Ramallah – MIFTAH held a follow-up meeting for its winter camp with members of the Political and Social Active Palestinian Youth Network in which they reviewed the interventions of the 2019-2020 executive plan, which was prepared with the participation of representatives from student union councils , network members and representatives from Palestinian parties and factions.

The participants discussed the interventions of the “Youth Empowerment” program and how compatible they are with the Palestinian context, especially in light of the rapid changes to the Palestinian cause. They discussed the impacts of these changes on youth and their role in political participation, given the absence of PLC and presidential elections since 2006. The participants said they aimed at investing these interventions in pressing for promoting youth participation in political decision-making and in the formulation of policies that affect their everyday lives.

The activities and interventions focused on the importance of continuing to hold such dialogue sessions that seek to revive the General Union of Palestine Students [GUPS] in order to continue pressuring PLO factions to adopt the youth proposal to convene GUP’s general conference. Furthermore, the “Political and Social Active Palestinian Youth” Network members discussed their role in starting a dialogue on socio-economic issues that affect their everyday lives in light of reports that point to inflated unemployment rates especially among youth and therefore a rise in poverty rates among them as well.

Youth Network member Thaer Hanaysheh said the plan reflected the approaches of the youth found within the political youth document that was developed by the youth in 2017. He said youth efforts would be dedicated to unified action aimed at transforming these interventions into practical actions in a bid to raise the voices and demands of youth to decision-makers. “A continuation of such interventions by MIFTAH will allow youth to take advantage of platforms for dialogue and therefore put all these issues on the dialogue table as priorities in need of national strategies, namely the political participation of youth and unemployment.”

On his part, MIFTAH’s youth project coordinator Hasan Mahareeq said the meeting was part of the organization’s program “Youth Empowerment” which is aims at developing the abilities and skills of young leaders to bolster their impact on public policies. He said MIFTAH implements the program in partnership with the Arab Palestinian Investment Company [APIC] through which MIFTAH seeks to contribute to expanding youth participation in the public space and support their access to advanced decision-making positions.