The Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO) and its partner organization, the Spanish NGO Movimiento por la Paz-MPDL organized the social policy making workshop “Pathways to Decent Work for Youth” in Al Bireh, Palestine. The event was attended by representatives of the EU Representative Office, Palestinian Human Rights and development organizations and over forty youth activists.

The workshop is part of the regional project “Decent Work, Social Protection and Freedom of Association in the Middle East and North Africa: Mobilising for Social Justice by strengthening and promoting CSOs, social movements and (independent) trade unions’ role in reforms and democratic changes” implemented by SOLIDAR and funded by the European Union.

Ms. Du’a Qurie, PNGO’s Executive Director, welcomed the participants and introduced the workshop’s aim at drafting evidence-based policy recommendations to improve national policy measures to ensure youth access to Decent Work. The deputy Head of the Governance Section at the EU Representative Office, Ms. Chrystelle Lucas, highlighted the interest of the EU in promoting the access of youth to the job market in Palestine while Ms. Addaia Marrades, MPDL Head of Mission in Palestine, pointed out the need to integrate youth’s views and proposals in discussing pathways to build a more equal Palestinian society.

Mr. Muharram Barghouthi, from the Palestinian Youth Union, took the floor and claimed the main challenge is to “guide Palestinian youth back to the land”, explaining the potentialities of the agriculture sector in creating decent job opportunities for youth. Mr. Abu Hilal, representative of the Popular Arts Center, noted the failure of many mainstream initiatives due to the fact they respond to foreign needs and do not tackle the root causes of youth poverty and social exclusion in Palestine. Mahmoud Zyadeh, from the General Federation of Independent Trade Unions in Palestine, concluded the first part of the workshop by stressing the urgency to ensure social protection for all as a means to protect the dignity of Palestinians.

At the open discussion participants agreed on the renewed value of agriculture and noted the return to the land is not only a means to ensure their livelihoods but a way of regaining their identity and the ownership of their land stolen by the Israeli occupation. Participants also noted most of the currently available job opportunities are unskilled and stressed the need to increase the current low participation in unions that weakens workers ability to advocate for the improvement of labour conditions and thus ensuring Decent Work.

The workshop acted as a networking and capacity building opportunity between Palestinian civil society actors to establish a common analysis of the challenges faced by Palestinian youth with regards to Decent Work with the aim of improving joint efforts to advocate for this right.

SOLIDAR supports its members and local partners to voice the call for advancing social justice in Palestine, and call for the EU institutions to use the revision of the European Neighborhood Policy to strengthen and ensure the promotion of Decent Work for youth as an enabling right that underpins human development.