Fares Al Arab for Development & Charity Works is a nongovernmental / nonprofit organization established since 2006. The idea of establishment comes from a group of youths who believe in charity and relief work and its role in rising & building the community. The organization, through its strategic plans, could contribute in developing and supporting the Palestinian community by implementing a series of projects & activities.
Fares Al Arab seeks to participate in raising the status of developmental & charitable works in the Gaza Strip through the implementation of development and social charity programs.
Poverty alleviation and Community development are at the core of Fares Al-Arab strategic vision and mission, which is implemented through the Economic Empowerment Program and Relief and Emergency Programm. Also, Fares Al-Arab has a variety of supporting departments such as Procurement, Logistics, Media, Finance, Human Resources and Internal auditing.
Gaza Strip has been facing many political changes since 2006. A recent report of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) states “…even before the latest military operations, Gaza’s local economy was in a state of total collapse,” and “the consequences will be grave for the Palestinian people and their economy.”
Since 2007 and following the blockade imposed by Israel, the situation in the Strip has been one of chronic need, re-development and donor dependency, despite a temporary relaxation of restrictions on movement of people and goods since 2010.
The blockade has effectively cut off access for exports to traditional markets in Israel, transfers to the West Bank and has severely restricted imports. Exports are now down to 2% of 2007 levels.
It is worth mentioning that the age structure in the Gaza Strip is similar to that in many developing countries, where nearly half of the total population is under 14 years old. Children under 5 years old represent around 18%. In addition to overall population growth, the fact that the Gaza Strip has one of the youngest populations worldwide. 51% of the inhabitants are younger than 18 years. The Gaza Strip has the second-highest share of people aged 0 to 14 years worldwide. Moreover, the ‘youth bulge’ -the ratio of youth (15-29) to the total over-15 population - is exceptionally high, at 53%.
Adding to this, the majority of the Gaza population has lost its productive assets. According to the Palestinian Federation of Industries, 419 businesses and workshops were damaged, with 128 completely destroyed. With limited activity at the commercial crossings and extensive damage to private infrastructure and other productive assets,
The previously mentioned political circumstances did not only affect the economy but also had a disastrous impact on the social life of the people living in Gaza. The studies show an increase in the rate of divorce as a result of the deteriorating economic situation where the husbands are not able to provide the needs of their families and children. At the same time, the results show that the number of girls not getting married is increasing since men are unable to find work opportunities and thus unable to have the marriage expenses which lead them (men) to get married late.
As a result, to the low standards of living, lack of job opportunities and the absence of solutions for their problems, young people in Gaza started using drugs. Many indicators show an increase in the level of drug use in Gaza, especially Tramadol, not only by men but also by women. Even educated people became victims to drug use since they want to run away from their bad reality.
Consequences of the above situations imply that urgent interventions need to be taken to support the Gazans society to be able to survive and to meet the increasing demands for job opportunities, particularly for young people.
The economic crisis has badly hit and affected the social structure. The impact can be seen in the following:
Consequences of the above situations imply that urgent interventions need to be taken to support the Palestinian people in Gaza Strip.
II.PROGRAMME RATIONALE
Despite the Gaza complicated political and economic scene with the unprecedented high rates of unemployment reaching 70 % of youth aged 20-24 in 2014, there are still invaluable opportunities that could be seized to achieve economic growth and development:
Building upon these opportunities, it is evident that Gaza lacks natural resources, however; it has a fortune of energy, ambitious and active young generation. It is considered the main driver for economic development as potential employees, entrepreneur and active market participants. However, the force of youth collective dynamism and creativity has the potential to direct Gaza Strip towards a better future only if given the opportunity to link their energy with the right skills, competencies required in the Labour Market. If properly utilized and guided, the capacity building of the Palestinian resources could be the best sustainable economic and social investment leading to long-term positive impact on the economic growth. In order to ease population’s suffering, restore dignity and build resilience, Fares Al-Arab urgent interventions are needed to generate income and employment to the poorest and most affected families through job diversification and working within the framework of the Palestinian Employment Strategy.
To contribute to improving the economic conditions for poor families towards the improvement of livelihoods and basic social services delivery.
Result 1.1: Emergency employment to sustainable livelihoods creation is provided targeting on the unskilled labor from poor and marginalized families.
Result 1.2: Short-term employment is created targeting unskilled workers, new graduates and women, using labor-incentive schemes and job placement.
Specific Objective 2:
Enhancing youth employability through skills-matching, small business growth and capacity development towards local economic development.
Result 2.1: Demand driven vocational and training support provided to ensure self-reliance and long-term income generating opportunities
Result 2.2: Micro and Small businesses are promoted towards employment creation, income generation and timely and efficient services delivery.
Result 2.3: Microcredits and grants are provided for business startups and entrepreneurs to create new self-employed businesses.
Specific Objective 3:
To enhance and support women's self-esteem and strengthened their role in the community and economic development.
Result 3.1: High-quality capacity building, skills development, and vocational education programmes are delivered for women to enhance self-employment and business leadership.
Result 3.2: Job placement programme is established and implemented to link and enhance integration of women in the private sector.
Result 3.3: Incubation and microfinance are provided for women and orphans families to develop and improve own resilience.
A funding is required to advance our economic empowerment program, job creation and microcredits, technical excellence, knowledge management and dissemination of learning; leverage organizational experience and skills; build strategic partnerships for influencing; and identify, advance, and scale up innovations emerging Fares Al-Arab and its partners to economically empower youth, women and poor families.
|
Specific Objective |
Result |
Budget ($) |
|
1.1: Providing emergency employment to sustainable livelihoods creation targeting on the unskilled labour from poor and marginalized families. |
1.5 M |
|
1.2: Creation of short-term employment targeting unskilled workers, new graduates and women, using labour-incentive schemes and job placement. |
1.5 M |
|
|
2.1: Demand driven vocational and training support provided to ensure self-reliance and long-term income generating opportunities. |
1 M |
|
2.2: Micro and Small businesses are promoted towards employment creation, income generation and timely and efficient services. |
1 M |
|
|
2.3 Microcredits and grants are provided for business startups and entrepreneurs to create new self-employed businesses. |
1.5 M |
|
|
3.1: High-quality capacity building, skills development, and vocational education programmes are delivered for women to enhance self-employment and business leadership. |
1 M |
|
3.2: Job placement programme is established and implemented to link and enhance integration of women in the private sector. |
0.5 M |
|
|
3.3: Incubation and microfinance are provided for women and orphans families to develop and improve own resilience. |
1 M |
|
|
Total |
9 M |
|
Our program and projects are monitored and evaluated by a framework and tools for measuring the impact of economic empowerment across all of our work and interventions. Fares Al-Arab designs its project and initiatives based on the community needs and in-depth analysis of the situation and available resources to provide innovative solutions for addressing the challenges to economic empowerment for our target groups (youth, women, and poor families). We also engage the participation of all stakeholders in all what we do.
We work with the target groups in the marginalized areas, factories, farms, businesses and to support them to claim their decent life. We play an active role to establish local partnerships through our engagement with women’s and youth organizations to advocate for change and influence inclusion of wider community in our interventions.
Women are at the core of the programme as they form the cornerstone in the family, in particular in the poor marginalized area of the Gaza Strip. Women should be empowered to increase their right to economic resources and power to make decisions to benefit themselves, their families and their communities.
The key constraints to enhancing women employment include lack of skills and knowledge, limited control over economic resources and earnings, lower productivity in the sectors that women usually engage in, and lack of access to credit and financial services. Fares Al-Arab main objective to support women’s ability to build financially sustainable, profitable and growing business, with the potential to enter the formal economy, by reaching vulnerable households women.