Training in marketable skills, including English, is a high priority for the Ruwwad Youth Empowerment Project in Palestine, a major USAID undertaking that has been under way since 2008 under the administration of Education Development Center, Inc. (EDC). A key element is the establishment of a network of Palestinian youth clubs that deliver programs that meet the special needs of young people in the West Bank.   Youth unemployment rates are high in the occupied territories, where more than 60 percent of Palestinians are under the age of 24, and more than one in four is in the critical 12–24 age range, when concerns over future prospects are at their highest.  In addition to demographic pressures, the hopes of these youth for a brighter future are dimmed by challenges that stem from life under occupation, not least the attendant psychosocial stresses, limits on personal freedom, and a lack of a physical space — schools, clubs — in which youth can thrive.

AMIDEAST’s teacher training program inspired Heba Yassin to discover that “teaching is not merely a paid job, but a chance to leave an everlasting effect.”

Last fall, EDC turned to AMIDEAST to assist in building the capacity of the Ruwwad Youth Development Resource Centers to provide English language instruction to local youth. This required, above all, equipping the centers with qualified local teachers. AMIDEAST launched a teacher training program targeting recent Palestinian college graduates for training in Professional Certificate in English Teaching (PCET).  Once qualified as English teaching professionals, these individuals are able to provide real services to the youth centers and begin their own careers as teachers. Ten of the 14 men and women selected for the program have since completed the training and gone on to their first teaching challenge: delivery of a six-month EL course to 775 Palestinian youth, including high school and university students, students about to enter the workforce, and working youth. 

“Ruwwad’s goal is to achieve sustainable English language teaching and training for the development of Palestine. By developing the talents of a new, young cadre of Palestinian teachers rather than simply importing native speakers temporarily from abroad, we are helping to achieve this,” noted AMIDEAST Country Director for the West Bank and Gaza, Steven Keller.

In addition to its positive impact on youth in the West Bank, the Ruwwad subgrant included a component directed at empowering Gazan youth to be more active in their communities.  As part of this activity, AMIDEAST staff trained nearly 160 youth in leadership, community engagement, information and communication technology, and project management, providing them with fundamental skills and know-how that they will be able to apply in future community service activities. The youth then worked in groups to develop ideas for community service and implement them.

A total of eight youth-led initiatives were chosen for funding and implementation. In one, called “My Country Is Beautiful,” a team of six boys and girls proposed to raise awareness of Gaza’s wealth of archaeological sites as a way of instilling a pride of place in their peers. To carry it out, they developed a six-hour course in the tourism and archaeology of Gaza, supplemented by field trips, which they then delivered to nearly 100 university students. Another team used the video and photo techniques they learned during the initial training to produce a short film aimed at raising awareness of the situation of youth in Gaza. Other teams focused on the role of recycling in protecting the environment, the importance of good nutrition to health, and ways of assisting orphans and children with cancer and other special needs.