On Tuesday and Wednesday, December 18th and 20th, 2023, YAD concluded its campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) with the annual Youth Unification Match. The campaign, which targeted hundreds of girls and boys across Kenema district, has been ongoing for several months. The closing session began with a brass band and motorcade from YAD’s Multipurpose Youth Resource Centre at Maxwell Khobe Street, leading the youth in a procession across Kenema City to the city field where the competing youth organizations gathered for the event. YAD started its fight against GBV, drug abuse, domestic and political violence among the youths in 2013 and the year 2023 marks the tin anniversary.

This year’s participants included 17 youth clubs prominent among them were Ultimate Family, Action Star Youth Club (ASYC), Pujehun Youth Developmental Organization (PYDO), Burma Youth Development Association (BYDA), Youth Resource Academy (YRA) and Youth Empowerment Services (YES).

The match started by 12:00 midday with the female wings of ASYC and YRA, who locked horns for a complete 90 minutes, ending without a goal. The male wings of PYDO and Ultimate Family seized the pitch by 15:00, which ended in 1-1.

The event is more than just a football match, as it is used as one of the diverse sensitization and awareness raising campaigns   methods used by the organization to  magnetize the youth in the region. YAD has been conducting vivid sensitization workshops on prevailing social problems that affect the youth, including GBV, Violent Extremism, Illegal Migration (Temple Run) and Harmful Drugs, which are highly prevalent among the youth in the country.

During the match-pass with motorcades and brass bands across the city, printed banners, t-shirts and placards were displayed with slogans of the year:

– Let’s live together in peace: STOP GENDER BASED VIOLENCE AND VIOLENT EXTREMISM!

– Think out of the box: SAY YES TO LIFE AND NO TO KUSH!

– Follow another path: TEMPLE RUN LEADS TO THE GRAVE!

– Let’s love one another: STOP TRIBALISM!

When speaking to the press, Isata Ngombulango, the Project Manager who led the program, revealed that the main goal of the project is to combat violence in all its forms against the youth, especially tenage girls, promote sociocultural cohesion and encourage peaceful coexistence among them in order to promote peace, democracy, and socioeconomic growth in the country.

Burma Youth Development Association (BYDA) and Youth Empowerment Services (YES) composed and presented a very thrilling drama on all the above themes of the program. YES was selected by the award committee as the winner of the drama. YAD donated the sum of 11,000 New Leones to be spread among the participating youth groups as awards.

It must be noted that the organization started its fight against GBV, drug abuse, domestic and political violence among the youth in 2013 with a special project titled “Youth Sensitization Campaign against Ethic Voting, Religious and Cultural Discriminations” in Sierra Leone. Funded by the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in framework of the Youth Solidarity Fund programme, the project targeted more than 1000 youths in Kenema district and it created 6 heterogeneous youth groups in the three political zones of Kenema municipality. The project also incapacitated executives of the targeted youth groups to serve as Youth Cohesion Ambassadors (YCA) who managed conflict among the youth in their various localities. Objective of the project was to eradicate Gender Based Violence, substance abuse, ethno-regional politics, and foster sociocultural cohesion and friendly coexistence among the youth using sport as magnet. Since then, a Youth Unification Event was born which serves as symbol of unity among the youth in Kenema district.

The ongoing campaign against GBV, Harmful Substance Abuse, and Violent Extremism started in 2022 with a special focus on the youth, custodians of culture, women and children. Funded by Fambul Tik e.V. and the Sandrose Foundation, the project will target 450 vulnerable youth selected from 17 youth clubs across the region.