Jos Repertory Theatre receives Czech Aid support for Beautiful Camp 2

By Editor

WITH the support of Czech Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Jos Repertory Theatre has been granted support in the Transition Promotion Project of Czech Republic under Czech Aid that aims to create and implement initiatives in the domain of human rights, gender equality, environmental issues, anti-discrimination, media literacy, youth engagement and social entrepreneurship. The result is to foster greater participation of young people and the creation of space for social engagement at the local and grassroots level. Beautiful Camp 2 aims to find a meeting point between justice and fairness. The camp, which has already opened virtually, will witness online seminars, conversations and discussions on shared projects which have been proposed and on-going from phase one of the project which is essentially a youth led project including interns from two Nigerian universities.

For the youths, who mostly do not know what the future holds, it has been a difficult period navigating their dreams and gauging the future. A lot of them have taken the rather desperate solution of migrating – both legally and illegally – believing that the solutions to the present situation lies in the metropolitan centres of Europe. The political landscape is not offering any immediate respite with economic instability, social insecurity, intolerance, lack of mutual respect, antagonism, depression, lack of faith and goodwill in the country.

According to the director of Jos Repertory Theatre, Dr. Patrick-Jude Oteh, part of the aims of Beautiful Camp 2 is to show the youths that their opinions are eaully valued as any other. This has been the bedrock of encouraging the participants to work across different geo-political zones and this process has already progressed with two AI films – one on early marriages and the other on Gender Based Violence. The participants involved are working from Kano and Abuja and in the South South zone, and there is an on-going writing project that discusses the environmental degradation in the Niger Delta region as well as the travails of erosion. There has also been a photography collection in three cities with youths working across divides with their mobile phones.

For Beuatiful Camp 2, there will be the infusion of interns from two Nigerian universities who will be working from Jos Repertory Theatre on the project. The overall goal is to seek for youth engagement and social entrepreneurship that results in greater participation of young people and the creation of spaces for social engagement at the local and grassroots level. The goal is to find a meeting point between justice, fairness and equity. Using the arts as driver, the programme tends to localize the Transition Promotion Policy of the Czech Republic that encourages all aspects of democratic culture, respect for human rights, the rule of law and the wellbeing of society at large. It is a project that is aimed at upholding the principles of full participation in public affairs that lead to a global dialogue and the better enjoyment of human rights.

Jos Repertory Theatre will work collaboratively with Czech Embassy, Abuja to realize the ideals of Beautiful Camp 2 to seek for the common good across the most difficult divides and offer hope in challenging and difficult times. Beautiful Camp 2 is an initiative of Jos Repertory Theatre, with support from the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Czech Aid under its Transition programme.