Employment Centre

Brief Description 

 (Justification; main objective; main activities of NCA)

The Palestinian National Christian Association (NCA) is submitting this project proposal. This non-profit, non-governmental, secular NGO was established and registered in Jerusalem in 1985.  The Association is also registered with the Palestinian Ministry of Interior in Ramallah under number QR-1250-B.    It is active in the economic, social, educational, and cultural fields for the benefit of all the citizens of Jerusalem without any discrimination to religion, race, or color.

In late 2005, the Association established an Employment Centre in Jerusalem as a meeting point between job offers and job demands for the unemployed. This is a pioneer project and the first of its kind operated by an NGO.

The Centre was initially funded with a grant of US $ 42,200 from the Canadian Representative Office from 2005 to 2007. In 2008, the Association received a new grant for the Employment Centre from the Arab Fund for Social and Economic Development in Kuwait for US $ 70,000 for two years up to January 2011. 

The Centre has a project manager who manages the office. During the past two years, some 265 unemployed and young graduates were placed in jobs with different institutions and/or supported with grants to enhance their skills in specialized vocational institutions in Jerusalem. In this regard, the Centre aids with training on the job and specialized training directly linked to increasing the employment potential of the unemployed. 

During the work of the Centre, the management realized the importance of providing on-the-job training before employment. Many potential employers have placed the question of training as a condition for employment. Furthermore, the issue of providing training with the potential for placement in jobs became a high priority. 

The center has also graduated over the past two years with some thirty trainees in the ceramic making at a workshop established by the Association at the Freres School in the Old City of Jerusalem. This project was funded with a small grant of US $ 10,000 from the Australian Development Aid Office in Ramallah.

It is worth mentioning that the Association is focusing its program solely on the youth of Jerusalem to strengthen their steadfastness and protect Jerusalem as the eternal Capital of the Palestinian State.

Context

(The background of the project, the needs in the sector/area are, its justification/relevance, its response to the needs identified, and its potential previous actions in the sector/area.)

The rationale for opening an employment center and associated on-the-job training are quite evident and were reinforced by the findings of a workshop held at Bir Zeit University on the subject of “Unemployment in the Palestinian Territory: Reality and Strategies to Alleviate It.” The findings of the workshop were as follows:

1-Unemployment rate in the Palestinian Territories over the past two years exceeds 20% of the labor force.

2- 70% of the unemployed are mainly young, averaging 31 years with only ten years of schooling.

3- to 40 thousand new laborers enter the job market, arising from the increase in the population growth rate in the Palestinian Territories.

4- Exporting Palestinian Labour abroad harms the local economy, resulting in a brain drain. The skilled laborers are the ones who find jobs abroad.

5- Due to its volatility, the Israeli labor market is not a strategic choice to absorb Palestinian labor.

Furthermore, the tools available to the PNA to reduce unemployment are few, as manifested in fiscal and monetary policies. The restrictions on the movement of goods and people in the Palestinian economy, a root cause of the unemployment, is not a policy option by choice. It is an occupation measure enforced by force.

The workshop concludes that unemployment is strongly linked to the political situation; therefore, the more progress on the political front, the less unemployment. Under these conditions, employment generation needed the private sector’s and NGOs' support. 

Furthermore, in a recent survey, unemployment was regarded as the main cause of immigration for many of the Christian families, particularly in Jerusalem. The construction of the “wall” and limiting free movement also harmed unemployment and immigration.

As a result of the unemployment, the poverty rate has risen to some 2/3 of the population in the West Bank and Gaza. The World Bank defines this poverty line as a minimum income of US $ 2 per person daily. This means that approximately 2.3 million Palestinians out of a total population of 3.8 million are now living in poverty.

In East Jerusalem, the unemployment rate has been aggravated by two main Factors:

1. Complete closure of East Jerusalem to the Palestinians. This lack of access for thousands of Palestinians living in villages and towns outside the borders of East Jerusalem has reduced business activities in the city and particularly for the small and medium enterprises. Such enterprises are the main employers, especially for the young seekers of jobs. The recent construction of the separation Wall will only magnify the negative impact of the closure on employment in the city.
2. The economic activity in East Jerusalem is mainly dependent on the Tourism industry. Hundreds of Palestinians earn their livelihood from this industry employed in hotels, travel agencies, tourist bus companies, restaurants, and shopkeepers oriented to selling souvenirs and Holy Land artifacts to the tourists.

           3- Conditions improved in the tourism sector over the year 2010. This has undoubtedly opened many job opportunities for the young aspiring to work in the tourism industry. The Association has placed many of the applicants at its Centre in hotels and travel agencies. The prospects for 2015-2016 also look mildly promising.

PROJECT Employment office centre – Monitoring & Evaluation

Methods of monitoring

The project committee of the Association will undertake the task of monitoring the project's activities. The committee will review the monthly progress reports of work and the achievements of the targets set for the project.

The evaluation will be carried out by the project every six months. The actual achievements will be compared with the objectively verifiable indicators for the specific objectives, outputs, and inputs. This evaluation will be used to determine the necessary future measures for the follow-up of the program.

Methods of final evaluation

In line with the objectives of the NCA, the board adopted several programs to ameliorate the daily living conditions of Jerusalem without prejudice to religion or race, especially in the face of mounting hardships.