Several research studies suggest that girls living in communities classified as “Area C” that are under Israeli Authority’s control in the Bethlehem and Hebron Governorates, are particularly vulnerable in terms of facing schooling difficulties, several forms of violence and child marriage…

The Psycho Social Counseling Center for Women - Palestine (PSCCW) has therefore chosen, through the realization of a diagnosis, to analyze the main obstacles that limit girls’ access to education in these areas. The precise targeted zone are six communities: Three in the Bethlehem Governorate (Kisan, Al Rashayda, Al Meniah), and three in the Hebron Governorate (South of Yatta: Zeif, Maeen, Bweeb). These communities are home to approximately 150.000 Palestinians, and very few local or international organizations operate in them due to access difficulties and their proximity to Israeli military settlements. The aim is to create a database that helps identify the obstacles that prevent girls from going to school, as well as to create new opportunities facilitating girls’ access to their basic rights. The local authority councils of Kisan, Al Rashayda, Al Meniah, Zeif, Maeen and Bweeb, the University of Bethlehem, one association, one media, and the Ministry of Education will also be involved in the implementation of the diagnosis. These entities form the nucleus of the local cluster of gender equality actors© that will be mobilized by PSCCW in the first semester of 2018.

Several activities are planned, such as interviews with the local cluster’s members, collecting and analysing data in the communities through focus groups, and the presentation of the diagnosis conclusions to the main stakeholders, among others.

The PSCCW was selected following a call for applications launched by the Foundation in 2017 to mobilize the actors of gender equality at a local level (3rd edition) in 2018. The diagnosis on girls’ access to education in Area C of the Hebron and Bethlehem Governorates will be published in the documentary centre of the platform and widely disseminated at a Euro-Mediterranean level. PSCCW’s action is part of the project "Strengthening the capacity of equality actors" funded by the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE) and coordinated by the IEMed in synergy with the FFEM.

This action also falls under the framework of the project "Developing women’s empowerment", labelled by the Union for the Mediterranean.

For more information on the local clusters of gender equality actors set up by the Foundation, click here.