After 7 years of destruction, the Rural Resilience 3 program brought life back to the Al-Shorouk Sports Club hall in Al-Maafer District, Taiz Governorate. Amid the joy of young people and community members, the region celebrated the opening of the sports club hall, which was bombed during the war.

Al-Shorouk Club is one of the most prominent clubs in the Taiz countryside, which has achieved remarkable successes in the cultural and sports fields. The club's football team won the governorate championship for three consecutive seasons, and many stars presented, most notably top scorer Essam Abdel-Ghani and defender Fouad Taresh.

The gym: from destruction to renaissance

With the outbreak of war in Yemen, the Al-Shorouk Club’s gymnasium was bombed in 2016. Since that date, the gym has been subject to looting and vandalism, and its structures have eroded and its contents have been destroyed.

The youth of the region remained committed to the dream of repairing and rehabilitating the hall. Their determination increased as the confrontation lines moved away from the region and relative stability returned to it.

In 2023, Tamdeen Youth Foundation, in partnership with the Youth and Sports Office in the governorate, implemented a project to rehabilitate the Al-Shorouk Club gym, as part of the interventions of the joint program to support livelihoods, food security and climate adaptation in Yemen (Rural Resilience 3), affiliated with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and funded by The European Union and the Government of Sweden.

A great achievement for the youth and the region

The project included a comprehensive rehabilitation of the gym, "the entire roof, wall, paint, bathrooms, windows, doors, playground, and electricity, using sustainable and environmentally friendly methods."

After completing the project, the gym was opened in the presence of local officials and community members. The youth expressed their overwhelming happiness. President of the Shorouk Club, Akram Sufyan, said: “The rehabilitation of the gymnasium of the Shorouk Sports and Cultural Club is a major achievement for the youth in particular, and for the region in general, as it comes in light of the Ministry of Youth and Sports’ direction towards activating sports and cultural activities in the region and at the national level.” Taiz Governorate. The new gym will be a safe space for young people to practice their hobbies and sports activities, such as tennis, chess, five-a-side football, billiards, vollyball, and activating the bein sport card.

As for the cultural field, the club president says: The hall will be an incubator for holding cultural seminars, holding scientific competitions, and organizing conferences and social events of interest to the people of the region.

    The club president thanks the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Youth and Sports Office, and the Tamdeen Youth Foundation for their success in rehabilitating the sports and cultural hall of the Shorouk Sports and Cultural Club, which will enable young people to express themselves, hone their talents in sports, art, theater, and develop skills.

This partnership is an honorable model

The project was distinguished by activating the participation of all concerned parties, as the Youth and Sports Office contributed an amount of 8,000,000 eight million Yemeni riyals, as well as the community contribution.

A says. Ayman Al-Mikhlafi, Director General of the Youth and Sports Office in Taiz Governorate: “We worked in partnership with the Tamdeen Youth Foundation to restore and rehabilitate the sports hall of Al-Shorouk Club in Al-Ma’afer District after it was damaged as a result of the war. It was rehabilitated to be a suitable environment for practicing sports and cultural activities.

He affirms: This partnership is an honorable model of cooperation between the government sector and civil society organizations in developing sports and empowering youth.”

Activating community participation

  The reopening of the Shorouk Sports Club Hall is an inspiring success story, in joint work and activating community participation in local development.

A. Adel Al-Mushmar, Director General of Al-Maafer District, says: “The gym will contribute to enhancing social cohesion, local development and youth care, by providing a space for social communication between young people from different groups and regions, organizing sports and cultural activities and events, and providing opportunities to practice sports and activities.” cultural for young people.

Al-Mushmar adds: “Joint work and activating community participation in local development can achieve tangible and positive results and contribute to building more stable and prosperous societies.”

Job opportunities and personal development

The success did not stop at rehabilitating the gym. The Rural Resilience 3 program #ERRYJP3 contributed to improving the livelihoods of young people, enhancing their self-confidence, and giving them hope for a better future.

400 young men and women from the region were trained in business management skills, and were provided with temporary job opportunities through the cash-for-work methodology.

  The young man, Wahib Abdel Qaher Aklan, says, “I cannot describe the extent of the positive impact that the (Rural Resilience 3) program has had on my life. Thanks to the training I received and the opportunity I was given to work in rehabilitating the gym in Al-Sinah Isolation and improving the main street in Al-Nashma Market in Al-Maafer, I became more confident in my abilities and skills. It was not just a job opportunity, but an opportunity for personal development and to contribute to improving my local environment.”

The young woman, Donia Ahmed Saeed, says: “This project not only gave us job opportunities, but also gave us hope and confidence that we are capable of improving our lives and our future in our society.”