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Palestine

Palestinian Counselling Center (PCC)
Organisation: Palestinian Counselling Center (PCC)
Address: Palestine, Jerusalem, Beit Haniha. P.O.Box: 17402
Tel: 972-2-6562272
Fax: 972-2-6562271
E-mail: pcc@palnet.com
Website: http://www.pcc-jer.org
Contact: Rana Nashashibi

Organisation of Child-to-Child activities

The CtC programme started in 1997. A coordinator and two advisors ran the programme until 2001 and since 2001 until 2004 the programme was run by one coordinator only. The supporting organisation is Save the Children Sweden.

Child-to-Child activities

The activities are in Jerusalem, Nablus refugees’ camps, Genine refugees’ camps, Ram Allah refugees’ camps, Ariha refugees’ camps and in Hebron. Periodically, activities are only done in Jerusalem with between 30-50 children (boys and girls). Some activities are done in cooperation with the stated regions and the numbers are between 30-60 children (boys and girls). The programmes group children from different socio-economic backgrounds. We work in summer camps with children having psychological problems and they are children whose families experienced hard times such as the death of a family member, the destruction of the child’s house, children injured during the Intifada, etc.

Children from the Palestinian refugees’ camps also participate in the activities, and they are children from poor environments and hard family conditions. We also have had children participants from the middle class, with both parents having a high degree in education and living in a very good economic conditions.

The main purpose of this programme is to promote children’s participation in spreading awareness about children’s rights and giving this knowledge to other children. The programme also aims at developing children’s abilities in the different skills of life and related to the nature of the programme such as:

• methodical thinking
• how to handle pressure and problems
• time management
• self-assurance
• communication
• children’s rights by working on each right alone
• leadership skills

Information is given through using different active learning methods. Training is done according to the six steps of the Child-to-Child approach. Children identify the subject of training and search for information about it and classify them. Then children choose one specific subject they like to work on, identify the activity type, divide the tasks among the children, do the activity, then evaluate it and give suggestions to improve future activities. We also use active learning methods during the activity such as drama, role- play, arrange work groups, active and mental games, play movies and write stories about the subject, etc.

Some of the community activities implemented in the programme separate from the school are:

- periodic meetings with children in the PCC center

- participating in children’s radio programmes in order to spread awareness about child rights and to make a referendum about child rights on the air

- have television interviews about the reality of the rights of the Palestinian child,

open days that children plan, implement and evaluate, all focusing on the child’s fundamental rights

- periodic summer camps that include many subjects about child rights and the CtC approach, and exchanging experiences with other children from different Palestinian regions

- organising a conference for children that they planned, implemented and evaluated, along with preparing working papers about fundamental rights and the reality of the Palestinian child

- exchanges with Palestinian children from other regions such as the Palestinian refugee camps and the north region “Palestinian with Israeli passports”.

Parents are involved in the programme through participating in the programme’s yearly planning and its evaluation at the end of the year. Along with the follow-up with parents about each child alone and, when needed, giving counseling to parents, sending parents to specialised people in case children need help.

Monitoring and Evaluation of Child-to-Child activities

The programme was evaluated in 2004 as part of the PCC internal evaluation.

However, previously the evaluation was done on a yearly basis and only focused on children and parents. There was no clear and specific way to evaluate the programme’s impact on children and the community. As for the people evaluating, they are the PCC center and the counsellors. An external evaluator does the internal evaluation of the center.

Training activities

The groups trained in the programme are children’s groups who are trained in child rights, CtC approach, and life skills. Counsellors are also trained in the CtC approach and child rights.

Use of Child-to-Child materials

We use the Trainer’s Pack, ideas for working with people, videos about child rights. In general we use resources produced by ARC. Along with UNICEF’s own manual about children’s rights.