THE UNION OF PALESTINIAN WOMEN COMMITTIES

A Proposal to Develop Beit Fourik Kindergarden

Beit Fourik is a small village north of Nablus city, very poor and neglected as a lot of our villages especially after the Intifada most of it’s inhabitants lost their income resources, this village has 15000 inhabitants , 20% of them need preschool education it was also one of the villages that was exposed to the highest period of siege.
Our union has a local committee there who opened kinder garden 10 years ago, giving good education to poor children with symbolic fees that some people cannot even afford to pay. At the same time providing an income to the teachers working in it.
With simple abilities, we kept this KG serving the children; we also tried to develop it along with the other 24 KG and Nurseries in other places in the west bank and Gaza Strip.
This KG is the only KG in the village.
Yet it needs be developed some urgent needs that facilitate the work of both the teachers and children.
We kindly ask you to support us with the following items to develop the KG.

Thank you in advance for any support that would create a better and more convenient situation for our children.

Proposal

The Establishment of a Children’s Afternoon Care Centre

Submitted by: The Union of Palestinian Women Committees

Address: Main Branch Ramallah Rammouni Building Fanadeq Street -
Near Waleed Annazer Hospital

Telephone: ++ 970 2 2987252
Fax: ++ 970 2 2987252
Email: upwc@palnet.com

Contact person: Maha Nassar - Executive Office phone: 2987252
Date: July 24, 2001

Introduction

Among the 3.5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank, 60 % are children. Most of them are deprived from access to recreational facilities. They spend their long afternoon hours in the streets or in unattended places.

About 40% of the children are between six and ten. These suffer the most because they are not able to take care of themselves due to their young age. The unstable political conditions in the region reflects itself negatively on their behavior. They are living among adults who constantly talk about their worries and fears not being aware of how children perceive these talks. Children’s feelings and needs are equally neglected. It is noticed that these children develop a trend to prove themselves in any way they can which proved dangerous and fatal in many cases.

Mothers are in dire need to work outside their homes because of the declining economical situation. They usually get off their work long after their children come home from school. Fathers too, are busy and are unable to take care of their children during the afternoon hours.
This means that children stay unattended for long hours each day. The current situation within Palestinian cities, that lack public parks or recreational facilities, makes it too risky to leave children alone at homes or out in the streets of their neighborhoods.

Organizational Background:

The Union of Palestinian Women’s Committees (UPWC) was established in
1980. UPWC is a women’s democratic social group that seeks to improve
the social, economical, cultural and political status of Palestinian
women. Since Establishment, UPWC provided many job opportunities to
women by establishing nurseries and kinder gardens were women worked
at.
Also, those services, which were at low cost, helped many women find
other jobs while knowing that their children are being safe and well
taken care of.

Another of the Union’s projects is the establishment of income
generating projects such as a sewing factory in Qaddoura Refugee Camp
and At-taboun restaurant in Ramallah. In 1999 At-taboun Restaurant won
the bid to rent out Bir Zeit University restaurant and started working
in it during the month of August 1999.

Ghassan Kanafani Children Kinder Gardens was the name given to all the
Kinder gardens that were established by UPWC. A sub-committee whose
members were trained on childcare initiated the project in 1984. Up
till
1993, the Union succeeded in opening and running 87 Kinder Gardens and
nurseries throughout Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The running
costs of the Kinder gardens was by far higher than what the parents
could afford which made the Union rely on donations and grants to be
able to carry on rendering the services.

By 1993 and because of the scarcity of the grants given to women groups
during the period after the Oslo Accord and the fact that the Union had
no income generating projects then, the Union could no longer sustain
all of its centers which reduced the number of the active kinder
gardens
and nurseries to 18.

In Addition, the Union had implemented many empowerment projects for
women throughout the West Bank and the Gaza Strip in cooperation with
the Women’s Affairs Technical Committee. Through these projects, the
Union had provided empowerment training for women. It organized
different lectures of Health and other topics that concerned women.

Due to the current situation Palestine is going through and the
resulting high unemployment, the Union decided to work on empowering
women to become able to contribute considerably to the family income
since their mobility is not restricted as that of men. Two centers were
open in Nablus and Jenin for the purpose of establishing vocational
training and income generation for women. The World Vision funded the
Jenin center while that of Nablus was internally funded. Another women
social center was established in Jerusalem with the support of the
World
Vision.

A nursery was recently open in the City of Hebron to provide more
chances for women to go out and find jobs or participate in public
life.
Hebron women were also suffering from marginalization and poor economic
conditions.

The Union is now proposing for a full or partial fund to establish an
afternoon care center in Jenin for school children ages between six
and ten and also it would be a place where women can conduct different
activities that would lead to achieving the Union’s goals and
objectives.