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Since the 1980s, Mercy Corps has been working to help grassroots Palestinian groups encourage citizens to engage in a meaningful way in local and cross-border matters. Mercy Corps programmes are providing a solid foundation for the development of a robust civil society. We are making educational, recreational and vocational opportunities available to those who are especially vulnerable – youth, women and people with disabilities – to help all Palestinians become empowered as fully active citizens.
WEST BANK
Cross-Border Partnerships Toward Economic Development and Peace
Mercy Corps is supporting the economic platform of the peace process through two grants, one funded by the British Consulate and the other by the European Commission. These programmes, called Investing in Peace, facilitate concrete business partnerships and technical capacity transfer for Israeli and Palestinian information and communications technology (ICT) companies. Our activities help to establish economic linkages on which further peace efforts can be built.
Following a market assessment and mapping of at least 200 Israeli and Palestinian companies, the Investing in Peace programme has identified areas for Palestinian and Israeli ICT business partnerships, niche areas of cooperation, market needs and third-party investment prospects. Next comes an internship programme in which Palestinian professionals are mentored at Israeli ICT firms where they can achieve international certification.
The programme also develops advanced regional business networking that provides a foundation for mutually beneficial economic relationships and helps them to grow, in ongoing efforts toward a lasting peace.
Youth Empowerment and Education
Population growth in the West Bank has created a youth bulge -- a phenomenon that is becoming common across the Middle East. Nearly half of all Palestinians in the West Bank are youth under the age of 18. While nearly 90 percent are enrolled in schools, and 200,000 students graduate from university studies every year, a shortage of jobs hinders economic development and prevents young people from connecting with the world in a meaningful way. Mercy Corps is working on several fronts to create opportunities for the young people of the West Bank.
• Technical and Vocational Training
The European Commission is funding a two-year programme that empowers and prepares West Bank youth for successful careers. This programme, called Securing a Future Free of Poverty, provides young people with technical and vocational training in line with market needs and designed to lead to employment. It also engages them in advocacy efforts around employment. The improved educational and apprenticeship opportunities made available to youth are allowing them to apply what they learn and develop their own networks among business and IT professionals. These relationships are invaluable as they pursue jobs and define their career paths.
• Mentoring and Tutoring
The Middle East Children’s Institute has enabled Mercy Corps to expand our support of youth education. Our programme incorporates educational mentoring and one-on-one tutoring, psychosocial support, economic stimulus and the empowerment of women into a multi-dimensional after-school education programme. Over the three years of the programme, it will give up to 700 youth a safe and healthy learning environment.
Working with local women’s organisations, Mercy Corps is making a remarkable difference at the community level. Local teachers are hired to tutor and supervise children, providing employment in a dire economic environment. All school supplies and food are purchased from local vendors, stimulating the local market economy.
• Information Technology
Since 2007, Mercy Corps has implemented the USAID-funded Vocational Training and Educational Development (VTED) programme throughout the West Bank. The programme focuses on curriculum development and upgrading IT centers at Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) institutions to increase the quality of teaching and make vocational and technical careers more viable options for Palestinian youth.
Mercy Corps’ expertise in IT training and our partnerships with Cisco and Microsoft ensure that TVET curriculum and resources will be both relevant and cutting edge. The VTED programme is making an important contribution to strengthening and diversifying the skills of the next generation of Palestinians, enabling them to contribute productively to the economy and their family livelihoods. Mercy Corps is also working to place TVET graduates in internships with local businesses and private organisations.
Support for People With Disabilities
Mercy Corps is engaged in a transformative intervention to help recognize and integrate disabled people into the mainstream Palestinian community.
Our Sports for Change programme, supported by the European Commission, provides West Bank people with disabilities with access to high-caliber sports programming. It builds upon the US Department of State-funded Sports for Life programme that built the capacity of coaches.
Mercy Corps is also focusing on building the capacity of sports clubs and public facilities to accommodate the unique needs of athletes with disabilities, and is working closely with young athletes, offering powerful leadership and communication trainings. Mercy Corps is collaborating with the Palestinian Paralympic Committee to leverage its connections and experience in the region’s disability athletics. By improving the quality of sports activities, our programme helps participants increase their independence and self-esteem. The programme also helps transform community perceptions about people with disabilities.
GAZA
Mercy Corps has been working to help Palestinians in Gaza meet their immediate needs for survival and find durable solutions to chronic problems for over two decades. Of late, this endeavor has become more difficult. The war in January of 2009 has brought even more restrictive border closures, further crippling the economy. While these restrictions have eased recently, still nearly 80 percent of the population lives in poverty, while unemployment persists at just under 45 percent — among the highest in the world.
Toward a Sustainable Recovery
Mercy Corps’ programmes in Gaza are transitioning from emergency relief into longer-term recovery. Our three-pronged approach focuses on:
• Housing: Mercy Corps is addressing the housing needs of thousands of displaced families, many of whom are now homeless, by hiring local civilians to perform necessary labour.
• Psycho-social support: Mercy Corps is organising psycho-social support activities for youth and women affected by trauma. Through a Gaza-specific Comfort-for-Kids curriculum, young students have found an outlet through which they can express their dreams and fears, and feel safe sharing amongst their peers.
• Jobs: We're using our proven, and very innovative cash-for-work approach — paying local men and women to rebuild needed infrastructure, help to equip public schools and hospitals, support small farms, and repair nets and boats to stimulate an imperiled fishing economy — to create short-term income generation and job training opportunities. Over time, this programme will transition into longer-term, sustainable microfinance initiatives to spur the growth of economic opportunity in this job-poor territory.
Responding to Trauma
The war and blockade restrictions have caused trauma among many Palestinian civilians, particularly young people. Amid the violence and desperation of recent months, they have experienced insomnia, irritability, low self-esteem and hopelessness. All these symptoms of trauma have been observed and monitored by Mercy Corps staff who are working to help young people heal amid the most challenging conditions.
With funding from ECHO, Mercy Corps is helping distressed individuals and families. We're creating a network of community support through open dialogues and forums hosted at nine community centers across the Gaza Strip. And, we are facilitating self-healing through publicly distributed brochures, informational kiosks on dealing with unexploded ordinances and manuals on overcoming stress and despair.
Currently the agency is convening 162 ongoing support gatherings that bring together thousands of vulnerable civilians. In this safe environment, youth can talk and find comfort among a compassionate group of peers also looking to heal and move forward.
Resuscitating Local Economies
Gaza's market structure has been virtually decimated by months of severe restrictions on imports and exports and on the cross-border movement of people attempting to conduct business. Burdened by the one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, Palestinians living in Gaza now must effectively rebuild the economic foundations of their society.
To assist them in this task, Mercy Corps is continuing our cash-for-work programming, funded by the European Community Humanitarian Office and ARD, Inc. Cash-for-work enables families to earn desperately needed money so they can purchase essential supplies. In turn, their buying power helps speed the resuscitation of local economies.
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