Bethlehem Municipality and ActionAid Palestine to Organize the Green Market Celebrating International Youth Day
Bethlehem - Palestine - Bethlehem Municipality organized “Green Market” in partnership with ActionAid Palestine (AAP), organized in Star Street Market in the old city of Bethlehem with the participation of a number of entrepreneurs. This market aimed to celebrate the initiatives led by Palestinian youth supported by AAP on the occasion of the International Youth Day 2023 which is celebrated under theme of “Green Skills for Youth: Towards a Sustainable World”. This market seeks to promote green skills and marketing opportunities for young people, with a focus on environmental and climate-friendly initiatives.
The market was opened with welcoming words from the Bethlehem Municipality and AAP highlighting the importance of strengthening the role of youth in the green economy and supporting their green initiatives that aim to preserve the environment and the Palestinian land and contribute to combating the negative effects of climate change.
The market was opened by the Mayor of Bethlehem, Mr. Hanna Hanania, and the coordinator of the Global Platform Palestine - ActionAid Palestine, Yusra Shakhtour. In his speech, Hanania emphasized the importance of supporting youth, saying: " Bethlehem municipality shares AAP in organizing this activity which gives the opportunity to entrepreneurs to display their environmentally friendly goods pointing to the fact to the complementarity of the vision of municipality and AAP in the issues of restoring Star Street Market, supporting environment and encouraging youth to produce and adopt environmentally friendly products”.
The coordinator of the Global Platform Palestine of ActionAid Palestine, Yusra Shakhtur, emphasized the role of AAP in supporting youth: “AAP is pleased to support this green market today, which hosts Palestinian youth who innovate and lead creative green initiatives that enhance the transformation of the economy Green and agroecology. These initiatives show the ability of those young people to be creative, innovative and possess leadership initiatives to manage their green projects, which serve the Palestinian society and protect the Palestinian land”.
The market included many booths through which youth present their green products for marketing. The market also included entertainment activities for children including shows by the Palestinian Circus School and clowns, and environmental workshops for recycling in cooperation with the Palestinian Environmental Quality Authority.
This market was organized through the program implemented by ActionAid Palestine “Strengthening Palestinian young people, Particularly Young Women’s Leadership and Influence for Resilient, Just and Green Societies”, within Strategic Partnership 2 with ActionAid Denmark and funded by the Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA).
AAP supports youth initiatives to enhance youth leadership roles in preserving the Palestinian environment and contributing to facing the global challenges of climate change. AAP contributes to the development of green skills for Palestinian youth to enable them to actively participate and create innovative solutions. This not only benefits the environment, but also enhances the social and economic well-being of youth by promoting entrepreneurship and creating green job opportunities, thus promoting sustainable development.
Background Information
ActionAid in Palestine (AAP) is a part of global federation working for social justice and gender equality and eradicate poverty in more than 45 countries around the world. AAP started its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of Palestinian People as ActionAid believes that they should enjoy their rights to freedom, justice and self-determination. AAP implements a number of programs through its engagement with communities and women and youth groups seeking to empower them and enhance their influential civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective activism to address the protracted rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation of Palestine. AAP works simultaneously to enhance their leadership capacity and knowledge to practice their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers to account.
For more information, please contact.
Riham Jafari
Coordinator of Advocacy and Communication in Palestine
Mobile:
+972 (0) 595242890
Office:
+972 (0) (2) 22 13 137
Email: