Placements in Palestine
These are our local partners involved in ICS placements from 2012-15.
Women’s Centre for Legal Advice and Counselling (WCLAC)
This organisation protects and promotes the rights of women by offering legal aid and counselling to women. It is a well-established voice in Palestine.
They work to ensure legislation and policies take women’s rights into account, and they have a particular focus on the issues of domestic violence and female activists. They also support grassroots community organisations to strengthen the support and services they offer to women.
Volunteers will support WCLAC in advancing their advocacy work, developing their relationships with donors and strategic partners, developing their English-language publicity materials, and advancing their English language research papers and publications.
http://www.wclac.org/english/Barrier Monitoring Unit (BMU)
The BMU project was established in 2004 under UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East). Its aim is to improve the documentation of the impact that the West Bank Barrier has on Palestinian communities, whilst advocating for Palestinian rights - with a particular focus on refugees.
The monitoring work of the BMU has the ability to affect approximately 500,000 people in communities in the West Bank and East Jerusalem who are impacted by the Barrier. Of these people, about 35% or 175,000 are refugees whose lives are directly impacted by the presence of the barrier.
Volunteers at the BMU will support them in raising awareness of the impact of the barrier; developing their monitoring and data management systems; transferring knowledge of research findings to academics, lawmakers and the media; training local stakeholders who will eventually take over the running of the BMU.
http://www.unrwa.org
Sharek Youth Forum
One of the leading youth organisations in Palestine, the Sharek Youth Forum supports children and young people in their personal growth and development, enabling them to take a leadership role in their communities.
Their 3 core programmes are:
- Bridges provides children and young people with access to safe recreation and extra-curricular activities. Strong role models, and opportunities for fun and friendship, are crucial in helping children develop self-esteem.
- Step Forward supports young people in the transition from education into work or self-employment. Youth unemployment in Palestine is incredibly high, and this programme provides career counselling and skills development. So far it has helped over 3000 young Palestinians access internships and employment.
- Advocacy is part of all of Sharek’s work and activities. Advocacy is the process of speaking out on issues that concern young people in order to influence political, social and economic systems.
Our volunteers will support Sharek to develop their plans and activities in all areas of their work.
http://www.sharek.pshttps://www.facebook.com/Sharek.Youth.ForumBirzeit University
The University endeavours to excel in higher education, scientific research, and service to the community. It is committed to providing equal learning opportunities to qualified individuals and to prepare students to become good citizens who are active in their society.
The university runs the Right to Education Campaign (R2E) which focus on how access to education is impeded by the many physical barriers to access, including checkpoints and immigration controls. Making the students aware of the violations of their basic rights, documenting these violations and empowering the students to speak out are at the heart of the Campaign.
Our volunteers will support the University in managing and developing the R2E Campaign through: awareness-raising and training activities with students and staff; research and documentation; local and international outreach activities and initiatives.
https://www.facebook.com/right2eduright2edu.birzeit.edu