Tulkarem

Yesterday we had our first session in a grassroots organization in the northern city of Tulkarem. The Palestinian Women’s Development Society in Tulkarem now has only one lawyer and one social worker on its paid staff due to challenges of funding, with the rest of their support coming from a dedicated team of volunteers. Despite this, last year they dealt with 98 cases and ran 80 awareness-raising workshops, educating local women on a variety of issues such as divorce, custody and gender-based violence. The Society also trains women in skills such as sewing to assist them in the job market.

This Society caters for the city of Tulkarem, it’s neighbouring refugee camp and surrounding villages, a population totalling over 54,000. This invaluable work cannot continue without funding, so our role as volunteers is to research possible donors and then to assist in writing funding proposals in English.

A second part of our involvement with Tulkarem is to research ‘Success Stories’ from the centre, which can be published on the website and sent to potential funders as an example of Society’s crucial work. Listening to the lawyer and social worker tell tales of the women they have helped escape dire situations and live better and happier lives was truly uplifting. It really bought home to us the importance of organisations such as this, not only in the West Bank but across the world.

Workshop led by the Palestinian Women's Development Society