Northeast Jenin ADP
Villages ADP Located In: Jalbun, Em At Tut, Al Mugayyer, Jalqamous, Al Jalameh, 'Arraneh, Faqqu'a, Beit Qad, Deir Abu Da'if, and Raba
No. of Registered Children: 4,994
No. of Direct Beneficiaries: 22,462
No. of Indirect Beneficiaries: 25,478
No. of Communities Served: 10
No. of community-based organisations and/or schools served: 35
Total No. of Staff: 18 fulltime staff members serve Northeast, West and South Jenin ADPs
Support Office: World Vision Korea
WHERE WE WORK
The Palestinian city of Jenin in the northern West Bank is a major agricultural centre for the surrounding towns. The governorate of Jenin is surrounded by the governorate of Nablus from the south, Tulkarem to the southwest, Tubas from the east, and the illegal Israeli separation barrier to the north and east. Jenin is home to over 256,600 people and covers of an area of roughly 583,000 square kilometres (around 225 square miles). The Jenin governorate comprises 10 per cent of the West Bank.
OUR COMMUNITIES’ CHALLENGES
Unemployment in the Jenin governorate is at a high, at 21.7 per cent, while 34 per cent of the Jenin population is food-insecure. Working with the poorest and most vulnerable villages in northeast Jenin, World Vision seeks to help the communities in which it works.
Of the Northeast Jenin community residents, 17.1 per cent are unemployed and 83.5 per cent spend more than 45 per cent of their income on food while 23.2 per cent suffer from what are considered severe living conditions, as they are living under the poverty line. Over one in four households lives on an income of less than 2,000 NIS ($551) a month. In the villages where World Vision works, almost everyone used to depend on employment in Israel which has become all but impossible following the construction of the separation barrier. The agricultural lands of the villages have also been severely impacted by of the confiscation of 10,030 dunums (approximately 2,478 acres) for construction of the barrier. Road closures, due to the political situation since the year 2000, have also decreased marketing opportunities, resulting in the majority of agricultural products being marketed locally at low prices. These challenges have left northeast Jenin in a dramatic economic situation which continues to affect all aspects of life within its communities.
THE NEXT GENERATION
Through its work in the Northeast Jenin Area Development Programme (ADP), World Vision strives to ensure that the wellbeing and empowerment of all children is achieved. Through its unique participatory approach, World Vision works with community representatives to effectively respond to their needs and priorities while also guaranteeing community ownership of these initiatives. While responding to the humanitarian needs of its communities, World Vision focuses on empowering the next generation of children.
Combating food insecurity with agricultural and economic development projects, World Vision works through specific farm and water projects. Moreover, building the capacities of vulnerable households (men and women) and empowering them to earn sustainable incomes enables parents to fulfil the needs of their children and live with dignity. World Vision promotes the sustained well-being of children, their families, and communities through educational initiatives, such as school expansion and remedial education, while empowering communities towards positive and lasting change.
The Northeast Jenin ADP continued to equip schools with the new educational facilities such as computer and science laboratories and sports equipment, enabling students and teachers to elevate the quality of education to include new teaching techniques and to introduce technology in practice. Qais, a student from a school in the village of Faqua’a said, “I have a passion for computers and I was disappointed because we didn’t have computer laboratory in school and used to learn technology class by theory. Now, after having the computer lab, we stepped forward in our education and made classes and teaching more effective and interesting. We use the computers not only for the technology class but also to search on different topics in other subjects that increase our knowledge, widen our thinking, and be creative in many ways.”
The Northeast Jenin ADP also contributed towards the improvement of access to safe and affordable quantities of water. The expansion and the rehabilitation of the water networks, as well as the construction of a water reservoir, considerably impacted the communities by lowering the transportation costs by increasing availability of portable safe water. As a result, children and families now enjoy better access to drinking water which positively impact their health, hygiene, and overall living conditions.
Disaster Preparedness
Several Community-Based Emergency Centre (CBEC) was established in Jenin ADPs targeted villages in partnership with the civil defense and local communities. The daily functioning to tackle local emergencies was found to be giving the community the feeling of higher level of safety towards emergencies and disasters. According to the civil defense monthly report, the local youth volunteers contributed in several firefighting events, evacuating and providing first aid to injured people in car accidents, organizing community events, providing support to other centers in other areas, and providing first aid and civil defense training for students’ participating in summer camps. It’s noteworthy mentioning that Jenin ADPs models in Disaster preparedness and increasing community resilience to disaster (establishing emergency centers and building the capacity of local youth volunteer) was presented as a successful model in WV statement to the Global Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction in Geneva 2013. Moreover, a COVACA and CDPP were developed to assess the communities’ capacities, resources, and vulnerabilities to potential disasters.
EMPOWERED ENVIRONMENTS
World Vision focuses on building the capacity of children and strives to provide a suitable living environment. Through child empowerment, World Vision helps its communities to encourage activities to develop child leaders and teach them about their rights and responsibilities. World Vision continues to work to create child friendly places in order to provide children with safe, healthy, and protected environments in which they can play and enjoy a happy childhood.
Through sponsorship, the Northeast Jenin ADP further helps develop the relationships between children, their families and their communities to share their responsibilities in the building a better future for all children.
A SHARED FUTURE
World Vision Jerusalem-West Bank-Gaza seeks to impact the lives of over 200,000 children through its programmes and directly benefits the lives of over 168,000 people in 116 communities throughout the occupied Palestinian territory. Through its Area Development Programmes, World Vision works with 500 community-based organizations and schools to empower families and children to become agents of change for a better future. World Vision seeks to ensure that all families and children are cared for, protected and participating.
Sources:
1) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs occupied Palestinian territory (OCHA), www.ochaopt.org
2) World Vision, Socio-Economic End-line Survey, 2012