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Palestinian Strategy Group Comes
of Age
The Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO)
and Responding to Conflict (RTC) held a graduation ceremony in February
2008 for the Palestinian Strategy Group which has now gained specialised
conflict transformation skills as the culmination of a 3-year project
which the coordinator, Amjad Al Shawa, described as “a model for working
with development programmes across Palestine”.
Amal Sabawai another member of the
group, said “graduation is the beginning of the road for us to be active
in our communities”, she added that the group will be developing plans
and creating new methodology that will contribute to resolving conflict
constructively and peacefully at the community level.
The groups in the West Bank and
Gaza Strip will focus on the following themes; Youth and Students,
Women, Water and Land, Health and integrating what they have learned
into their organisations’ everyday work. The skills gained through this
programme should help the organisation to be more effective in
implementing their projects.
Issam Aruri, a member of the
strategy group in the West Bank and director of Jerusalem Legal Aid
Centre, said “this is an opportunity for PNGO and other civil society
organisation to support this group to become a reference for the whole
region. We have acquired the skills and capacities in the last three
years and we can use them. There is no need to look for outsiders to do
the conflict transformation work, we have the skills ourselves."
Based on an article
originally published in Arabic in
Alquds and Alayyam Newspaper
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Middle East Programme
"Transforming the discourse of violence and
despair: Strengthening the impact of Palestinian and Israeli civil
society organisations in the search for a just and sustainable
peace."
RTC began a programme of conflict transformation capacity building
in Palestine and Israel in 2003. The programme objective is to work
in partnership with civil society organisations on both sides of the
conflict to build their capacity for effective, strategic
and coherent work for positive change within their own
communities, societies and in the wider political context.
This project is carried out in partnership with Israeli and
Palestinian organisations and networks.
In Palestine, our partner is the Palestinian
Network of Non-governmental Organisations (PNGO). In Israel,
our partner is Shatil with whom we are engaged in a programme of
support to the Israel Strategy Group, which comprises 25
mostly directors of Jewish and Palestinian social change and human
rights organisations in Israel.
Programme activities include workshops and seminars
on conflict analysis and conflict handling skills, together with
support for participants to continue thinking, learning and acting
on what they have learned between meetings. By offering
opportunities for our partners to reflect together, we aim to enable
them to formulate their vision of a just peace in Israel/Palestine,
to develop strategies for working proactively towards that vision,
and to find new and creative ways to address and transform the
politics of violence into the politics of peace. A second important
priority is to build capacity amongst the individuals and
organisations involved to facilitate, sustain and develop this work
of analysis, training and strategy building in ways appropriate to
the region in future.
The programme was based on evidence drawn from RTC’s work in other
conflict situations in the belief that clearer visions and
strategies will:
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Promote a
more effective and sustainable level of co-ordination amongst
the civil society organisations inside Israel and inside the
Palestinian areas;
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Enhance the
ability of civil society organisations in Palestine and Israel
to monitor rights and ensure the transparency and accountability
of their governments;
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Clarify and
strengthen the voice of civil society organisations in order to
articulate an effective challenge to prevailing assumptions on
either side that violence is the only effective mode of action;
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Increase the
efficiency and impact of advocacy interventions aimed at the
political level in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and
internationally;
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Renew a
sense of hope and energy for sustained action for social and
political change in the region.
This programme is supporting by several key
funders, including DanChurch Aid, the Swiss Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs, and the J A Clark Trust.
Our partner organisations:
Palestinian Network of NGOs (PNGO)
Established in September 1993, PNGO is an umbrella network of
Palestinian non-governmental organisations working in a variety of
developmental fields. They are brought together by their vision to
form a civil and democratic network that strives to support,
consolidate, develop and strengthen Palestinian civil society.
PNGO’s goals include:
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Consolidating, developing, and strengthening the role of NGOs in
Palestinian society.
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Promoting and coordinating relations among NGOs and with other
Palestinian networks and institutions as well as other
international organisations.
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Contributing to the formation of a Palestinian socio-economic
and cultural perspective in accordance with the principles of
public freedom.
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Influencing public opinion and mass information.
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Influencing policies in various social structures, sectors and
fields.
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Working
towards achieving full equality and justice for women.
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Developing and expanding the capabilities and skills of the
Network’s member organisations.
Through our partnership with PNGO, RTC is working with a
Strategy Group of 25 members of Palestinian civil society
organisations, building their capacity in conflict transformation,
and supporting them to use their skills and knowledge in this field
in their work.
www.pngo.net
Shatil
Shatil was established in 1982 to promote democracy, tolerance, and
social justice in Israel. It is a capacity building and training
network for social change and empowerment within Israel providing
non-profit organisations with consulting and training in
organisational development, advocacy, media and PR, coalition
building, resource development and volunteer management.
RTC and Shatil are working together to build capacity in conflict
transformation of a group of 25 directors of Arab and Jewish civil
society organisations, and to support them to address conflict
issues in their organisational work.
www.shatil.org.il
For further information about the Middle East programme,
please contact Sarah Giles
sarah@respond.org |
