.

In his speech, he pointed out that the Arab Voluntary Union was keen to participate to benefit from the World Youth Forum, adding that the issues discussed during the dialogue sessions are global issues that work to bring points of view closer to reach radical solutions to them.

He also emphasized his first participation in the World Youth Forum in its edition held in Sharm El-Sheikh, noting that he was a good follower of all the editions of the conference and the valuable topics it addresses, whether in general sessions or specialized sessions.

He added: "The World Youth Conference made Arab youth happy with this unique experience that is a source of pride," noting that he is keen to attend workshops and events of the conference because of their extreme importance in acquaintance and rapprochement between different cultures".

He pointed out that the meeting of young people from different cultures and countries of the world is capable of solving global issues and proposing solutions to the problems that the world suffers from.

Under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, the Good Word Society, in cooperation with the Arab Voluntary Union, organized a celebration at the League of Arab States headquarters on the occasion of the glorious National Day anniversary and the anniversary of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa's accession to the reins of power in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

The celebration was attended by His Excellency Dr. Essam Sharaf, former Prime Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Mr. Hisham bin Mohammed Al-Jowder, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Arab Republic of Egypt and Permanent Representative to the 1  League of Arab States, Dr. Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General of the League of Arab States, Dr. Mofeed Shehab, President of the Egyptian-Bahraini Friendship Association, Ambassador Khalil Ibrahim Al-Thawadi, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the Arab Affairs and National Security Sector at the League of Arab States, in addition to a number of officials and ambassadors at the League of Arab States, and an elite of representatives of foreign organizations, NGOs, civil society, and the media.

Mr. Okail Ismail Okail, General Coordinator of the Arab Voluntary Union in the Arab Republic of Egypt, participated in the meeting of specialized Arab sectoral federations based in Egypt. The meeting was held at the General Secretariat of the League of Arab States, chaired by Minister Plenipotentiary Mohamed Khair Abdel Qader, Director of the Department of Arab Organizations and Federations at the Arab League.

Mr. Okail Ismail said that the aim of the meeting was to review the decision of the Egyptian Prime Minister, Dr. Mostafa Madbouly, No. 104 of 2021, regarding the executive regulations of Law 149 of 2019 regulating the practice of civil work in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and clarified in its first and second articles that its provisions apply to regional and foreign non-governmental organizations operating in Egypt, provided that they reconcile their situations in accordance with its provisions within one year from the date of work with its executive regulations, and comply with Egyptian laws and regulations.

The meeting discussed the steps and procedures included in Law 149 of 2019 regarding the regulation of civil work in the Arab Republic of Egypt and its executive regulations, which provisions apply to associations, civil institutions, sectoral federations, and regional and foreign non-governmental organizations.

The Department of Arab Organizations and Federations at the League of Arab States requested the meeting due to the presence of a number of Arab federations that are members of the Arab Sectoral Federations Forum, which is sponsored by the Secretary-General of the League and is based in Egypt, in order to adhere to Egyptian laws and regulations, where the Arab federations concerned with the decision participated.

Al-Azhar University hosted a workshop organized by the Arab Voluntary Union in cooperation with the World Organization for Al-Azhar Graduates and Al-Azhar Ambassadors, during which the projects of the winners of the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd International Foundation Insignia for Best Voluntary Work were reviewed, along with brief information about the winning projects. The workshop included a speech by the participating delegations in the event and the contributions of the members of the Arab Voluntary Union in implementing voluntary initiatives and spreading the culture of volunteering, especially in times of humanitarian crises, and the impact of volunteering on community development.

The World Organization for Al-Azhar Graduates also launched the Al-Azhar Ambassadors Program "Preparing Al-Azhar Leaders... Making a Volunteer Leader", in cooperation with Al-Azhar University and the Arab Voluntary Union, and under the patronage of the Ministries of "Solidarity - Youth and Sports - Planning - Higher Education", the Institute for Leadership Preparation, and the Egyptian Space Agency.

Mr. Hassan Buhazza, President of the Arab Voluntary Union, stressed the importance of the partnership with the World Organization for Al-Azhar Graduates and its receipt of the Voluntary Work Award for 2019 from the Prince Mohammad Bin Fahd International Foundation, and that the Union aims to qualify one million volunteers, noting the effective role of the Al-Azhar Ambassadors Program in qualifying 1000 Al-Azharites and that this is the beginning that starts from Egypt.