MoreThanAJob in Palestine contributes to switching from people who depend on aid to people economically empowered

In the framework of the "Reinforcing social and solidarity economy for the unemployed, uneducated and refugees" Project (MoreThanAJob), its partners in Palestine: The Nablus Chamber of Commerce & Industry, and An-Najah National visited the Nablus Directorate of Social Development and the Nablus Directorate of Labor to share with them the composed policy brief paper in Palestine on Monday and Tuesday, January 23rd & 24th, 2023. These visits aimed at presenting the policy brief paper in its third version and which explores the employment policies in Palestine and the role of Public Administrations (PA) in the development and enhancement of these policies, especially during the project life period.

The visits focused on discussing the sum of policy recommendations composed in the project’s third year with reference to the employed strategies adopted by these Ministries in improving the employment policies in Palestine and preparing the labor force considering the development needs and productive sector demands.

Throughout the project period, the representatives of the Ministries of Social Development and the Ministry of Labor side by side with their national directorates have identified and analyzed specific collaboration and coordination initiatives between each other to improve the labor inclusion of young people.

The visits included various spaces for dialogue between the project team and PA´s representatives to highlight the importance of these national employment policies and they also addressed the challenges and situation of young people in Palestine. Furthermore; they provided a unique opportunity to discuss the reality of employment in Palestine in addition to the social perspective of jobs and employment.

The visit also included an exchange of experiences and analysis of strategies by the Ministries of Social Development and Labor and the targeted public administrations, especially together to address the challenges of employment and youth inclusion in Palestine.

It also included a very participatory exchange among MoreThanAJob Project's Partners and the representatives of the Ministries of Social Development and Labor to identify challenges, lessons learned and policy recommendations on the coordination between relevant parties to assign a coordinator in the council of ministers to coordinate and unify efforts and ensure no duplication exists.

During the meetings, it was agreed to plan a workshop for all stakeholders to discuss the development of employment policies, including the Palestinian ministries, the Palestinian National Institution for Economic Empowerment, and some of the related NGOs.

The visit focused on sharing project experiences and appropriate policy responses to address the employment and economic challenges in Palestine to come up with a final draft of policy changes.

And again, the national development plans related to employment policies, and the strategy for the Ministry of Labor related to social affairs have been reviewed.

The Nablus Directorate of Social Development, represented by its general manager, Dr. Tamam Khader assured the intersection existed between the ministry programs, strategies, and target groups and MoreThanAJob objectives and scope of work.

In the same context, Dr. Khader appreciated the dedicated efforts, pointing out the importance of implementing such projects, as they serve the target group of the Ministry of Social Development.

In the same vein, Mr. Murad Qawareq, the officer of the Reinforcement Program “Tamkeen Program” at the directorate asserted that MoreThanAJob and these policy brief recommendations come within the framework of the ministry's strategy and objectives which eventually aimed at empowering families and individuals through the updated principle of “Development vs. Aids” which aims at transforming cases of poor people from being dependent on aids to economically empowered, and thus to get out of poverty through the provision of development projects.

MoreThanAJob team extended appreciation to the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Social Development, and their directorates in Nablus who were collaborative and available at all project stages and workshops.

Dr. Muhammad Al-Araj, Director General of Employment at the Ministry of Labor appreciates the efforts dedicated to this project. He highlighted the annual national strategic plan developed by the Ministry of Labor with the collaboration of all national ministries and stakeholders which mainly intersected with MoreThanAJob policy recommendations.

He also spoke of the efforts made in terms of the Social and Solidarity Economy and its sustainability through the planned International Conference for Donors which is to be held at the end of January 2023. This step comes as a need to fund the set of strategic plans that eventually serve employment policies and their application to the adopted programs and training. This would also contribute to reducing the rate of unemployment and strengthening the private sector.