Challenge
West Bank and Gaza communities suffer from an inadequacy of municipal infrastructure such as schools, roads, and youth facilities. At the same time, these communities are experiencing high unemployment and depressed economic conditions.
Initiative
USAID’s Community Services Program creates jobs for Palestinians in productive work through community projects including classroom renovations and construction, laying of pipes and paving of roads. By generating employment in communities throughout the West Bank and Gaza, income is made available to those who desperately need it.
USAID helped to implement 2-year job creation programs for economically depressed urban areas of Nablus. The programs help communities to prioritize needs such as schools and identify solutions that both serve the community and create immediate jobs for those most in need. Doing so helps families make ends meet while providing hope for the future through the education of the children.
Moreover, job creation efforts are implemented with relevant community awareness campaigns that teach residents the importance of water conservation, first aid, and keeping public spaces free of waste.
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Photo: USAID/West Bank
“With your support, standing side by side together, the parents are very happy and feel safe sending their children to the new kindergarten and the rehabilitated school.”
- Hana Suwan, community leader and mother
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Results
The program has created 28,000 days of employment in Nablus with the goal to reach over 366,000. The jobs provided by the program have led to improvements in the community which are already being recognized by its members. New classrooms have reduced the overcrowding in kindergartens. The elementary school students have improved bathrooms, drinking water facilities, and better insulated classrooms. By September 2003, more than 200 students of Al Juneid had safer playgrounds and more than 5000 residents had safe drinking water pumped directly to their homes.
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