Taawon’s interventions target young people at a crossroads point in their life by offering programs that encourage and enable them to complete quality education (SDG 4) and to find decent and fulfilling employment (SDG 8), in addition to starting their own businesses and small companies.
The transition from education to employment is difficult for young people across the Arab region, but is particularly so, for Palestinian youth.
YES empowers youth aged 15 to 29 with the skills and resources required to successfully transition into employment. YES activities include:
- Online career-counseling portal that helps students identify their ideal career path.
- Technical and Vocational Training opportunities.
- An employment portal where job seekers can access paid internship and apprenticeship opportunities and.
- Fast Forward; Palestine’s first entrepreneurship accelerator program.
2016 achievements:
- Continued to provide life skills and vocational training to 200 students at-risk of dropping out of school in Jerusalem.
- Supported more than 21,400 job seekers registered in the online job placement portal that matches job seekers to more than 2,480 employers in Palestine.
- Funded and oversaw startup accelerators and incubators across Palestine, including: Mobaderoon, based at the Islamic University in Gaza, which has incubated over 90 tech start-ups; Hebron Business incubator, based in the Hebron Chambers of Commerce; The Business Development Center in Jerusalem, which supports a variety of companies, especially in tourism, and pays particular attention to empowering women in entrepreneurship; and the Fast-Forward Accelerator in Ramallah which has supported 12 start-ups.
Welfare Association for Youth achievements:
- Supported “cycling for Palestine” in Jordan and Palestine, where hundreds of cyclists joined in support of projects in Jerusalem.
- Launched the photography contest “Palestine in your eyes” to support projects for the empowerment of women.
- Participated and supported the Palestine Marathon, “Right to Movement.”
- Supported Ramadan Iftar events for orphaned children in the Gaza Strip and Amman.