Ruwwad involves youth in the project through the National Youth Corps—a youth forum that offers three different levels of engagement: youth leadership, youth volunteering, and youth participation. Ruwwad empowers Palestinian Authority leaders in two areas: At the Ministry of Youth headquarters in Ramallah, and at four regional resource centers.
Youth Leaders receive in-depth training on topics that include community organizing, group decision-making, and effective communication (among other key leadership skills). More importantly, Youth Leaders are then given opportunities to design and carry out small-scale projects that address local needs within their communities. Ruwwad will train 120 young Palestinians to become Youth Leaders by late 2010.
Youth Volunteers play an active role in Ruwwad's daily activities—which range from medical aid distribution in the Northern West Bank to community summer camps for orphans in Gaza . Youth Volunteers assist the Youth Leaders in planning and implementing these activities, but can be involved for shorter periods of time. Ruwwad aims to recruit 500 Youth Volunteers by late 2010.
Working together at a leadership training session in Jericho
Youth Participants are an umbrella network of 5000 young people who take part in a short Ruwwad orientation, and then help out periodically with local Ruwwad activities. Participants from the town of Salfit might pitch in to help leaders and volunteers run a two-day clean-up campaign. Nablus NYC participants might join longer-term volunteers to repaint school classrooms in their neighborhood.
Community Beneficiaries are young people and their elders whose needs are served through Ruwwad project activities. Community Members may live in urban areas, like Bethlehem , or rural environments like the South Hebron Hills; they may also live in refugee camps, like the Amari camp in Ramallah or the Balata camp in Nablus . Ruwwad also targets selected areas of the Old City of Jerusalem and East Jerusalem for certain specific activities—ensuring that at-risk community members in these vulnerable areas are not forgotten. Ruwwad aims to assist 50,000 adult community members and 5,620 youth community members by late 2010.
Ministry of Youth Staff are dynamic policy leaders who run a range of youth services across the West Bank . Ruwwad is now helping Ministry officials prepare to manage the National Youth Corps and Resource Centers , by providing capacity building training in core skill areas: Administration and management, financial planning and program development are all fields where Ruwwad is advising Ministry personnel—so that these highly-skilled leaders can create a new standard of excellence in youth programming.
Youth Development Resource Center Staff are field workers and volunteers at four “hub” youth clubs across the West Bank . Ruwwad works closely with these dedicated teams, providing capacity building training and advising in key areas of need: Ruwwad project staff may help YDRC peers plan a regional youth fundraising campaign. Meanwhile, Ruwwad's financial manager might advise a local Center manager on multi-year budgeting.
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