Training the Humanitarian Action Youth Group of ActionAid Palestine on Influencing Humanitarian Polices
Gaza Strip -West Bank - Members of the humanitarian action youth group of ActionAid Palestine (AAP) received specialized training on policy influencing of humanitarian action. The training which lasted for 8 days aimed to build the capacities of the group members in leading humanitarian action and enhance their leadership roles in designing and implementing humanitarian initiatives to respond to humanitarian crises. This training was implemented in partnership with the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network in the Gaza Strip through AAP’s global humanitarian project “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).
11 young men and women from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank participated in the training, which lasted for 8 consecutive days. The training was conducted face-to-face in the Gaza Strip and online for the groups’ members based in the West Bank. During the training, the participants learned about the concept of humanitarian action, its structure, objectives, mechanisms, and challenges in the world in general and Palestine in particular. The training focused on deepening the concept of influencing policies related to humanitarian work among participants, especially influencing policies of civil society organizations. It also shed light on the importance of tools that can be used for designing and informing policies, especially in the field of humanitarian work.
Participants were also trained on preparing action plans to influence policies during crises by diagnosing the crisis, identifying the needs and available resources, analyzing actors and stakeholders, setting the goals and designing intervention mechanisms and activities. The training discussed the concept of localization of humanitarian work and the challenges associated with it in the Palestinian context.
Fuad Banat is a member of the humanitarian action youth group living in Gaza Strip describes the importance of the training saying: “the training was useful as it increased our knowledge about aspects of humanitarian work in Palestine and enhanced our skills in engaging in local institutions and affected people in identifying the needs and priorities for humanitarian response. As youth, our message is demanding more work with local organizations and institutions to raise our awareness and build our capacities about humanitarian action including its coordination mechanisms and other concepts.
Khalid Abu Jame’ is a youth and community activist in the Gaza Strip and a member of the humanitarian action youth group highlighted the importance of this training: “it enriched our knowledge about the mechanisms and components of the international humanitarian system including its international bodies and various organizations. We also learned about the impacts of the localization of humanitarian work in Palestine on local humanitarian service providers”.
Rand Sayej is a youth activist in the group who lives in the city of Birzeit in the West Bank talked about the training: “the training was comprehensive and useful drawing our attention to the most important challenges facing the humanitarian action in Palestine. I believe that the Palestinian youth need to develop their knowledge in this regard so that they could become active agents in formulating humanitarian policies”.
Marah Bari is a youth activist and a member of the humanitarian action youth group said: “the training was useful for us due to the limited information we have about humanitarian work. In addition, there are no local organizations that work on raising awareness of young people on humanitarian work. We learned the importance of localizing aid so that the humanitarian response could be improved and the access of all those in need of rapid, quality, effective, sustainable, efficient, and effective humanitarian assistance could be ensured.”
The humanitarian action youth group is one of the youth groups established by AAP to enhance and support the capacities of youth in responding and preparedness for disasters, emergencies and new shocks by providing them with the required skills and knowledge.
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: