“Palestinian Marginalized Adolescents as Leaders of Socioeconomic Change in their Communities” Tahfeez” is a project that was implemented by PalVision in partnership with UNICEF and funded by the Netherlands Government. The project targeted 2,100 Palestinian youth aged between 14-16 years old divided into 75 groups then formed in cooperation with 15 grassroots partner organizations and 40 schools.
The project was based on the concept of entrepreneurship and career counselling within the schools area that would help the Palestinian adolescents from early ages to learn how to look for solutions, make decisions and look for innovative methods to contribute to sustainable social, economic and community development. The project aspired to empower adolescent boys and girls to take an active role in advancing sustainable socioeconomic development in their communities through innovative entrepreneurial and creative approaches.
This took place through the implementation of comprehensive intervention through two fully designed stages . The first stage, ensured the establishment of 15 adolescent groups, that were equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to plan, develop, and implement entrepreneurial initiatives. The second, stage fostered the establishment of 60 adolescent groups, who were equipped with the necessary knowledge, skills, and tools to enable them to choose their career paths, identify community issues and/or problems, choose the problem/issue that is a high priority to be addressed, design, develop, and implement community-based initiatives that address the chosen problem/issue.
The project was an early intervention that was designed to provide the Palestinian adolescents with knowledge, skills, and tools to embark on their career planning process and preparedness to match their labor market context, thereby improving their socioeconomic status on the long run. Due to the marginalization of Palestinian adolescents and youth from the decision-making processes, the project offered the targeted adolescents with the tools and space to engage with Palestinian decision-makers, private sector representatives and community leaders to address identified issues and problems to share their vision in solving these issues, which aimed to result in taking a proactive role in advancing a sustainable social, economic, and community development.
