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PCPDThe Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy

THE ANNUAL REPORT

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Editorial 2

I.The status of PCPD in Palestinian Civil Society 3

PCPD Organizational Structure 4

PCPD Board of Directors 2010 4

GENERAL ASSEMBLY 5

PCPD STAFF 5

Vision 6

Mission 6

Values 6

Strategic Objectives 2010-2013 7

Strategic Goals 8

PCPD-CBO Partnerships 8

PCPD Funders 10

II.Situational Overview 2010 10

Activities Breakdown 11

Internal Capacity Building 12

External Evaluations 13

III- PCPD Impact 2010 13

Youth 13

Women 15

Democracy Building 16

Peace 17

PCPD Success Stories - 2010 19

Challenges & Obstacles to be addressed in 2011 20

Tabel Of Content

Dear Friends and Supporters,

2010 was a challenging year for the Palestinian community and the PCPD.

Palestinians continue to be deeply affected by Israeli policies of closures, house demolitions, expansion of settlements and the confiscation of land. At the same time the absence of elections, justified by political leaders via reference to the political separation, continues to inhibit the internal democratization process. On top of this is the reality of a financial crisis and worsening world economic environment, which is placing significant financial pressures on Palestinian civil society.

Despite these obstacles, the PCPD has been able to flexibly cope with all changes and challenges, and has successfully

implemented the 2010 Action Plan. This, however, was not the achievement of the PCPD alone. On behalf of the PCPD, I would like to thank our target groups whose participation made our activities successful, PCPD supporters whose willingness to volunteer made it possible to reach even more communities, and of course our Board of Directors, General Assembly, partners and donors for their participation and support.Please accept this copy of our 2010 annual report, which provides an overview of our activities and how the PCPD confronted challenges, successfully making headway in a difficult global climate.

Sincerely,Naseef Muallem

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About PCPD

The status of PCPD in Palestinian Civil Society:

PCPD is a civil, non-governmental and non-for-profit Palestinian organization. It is active in the field of promoting political development and genuine peace based on the UN Resolutions as a means to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital within the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967. PCPD is also active in reinforcing the democratic practices through expanding citizens’ participation in decision making and reinforcing the rule of law and good governance among civil society organizations, in general, and the grassroots organizations, in particular.

Proceeding from PCPD’s principles, values, work references, experience and its extended connections within the Palestinian society whether political parties, civil organizations, grassroots organizations, notable figures, local activists or the private sector, PCPD is qualified to provide unique and very high quality services to our target groups. The founders of PCPD has accumulated experiences and improved the performance since its establishment in 1992 to remain a main pioneering organization in the field of strategic peace, political development and democracy promotion among targeted groups, such as the political parties and civil organizations in general and grassroots organizations, marginalized and poor groups, such as women and the youth, in particular.

PCPD is distinguished by its progressive secular identity that is strongly presented before all groups, in the media, and in every occasion and location. Meanwhile, we see some organizations and

some political parties attempt to hide their secular identity under the expansion of extremism, fundamentalism and backwardness that attempt to manoeuvre among secular parties and organizations taking advantage of seasonal, unorganized and irregular work of some organizations.

PCPD is committed to the Palestinian Peace Initiative declared by the Palestinian National Council in Algeria in 1988. It’s also committed to all the democratic principles included in the Palestinian Declaration of Independence (PDI) that totally adopts the human rights & democracy principles stipulated by the International Declaration of Human Rights in addition to all the UN resolutions and conventions that are related to the work of PCPD. Among these conventions are the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Resolution 1325 that demands full partnership for women in solving political conflicts.

PCPD promotes the rule of law in all the occupied territories as it was stated in the amended Basic Law of 2003. In the meanwhile, PCPD lobbies and advocates for improving the articles of the Basic Law and the articles of the proposed Draft Constitution in order to make change in peaceful and democratic means until drafting a Basic Law and Constitution that would contribute towards establishing a modern and democratic state. The Palestinians deserve to have a democratic and humane life in order to enjoy the rights of citizenship like the rest of the peoples who enjoy peace, security, democracy and stability.

PCPD’s General Assembly, Board of Directors, Administrative Body, the executive staff, supporters, volunteers and friends chose to be with the Palestinian people, educate the public,

learn from them and live with dignity as most Palestinian chose to live; PCPD chose to listen to the people and make their voices heard; PCPD chose to march forward with and among the people; chose to suffer like the people; chose the path of peace and democracy despite the difficulties and risks erected by the occupation, tyrants and the extremists who chose the path of violence, killing, confiscation of rights and the domination of the masculine traditional way of thinking.

Despite the difficulties and risks of this path that we chose, it’s

still the shortest one to liberation of land and people. It limits the extent of destruction, chaos, bloodshed and ongoing conflicts. We are convinced of the importance and virtue of this choice. PCPD and its target groups have chosen this path to reach safety by mitigating the political, economic and social suffering of the people and achieving their dreams in building an independent state in which rights and freedoms are respected, rule of law prevails and full equality and participation for all citizens without discrimination based on sex, opinion, religion or race are achieved.

PCPD Organizational Structure

PCPD Board of Directors 2010

On April 18th 2010, PCPD general assembly met and elected a new board of directors as follows:

Ms. Faddwa Khader – ChairwomanMs. Sona Arouri – Deputy to the ChairwomanMr. Munther Dakkak – TreasurerMs. Intisar Qareeb – SecretaryMr. Tayseer Arouri – MemberMr. Amin Enabeh – Member **Ms. Haneen Zeidan – MemberMs. Nadia Harb – MemberMs. Ghadeer Abu Gazala – Member

The General Assembly also chose El Wafa Company for Financial Consulting & Accounting Services as our new auditing firm.

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GENERAL ASSEMBLY 1. Mr. Abbas Milhem 20. Mr. Muhammad Jaradat2. Mr. Aqel Taqus 21. Mr. Muhammad Salim3. Mr. Ali Khilleh 22. Mr. Munther Al-Daqqaq4. Mr. Abed Al-Kareem Odeh 23. Mr. Mudar Qasis5. Mr. Abed Al-Majeed Hamdan 24. Ms. Nadia Harb6. Mr. Amin Annabi 25. Ms. Nuha Barghouti7. Ms. Basma Al-Naji 26. Mr. Naeem Al-Ashhab8. Mr. Ezat Al-Shuaybi 27. Mr. Nidal Al-Kafri9. Ms. Faddwa Khader 28. Ms. Najah Hamad10. Ms. Ghadeer Abu Ghazaleh 29. Mr. Odeh Naser11. Mr. Issa Samandar 30. Ms. Pnina Thabet12. Mr. Hanna Amireh 31. Ms. Rafeef Mujahed13. Mr. Hashem Barahma 32. Ms. Randa Abed Rabbo14. Ms. Hana Abideen 33. Mr. Sameer Abdulla15. Ms. Haneen Zeidan 34. Ms. Sona Qaod16. Ms. Intisar Al-Salman 35. Mr. Tamer Issawi17. Mr. Khaleel Sheeha 36. Mr. Tayseer Arouri18. M s. Laila Faddah 37. Mr. Taleb Awwad

19. Mr. Mazin Qatato

PCPD STAFF

EXECUTIVE STAFF DURING 2010Full time staff:

Mr. Naseef Mu’allem – Director GeneralMs. Hilda Issa – Administrative and Financial DirectorMs. Taryn Fiveks – Public Relation OfficerMs. Linda Naser – administrative assistantMr. Hussein Sawalha – Coordinator of the North East of the West BankMs. Randa Saboba – Coordinator of the North West of the West BankMs. Eman Zayyad – Coordinator of the Centre of the West BankMs. Haneen Abu Sada – Coordiantor of the South of the West BankMs. Asmahan Bushnaq – trainer and facilitatorMr. Riyad Shraeem – trainer and facilitatorMr. Ibraheem Abed Jawwad – facilitatorMs. Nadia Kittana who joined PCPD team during October 2010 and replaced Ms. Randa Saboba

Part time staff during 2010:Mr. Rami Rizeqallah – accountantMr. Zuheir Tmazi – coordinator and trainerMs. Samira Hijazi – coordinator and facilitatorMr. Sami Daghlas – trainer

In addition to a number of youth who had an internship opportunity at the PCPD during 2010:

Ms. Amani KhundakjiMr. Muhammad MihdawiMs. Wijdan Shhada

Ms. Sujoud AthamnaMr. Thafer SaaydahMs. Faten FayyadMr. Akram DaebesMs. Jenan KhaleelMs. Fayza AlamiMs. Zenab DrriyehMs. Shahrazad TmeizyMr. Rami Abu LatefaMs. Naseem HrebatMs. Hazar IsmaeelMr. Muhammad SharhaMs. Maryam ObeidMs. Nur Teryaki

Vision

PCPD is a pioneering and progressive organization working in the field of political and democratic development within the borders of a free and independent Palestinian state that has a parliamentary democracy system, respects human rights in general and women’s rights in particular and guarantees social justice to all its citizens.

Mission

PCPD is an independent civil organization that works on empowering its target groups, in general, and youth & women, in particular. It holds dialogues and training workshops to enhance the ideology, culture and values of democracy and genuine peace based on the Declaration of Independence of 1988. It also develops the capacities of civil society organizations and activists and revives voluntary work

and community participation as a mean to liberate the Palestinian society from the occupation and all forms of backwardness based on the values of human rights, tolerance, participation, accountability and the rule of law.

Values

Political commitment to the PDI and to genuine peace as a mean to retrieve the legitimate Palestinian rights;

Equality regardless of sex, religion and political affiliation. PCPD’s activities target both sexes in all locations. Also PCPD staff consists of both sexes equally and there are 4 women out of 7 members in the Board of Directors.

Commitment to transparency: Transparency is not a slogan for PCPD; it’s a daily practice in the life of PCPD. Both the Board of Directors and the General

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Assembly are implementing their work in an efficient and creative manner. The Executive body informs its governing bodies about all the work details whether signed contracts, budgets or relationships with partners.

Teamwork: The executive management and the staff collect the needs of the target groups, draft them into ideas and proposals, refer them to the Board and the Board submits them to the General Assembly for ratification. Then they get implemented on the ground by the staff, volunteers and the supporters of PCPD.

Decentralization and delegation of authorities: This is an indispensable part of PCPD’s management methodology as it helps in creating quick response mechanisms to the needs of the target groups, encourages new initiatives and gives wide authorities to the coordinators and the facilitators in their locations.

Cooperation and networking: PCPD believes in the importance of networking with local organizations that include marginalized groups. This helps PCPD understands the needs of those groups and helps them build their capacities to voice their needs and impact their communities. PCPD is part of the Grassroots organizations network that was established in 2005 and PCPD works in full partnership with its members.

PCPD Strategic Objectives 2010-2013

The five strategic issues stem from PCPD’s mission, vision and goal and developed in our annual strategic plan. They are the backbone of PCPD. They are the ideal ways to achieve the goals for PCPD was established. These goals are represented in training

and empowering the Palestinian people in general and youth in particular to fulfil their duties professionally. Youth should believe in the fairness of their cause and in their capabilities through which they will overcome all challenges and difficulties in order to establish the secular Palestinian state in accordance with the PDI that stipulates that:

“The State of Palestine is the state of Palestinians wherever they may be. The state is for them to enjoy in it their collective national and cultural identity, theirs to pursue in it a complete equality of rights. In it will be safeguarded their political and religious convictions and their human dignity by means of a parliamentary democratic system of governance, itself based on freedom of expression and the freedom to form parties. The rights of minorities will duly be respected by the majority, as minorities must abide by decisions of the majority. Governance will be based on principles of social justice, equality and non-discrimination in public rights of men or women, on grounds of race, religion, color or sex, and the aegis of a constitution which ensures the rule of law and an independent judiciary. Thus shall these principles allow no departure from Palestine›s age-old spiritual and civilization heritage of tolerance and religious coexistence”.

Based on our evaluations and the PDI, our strategic goals are as follows:

• To enhance the notion of genuine peace as a mean to establish an independent Palestinian state based on the PDI and the UN resolutions.

• To consolidate and promote the principles and notions of participatory democracy and spread its practices in the Palestinian Society.

• To develop the role of youth through reviving community participation and the feeling of national belonging.

• To empower the Palestinian women and enhance their political, economic and social role.

• To build the capacity of PCPD staff in order to become more efficient in impacting the youth and enable them to get involved in the construction and development process.

PCPD-CBO Partnerships

PCPD works in all areas of the West Bank, including rural and marginalized areas. Our work could not extend this far without the partnership of various community-based organizations (CBOS) that act as envoys to our target communities. These strategic partnerships make our work possible and help foster libraries, community centres, and schools of democracy throughout Palestine.

The following is a list of organizations that PCPD worked with during 2010

Ahli Dora Club

Al- Awda Children And Youth Centre

Al Bireh Youth Foundation - Ramallah

Al Zababdeh Municipality

Al-Ata› Charitable Society

Al-Ebiyat Women Society

Alghad Aljadid Center Anabta Municipality Anin Woman Center

Association Of Women Committees For Social Work Bani- Neam Association

Bethlehem Association For Women ActivityBethlehm Governorates Farmers SocietyBeit Sahour Charitable Sons SocietyBeitunia Union Club

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Biddo Local Council

Burqa Sports Centre

Center For Defence Of Liberties And Civil RightsCharitable Association For Care Of Needed StudentsCultural Women AssociationDar Qandeel For Arts And Culture

Develop Villatic Society For North West Of JerusalemDura Women ClubFaqua› Sport CentreKufr-Rai Society For Development And CultureMarkeh Charitable Society

Ministry Of Youth And Sport

Mothers School Society

Nibras For Young Generations Society- Bethlehem

Not To Forget

Nour Al Mustakbal Society Charity- Bethlehem Nur- Al Sharq Cultured CentreOmnieh Youth Center

Palestine Youth For DevelopmentPalestine Youth Struggle Union

Palestinian National Authority Ministry Of Local Government

Palestinian Society For Communities Development - Sawa›ed

Palestinian Union Of Social Workers And Psychologists

Palestinian Women›s Development Centre

Pyalara

Qarawa Bani Zeid Women Society

Qatannah Association For Development And Strengthening

Rural Women›s Development SocietyRural Women›s Affairs Care Centre

Sharek Youth Center

Society Children And Youth Of The FutureStudent›s Scientific Society Center Taqu›a Women SocietyThe Chamber Of ComerceThe Elderly Home Charitable Society The Palestinian Working Women Society For DevelopmentThe Palestinian Youth Charitable Creative SocietyTrade Union For Agricultural And Food IndustryWomen Activity CentreWomen And Child Development SocietyWomen Center- Ein SultanWomen Cultural CentreWomen Program CenterWomen Society For Charitable WorkWomen Working SocietyWomen›s Studies CenterYalu Citizen›s SocietyYouth Development Association

Zababdeh›s Charitable SocietyZan Women Distinguished Centre Cultural, Sports and Social Center of QibyaRural Women for Saving and Credit Organization

PCPD Funders

PCPD thanks our funders for their generous support that helps fund our activities towards a just peace and democratic society.

Christian AidCordaidDeutschen Entwicklungsdienstes (DED)Kvinna till Kvinna

Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung

National Endowment for Democracy

Finn Church AidThe NGO Development Center

Italian Cooperation

KFW Bankengruppe

Mennonite Central Committee

II.Situational Overview 2010

Major Developments on the Political Level in Palestinian Society

The past year witnessed many political, economic, and civic developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. These developments had significant impact on PCPD’s work as well as on our target groups in general. These major developments are as follows:

1. A substantial shift in stated American policy. At the University of Cairo in 2009, the US President Mr. Barack Obama committed himself to finding a peace between Palestinians and Israelis. He also spoke of freezing settlement building as a necessary step towards finding a just peace. However, the Americans have since rescinded their position and under their watch, settlements are being expanded at an alarming rate. According to Human Rights Watch, 31% of Palestinians in Area C and East Jerusalem have been displaced since

2000 (CITE). This trend continues, despite American protestations. Six months after the speech in Cairo, American policy reversed to continue to unconditionally support Israeli policies. Palestinians are partially responsible for this reversal in attitudes, however, as they were in Cairo looking over the reconciliation process rather than in Washington D.C. countering Israeli lobbyists.

2. The peace process has once again retreated into a seemingly frozen embryonic stage after the failure of direct and indirect negotiations. This was due mainly to Israeli ground policies and their unwillingness to continue the talks in good faith. The Palestinians also held responsibility due to mismanagement of popular support for such talks. Palestinians were too dependent on Arab support, as well as accepting Americans as arbitrators.

3. The continued separation and absence of any positive indicator towards reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah due in part to continued arrests and Hamas unwillingness to sign the Egyptian Initiative. There is currently no alternative for Palestinian leadership with regards to reconciliation.

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4. The consequences of the international investment conference in Bethlehem and its focus on a neoliberal free market economy. Prices rose 3.54% across the Palestinian Territories in 2010.

5. The retreat of the democratization process as a result of postponing elections. After spending three million dollars on preparation, training, and get-out-the-vote efforts, the Palestinian cabinet postponed elections for unjustifiable reasons.

6. Absence of progressive dimensions or procedures of progressive united citizenship. Instead, a culture of individualism and self-centred thinking has emerged.

Despite the fact that these developments were mainly negative on Palestinian society, PCPD took the opportunity to turn them into challenges that should be faced head-on. By standing our ground and evaluating all the options, PCPD has turned these developments into opportunities.

Consulting staff and target groups, PCPD has brainstormed a series of resistance mechanisms to answer these events. We met to discuss direct non-violent action while others are still discussing negotiations for negotiations. We discussed the shortcomings of the reconciliation efforts via the Egyptian initiative and regional agendas and sought out alternatives at our economic conference in Nablus and our Palestinian Women’s conference. A common solution considered was to fashion the reconciliation experience on the South African model by enlisting former South African activists into the process. An effort would be made to conduct elections based on the draft temporary constitution, and make this document something that parliament would use as a foundation for legislation. The Egyptian document should also contain a political and a non-violent resistance program.

Activities Breakdown

Our main target groups are young women and men who are marginalized by most political parties and the Palestinian Authority in general. We work with university students when they have been nearly forgotten by the political and civic organizations. We work with the poor and marginalized beyond the colonial wall while most people have stopped including these groups in their work. We work with local governments and CBOs in order to strengthen participatory democracy at a time when the popular civil and political sectors have been disenfranchised by cancelled elections. We write and translate progressive literature at a time when all one finds on the newsstands and bookshops are filled with topics of little importance to Palestinian liberation. We speak about international law and institutions while others simply exist under the ceiling of Arab and American initiatives. We conduct activities and events with Palestinians who live in Israel – when these people are excluded by most other Palestinian NGOs.

Our 2010 action plan was successful. We had 12 projects for 2010 and each project contained different activities including:

• Workshops• Training courses• Conferences• Media• Adoption of initiatives • Publishing and distributing books • Creation of progressive libraries• Book discussions• Demonstrations• Television sessions

• Manuals for training

The total number of activities planned for 2010 was 555, yet 602 activities were successfully executed by the end of December (+11%).

Total number of locations serviced: 89

Total CBO partners (mainly women and youth organizations): 100

As far as PCPD internal organization, the board of directors met 9 times in 2010.

The PCPD general assembly met on April 18th to approve the annual financial and narrative reports, the 2011 action plan and budget, vote for auditors, and to elect the 6th board of directors with a gender makeup of 6 women and 3 men. Board and general assembly members were active in interviewing staff, attending activities, opening major events, meeting with staff, lobbying on behalf of PCPD, and participating in demonstrations.

Internal Capacity Building

One of PCPD’s strategic goals for the coming years is to build the capacity of PCPD staff in order to become more efficient in impacting the youth and enable them to get involved in the construction and development process.

Thanks to considerable and thoughtful support from our donors, PCPD was able to undergo a series of capacity building exercises, training sessions, seminars, and networking events during 2010. Staff underwent specific training on monitoring and evaluation and project planning design. In addition to the training, the staff

are using the books at the libraries, in addition to new equipment that is making the work more efficient.

External Evaluations

In 2010, PCPD underwent two external evaluations focusing on two projects: Promoting the Democratic Process in Palestine and Women to Women; Building Community Leaders. Both of these evaluations focused on the projects in question as well as PCPD on an organizational level, giving valuable feedback not only on our activities in the field, but also on our values and how we implemented them through our work. Among the points the evaluators noted:

• PCPD management excelled in field supervision and guidance.• PCPD staff is qualified and efficient in their work.• PCPD made sure to include marginalized groups such as

youth and women in decision-making and project planning.• Project objectives were met and often exceeded proposal

expectations. • PCPD stuck to the Palestinian Declaration of Independence,

making sure that the project beneficiaries were fully familiar with it and basing their project strategies on its universal values.

• Project participants further understood:• The need and importance of a pluralist secular democracy.• Their abilities to make change within society in a nonviolent,

democratic, grassroots way.• The PDI and its application in their lives.• The importance of marginalized groups having a prominent

place in decision making and society building.• The importance of women and youth participation in

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public society• Their rights under international law and the Palestinian

society’s place within a global society.• The general importance of gender equality in a pluralist

secular democracy.• How to lobby, educate, and encourage others within their

communities to become involved in the political process.

• The importance of elections and elected official accountability.• The importance of networking to strengthen initiatives

and lobbies. • PCPD staff had strategized how to handle challenges in the

field and was able to overcome many of them. • Beneficiaries expressed satisfaction from the training sessions

and often requested more to be scheduled.

III- PCPD Impact 2010

Youth

Strategic Goal: To develop the role of youth through reviving community participation and the feeling of national belonging; to build the capacity of PCPD staff in order to become more efficient in impacting the youth and enable them to get involved in the construction and development process.

Youth is one of PCPD’s main target groups because it is the largest population demographic emerging in Palestine, as well

as the most marginalized. PCPD seeks to increase participation of youth in politics and democratization through education, leadership training, and political engagement. The challenge within Palestinian society is that the youth are not aware of their rights or their demographic power. Palestinian youth is, on the whole, disillusioned with political life, fearful of factional engagement, and are not effectively participating in the decision-making process. A majority of youth avoid involvement with political parties and do their best to stay out of politics. Palestinian youth generally distrusts the political process as they see it being mainly controlled by people who are against their interests. This creates a dangerous cycle of disinvolvement and alienation.

Towards Jutice and Equality

Role of Youth in the Rule of Law

Palestinian Youth in Political

Development

To counter this cycle, PCPD offers a range of programs that utilize youth participation and encourage engagement and education. Our goal is to encourage and support young people so that they can better participate in public life at the local and national level by undertaking practical political initiatives such as initiating campaigns and using the media, running for office, and advocating for representational government in Palestine. Youth are also responsible for maintaining systems of good governance within their communities. The entire West Bank is reached through our regional offices, both in rural and urban areas, as well as university campuses. Students and other youth participated in conferences, televised discussions, meetings with local governments, protests, book discussions, and other voluntary work. Program participants came away with a broad and comprehensive understanding of their rights under international law as well as basic Palestinian law including the PDI. They also gain skills such as public speaking, time management, and basic diplomacy and negotiations. By the end of our projects, participants felt comfortable in sitting down with decision makers and presenting their needs and ideas in a well-organized and confident way.

Some 2011 highlights from our youth program included:• Construction of student-designed and

built pavilions at Khadouri University in Tulkarm.

• Enrichment and support of progressive libraries throughout the West Bank.

• Youth participation in municipality meetings with local governing party members.

• nvolvement and presentation of papers in PCPD annual conferences.

• Increased involvement from female youth participants. • Increased involvement between youth and CBOs.

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Women

Strategic Goal: To empower Palestinian women and enhance their political, economic, and social role

Women remain underrepresented in Palestinian social life, despite being the cornerstone of society. Women are often hit the hardest by the occupation as they are responsible for the family and are the ones who have to work hardest to make ends meet in the absence of state and social stability. Despite this overwhelming responsibility, women are often left out of the decision-making process and are sorely underrepresented in policy circles.

Our women’s program seeks to empower women from all backgrounds in order for them to take a more active role in political society, whether at the workplace, at home, or in the public sphere. PCPD seeks to do this through supporting women’s CBOs by training and educating qualified participants in their rights and responsibilities, as well as how to take a more active role in society. This is done through a series of training courses that bring women together in a networking capacity to learn about UN resolutions and programs, to critically analyze the place of Palestinian women in society, and to work on their leadership skills. Women then bring

these experiences back to their CBOs, becoming qualified and passionate leaders and assets to their local communities.

Our goal is to provide strong, qualified young women who strongly believe in equality and are willing to work hard to achieve this. They furthermore believe in the critical importance of female involvement in civil society, have confidence and self esteem, and are willing to work hard to become part of the decision making process by becoming involved in the economic and political spheres.

The highlight of PCPD’s women’s program in 2010 was the annual conference on women’s issues in December. This year, we focused on women and their place in the political reconciliation

Empowering Women

to Women: Building

Community Leaders

between factions of Palestinian political society. This conference was covered by the media and delivered to a packed hall. Women who had been hesitant to participate in group discussions months earlier now stood at the podium and delivered their own work to hundreds of attendees.

Other highlights from 2010 included:

• Women participants conducting training workshops for their CBOs

• Women becoming more confident in asserting themselves at home

• Women designing and writing the curriculum for courses focused on passing on concepts and strategies learned in the training sessions

• Women able to share ideas and discuss issues facing them despite being from different backgrounds.

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Democracy Building

Strategic Goal: To consolidate and promote the principles and notions of participatory democracy and spread its practices throughout Palestinian society.

Despite false starts, an unwieldy process, and numerous delays, PCPD still champions the banner of democracy as the best and most appropriate method of government in Palestine. Using the Palestinian Declaration of Independence as our guide, PCPD advocates a secular representational democracy that seeks to include all populations and all voices and perspectives. The best way to lay the groundwork for a healthy democratic society is to start at the grassroots level by working through community organizations and ensuring that future leaders have a clear understanding of democracy, its institutions, and its ideological framework.

PCPD offers training workshops in democracy building and fosters encounters between local populations and their municipal governments, enabling them to hold elected officials accountable for their decisions and actions, as well as to take a strong stance against institutional corruption. We also organize lobbying efforts

Citizenship in

Participation

Promoting the

Democratic Process in

Palestine

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so that citizens won’t hesitate to make their needs known to those in powers or to others who can help. PCPD focuses on community based organizations, hoping to enable these organizations to become schools of democracy and models of good governance.

Some highlights from our 2010 program include:

• Planned encounters between local governments and stakeholders to affect meaningful change.

• Involvement from a broad survey of stakeholders – men, women, rural, urban, professionals, labourers, etc.

• Fostering involvement in our regional progressive libraries• Annual conferences where ideas on democracy and economy

were presented.

Peace

Strategic Goal: To enhance the notion of genuine peace as a means to establish an independent Palestinian state based on the PDI and UN resolutions

Peace is not won overnight and – as in the case of the Palestinian situation – can be a lengthy and drawn out process. Because the process can be so long, it is vital to fully understand the mechanisms of negotiation and conflict resolution in order to engender patience and acceptance of the process. Otherwise, impatience may breed discord and hostility. PCPD recognizes the importance of a just peace as well as the proven, fair methods of achieving such peace. Inspired by case studies such as the South African experience, PCPD disseminates conflict resolution strategies and helps citizens understand the peace process and its importance in Palestinian society. The immediate goal of this program is to increase awareness of the peace process and final status topics among young men and women throughout the West Bank.

Too many citizens depend on others for information when it comes to this vital topic. PCPD seeks to engender critical thinking when it comes to the peace process. Instead of laying the responsibility of negotiations on the shoulders of those sitting at the table, we

Conflict Resolution During the Peace

ProcessStrategic Peace

seek to inform as many as possible so that they too can feel they have a stake in the outcome and are better able to oversee the process. Despite recent setbacks to the peace process, PCPD remains committed to fostering a healthy environment for discussion of negotiations. One of the most difficult obstacles to overcome is the apathy and cynicism held by many towards this route of ending the occupation. By educating stakeholders about UN resolutions as a base to negotiations, PCPD hopes to convince citizens that the peace process is the best way to achieve national liberation.

Highlights of the program from 2010 include:

• Stakeholders came away changed with regards to their views on peace talks.

• By the end of the program, 45% of participants were willing to accept a just peace based on UN resolutions 242 and 338.

• Palestinian media covered 20% of events focused on peace-building.

• Around 50% of former participants are currently active in participating in non-violent events supporting the peace talks.

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PCPD Success Stories - 2010

Despite challenges, 2010 was a successful year for PCPD. We seek to touch the lives of every beneficiary and organization we work with, but some stories stand out among others as good examples of the kind of impact we make throughout Palestine. On an organizational level, our annual women’s conference for 2010 was an outstanding success. In our women’s program, we usually let graduates participate in a live television session. However, this year the participants decided they would rather plan, organize, and present at our women’s conference in December marking international human rights day. In their words: “You have an annual women’s conference? It’s ours now!” Weeks later, the conference was our most successful in PCPD history. The issue they chose to tackle was regarding the political reconciliation process within the Palestinian system, and they chose as a model the South African framework. Since their conference, where their papers were received with much interest, the political dialogue in the reconciliation process has changed and now Palestinian officials are speaking of a South African model in addition to the Egyptian document. As for individuals, there were a few who stood out among our ranks of supporters. Zeinab Derreyah of Beit Fajjar is married with four children at the age of 27. When she began our training course entitled “Women Leadership Capacity Building”, she was known to have open disagreements with the facilitators regarding UN resolutions and international law because, as she saw it, the entire world stood against the Palestinian people. However, after months of training, Zeinab began to listen more closely to what others had to say on the matter. By the end of the course, after much discussion and outside research, she became one of the most outspoken in support of nonviolent protest and international legitimacy and law.

She is now one of our stronger supporters in Bethlehem and an active volunteer in our programs. She speaks of the necessity of having a Palestinian political line that goes hand in hand with international law and international opinion because, “statehood will not come from Fatah guns, Hamas rockets, or stones of the youth, but rather from international recognition and support.”Fayzeh Alameh from Al-Ram used to ask to leave early during her sessions, because her husband would be along to pick her up soon and she didn’t want him to wait for her in the car. As the session progressed, however, she invited her husband to come inside and listen to the trainees instead of waiting outside for her. “Before working in the field, I chose to work on my family. My husband used to be a conservative man who didn’t allow me to work in the field. Nowadays, he encourages me to conduct sessions and will even take me there himself, asking me questions after the event and showing a clear i nterest in my work.”

Mohammad Amile was 21 when he joined one of our capacity building training courses on political and media education. At first he was shy, unwilling to participate in discussions or in front of a camera. After encouragement, however, he was able to overcome his mental obstacles to engagement. He now is active in his community and speaks with confidence, delivering presentations based on sound reasoning. He speaks to the camera as he speaks to a person, which is appealing. His on-air appearances on Wattan TV have been successful and rebroadcast due to their popularity. He recently went on a fact-finding trip to Lebanon and returned to present his findings to PCPD supporters that were well received. Far from the shy participant he once was, now he is one of the most well-known Ramallah PCPD supporters.

PCPD supporter attended courses at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute PCPD supporter Hikmat Alami attended four intensive courses at the Summer Peacebuilding Institute (SPI) in 2010. The courses focused on themes including; conflict sensitive development, peace-building, trauma awareness, conflict resolution and organizational capacity-building. Hikmat reported how the training has deepened her understanding of the concept of peace and how she envisions using her newly acquired skills in spreading the values of peace, tolerance, human rights, accountability and the rule of law among Palestinian leaders and communities. Referring to her experience at the SPI, Hikmat said: “The training lent me a hand to create and develop a strategy to reward those who work in peace-building, not only through awards and incentives, but by giving them the opportunity to participate by making decisions, getting involved in the political sector, creating peace and love among countries and solving the world’s problems.“ This project was supported by the MCC.

Challenges & Obstacles to be addressed in 2011

1. Absence of trust between citizens and decision makers. Too often CBOs and NGOs are groups into a basket of “defeatism and corruption” with the Palestinian Authority, and this can be an obstacle to our work in the field.

2. New demands of donors who are asking for too much with regards to reporting and proposals. Too much time is being spent in the PCPD offices and not in the field with our target groups. In addition, donors have been subject to austerity measures in their home countries, resulting in donor offices closing and funds being reduced drastically. Other donors have drastically changed their

overall strategy with little consultation with their partners, resulting in severe shifts or reductions in resources received and putting partners at risk of lay-offs or reduction in program outreach.

3. Competition exists between similar organizations. Other NGOs are delivering more services to their target groups than PCPD, mostly because their neoliberal political values result in more funding from powerful donors with agendas.

4. The continued bias of the Palestinian media. Coverage of our events have been weak due to our political agenda. Similar organizations doing similar work have garnered much media attention while some of our larger events only gain a few lines of coverage. Censorship makes it difficult to disseminate our progress to other Palestinians.

5. The unexpected freeze of elections that were to take place on July 17th has caused a negative impact on our fieldwork, as much of our work previously had focused on elections preparation and education.

6. he consequences of the Bethlehem economic conference, including the issue of raising prices across the West Bank, has caused a shift in focus in our target groups. People are more interested in learning about price shifts than democracy, since they perceive that one has more of an impact in their life’s than the other.

Despite the continued challenges of the illegal occupation, colonial wall, and internal strife, Palestinians still contain a vast source of untapped power within the marginalized groups, namely women and youth. Since these groups make up the majority of the Palestinian population, they represent a powerful group that could ideally change the tide of Palestinian liberation towards success. Empowering these target groups with political education and practical skills is the first step on this path towards a just peace and democratic society, something to which PCPD remains committed.

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PCPD

The Palestinian Centre for Peace and Democracy is located in:

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