Invitation to Hand in Hand Campaign Launch Event & Press Conference

[Media advisory]

What: Hand in Hand Campaign Launch & Press Conference
When: Wednesday 29 October 2025 (12:00- 2pm Cairo/Amman Time- 10:00-12 pm Rabat/Tunis Time)
Where: Flamenco Hotel, Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt

The UN Women Regional Office for Arab States is pleased to invite members of the media to attend a press conference aiming to launch the regional youth-led Hand in Hand campaign, a creative and action-oriented initiative aimed at engaging men and boys in the Arab region in household and childcare responsibilities. This campaign launch event marks the International Day on Care and Support, observed annually on October 29^th to raise awareness of the vital importance of recognizing and valuing care work and promote equality between men and women in caregiving responsibilities.

The campaign is the first-ever campaign that has been co-developed by young men and young women from across the Arab region to address inequalities in household and childcare work. According to UN Women’s data, women perform more than three-quarters of the unpaid care and domestic work of the world. In the Arab region, women are still performing many more hours than men in unpaid care work: between 17 and 34 hours per week, compared to only between 1 to 5 hours per week undertaken by men, depending on the country.

The campaign launch and press conference will allow for in-person and online participation from media representatives. It will feature youth leaders from across the Arab region who were involved in the development of the campaign as well as the Egyptian social media influencer and radio host, Mahmoud AbdelMegeed - who has opened a discussion on positive fatherhood through his social media platforms for years and Drs Moez Doraid, UN Women Regional Director for the Arab States .

Background

Hand in Hand is a social mobilization campaign targeting youth aged 18- 35, leveraging both online and offline interventions to encourage men and boys to equally participate in caregiving responsibilities and reduce the gap between men and women in time spent on unpaid care by 60 minutes in the Arab States. The campaign is expected to have an impact on more than 1 million people, who will be influenced by the actions of young men and young women from across the Arab region who take part in the campaign. This campaign embeds elements of face-to- face, social media and mass media interventions. Three national social experiment videos filmed in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco served as the campaign’s flagship creative outputs, featuring families who partook household and childcare responsibilities challenging their own perceptions on care responsibilities.  This launch event is supported by the ‘Dare to Care’ regional program, an initiative by UN Women and partners, funded by Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency), GIZ (German International Development Cooperation), and the Basque Agency for Development Cooperation.

Objectives

• Engage the media as a partner in the campaign and discussion on men and boys participation in household responsibilities.
• Mobilize public interest in the Hand in Hand campaign and reach a wider audience through livestreaming and social media engagement.
• Disseminate Hand in Hand campaign advocacy content around unpaid care responsibilities distribution in the region.
• Amplify youth voices by highlighting the perspectives of the campaign Youth Advisory Group members to the media.

Key Speakers

The press conference and campaign launch will bring together approximately 75 participants and it will also be livestreamed online. Key participants include:

• Youth leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Palestine who were involved in the development of the campaign.
• Campaign Guest Speaker, Egyptian social media influencer and radio host, Mahmoud AbdelMegeed
• UN Women Regional Director for Arab States, Dr. Moez Doraid
• UN Women Regional Office Technical Experts

For further information on the agenda, please see the attached agenda.

Please join us for a coffee break and networking following the press conference.

For virtual participation registration please click the button below & register in advance: