ActionAid Palestine Empowers Youth Leadership in Emergencies

Occupied Palestinian Territory – Gaza Strip – Wefaq Association for Women and Child Care, the local partner of ActionAid Palestine, conducted a training on youth leadership in emergencies. The aim was to empower young people to take on effective leadership roles during emergencies, strengthen their skills in leadership, communication, and teamwork, and enable them to contribute meaningfully to crisis response and the implementation of community initiatives. The six-day training targeted 30 young men and women from the southern governorates of the Gaza Strip.

This training seeks to enhance the leadership capacities of youth in Gaza, with a particular focus on empowering them, to bolster emergency response and participation. It also aims to strengthen community resilience by engaging youth in humanitarian work during disasters and emergencies resulting from the ongoing war on the Gaza Strip since October 2023. The training was designed to support young people to become leaders in humanitarian action. Additionally, it aims to ensure that youth are equipped to take on active leadership roles in humanitarian efforts, under the guidance and support of ActionAid. The goal is to build the capacities of more youth so they can make informed decisions and support their communities in times of emergency.

The trained youth are expected to play an active role in disseminating knowledge among their peers within their communities and design their own initiatives, ensuring they possess effective agency in humanitarian work.

The training adopted an interactive and participatory methodology that made participants key drivers of the training process rather than passive recipients. This approach was directly based on participants' own definitions of humanitarian concepts and facilitation skills, drawing from their experiences, feedback, theories, and tools gained during the sessions. A variety of techniques and tools were used, focusing on participants’ experiences, active engagement, horizontal relationships, and group work. These approaches were not only theoretical but strongly rooted in ActionAid International’s human rights-based approach, which includes the essential elements needed to empower youth as global change-makers and encourages them to think outside the box.

The training sessions addressed topics related to leadership skills, communication, and community initiatives. Youth had the opportunity to engage in discussions and explore leadership-related life skills, which helped boost their confidence and their abilities in presentation and facilitation.

The training also featured inspiring young role models who shared their life and professional experiences with the participants, adding a motivational and practical dimension to the learning process. This made the training a unique hands-on experience that enabled youth to play real leadership roles in emergency contexts and raised their awareness of their impactful role in society.

About ActionAid International

ActionAid International is a global federation working with over 41 million people across more than 72 of the world’s poorest countries. We strive for a just and sustainable world where every individual enjoys the right to a dignified life and freedom, a world free from poverty and oppression. We work towards social justice, gender equality, and poverty eradication.

ActionAid Palestine began operations in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian people, believing in their right to freedom, justice, and self-determination. ActionAid Palestine implements several programs engaging Palestinian communities, youth groups, and women, aiming to empower women and youth and enhance their active civic and political participation to understand their rights and engage collectively in addressing rights violations resulting from prolonged occupation. It also seeks to improve their leadership capacities and citizenship practice by holding authorities and other responsible parties accountable.

For more information, please contact:
Riham Jafari
Communications and Advocacy Officer, ActionAid Palestine
Email: Riham.Jafari@actionaid.org