The «Youth Participate» programme concludes

Pal-Think for Strategic Studies concluded the series of episodes of the programme “Youth Participates”, implemented within the project “Strengthening the democratic participation of Palestinian youth”, funded by the government of Canada. The episode hosted Pal-Think's director Omar Shaban and political researcher Yahya Qaoud, who supervised the stages of preparing the research papers within the project's activities.

At the episode's start, Qaoud reviewed the first stages of preparing the project's plan, commending the efforts of the Pal-Think team in supervising and training the young men and women who produced eleven papers addressing topics of their own choosing — issues that occupied them as Palestinian youth.

He noted that what distinguished this project from others is that it moved in harmony with the young people's ideas rather than colliding with them, working to hone their skills and strengthen their confidence in their ideas and their capacity to present their visions through more than one medium: writing and organising these ideas in a professional research form, supporting them by recourse to their sources, discussing them in dialogue over the radio, and presenting them at a conference before the public — noting that the work with the youth extended over eight months until reaching this result.

For his part, Omar Shaban focused on Pal-Think's concern, as an independent research institution, with Palestinian youth for three reasons: the youth form the majority in Palestinian society — about 62% of it is under 30 — so they are the ones who carry the burden of the present, who are supposed to be the leaders of the future, and who pay the cost of the current crisis-ridden situation. The second reason is that the human resource is the most important resource and Palestine's fundamental natural wealth. The third reason is Pal-Think's attempt and pursuit of bridging the gulf between Palestinian higher education and the needs of development — an essential part of the tasks entrusted to civil-society institutions.

The talk was devoted to this project's role and aim in closing the gap between the skills higher-education institutions provide the student and the skills actually needed to prepare scientific research. Academic education provides theory and knowledge, forming the academic fabric, but it does not provide the tools of measurement. He explained that what Pal-Think offers amounts to a year of residency in the local community for the university graduate, through training and contact with real experience.

Shaban noted that the hoped-for results of this project and the others form cumulatively and in partnership — between the effort the young person exerts and the institution that devotes its effort to them and plants the seeds in them. He noted that what the young people are doing in this project is “banging on the tank's wall” at three levels: that leaders and decision-makers turn to the youth and their ideas, and recognise they have the capacity to contribute real solutions; that no solution to the various issues can be put forward in isolation from the people and the youth; and likewise changing the stereotyped image widespread in Palestinian society that youth presence and participation is confined to attending forums, conferences, and meetings — in this project we worked to reverse the picture: the youth are the ones who speak, and the leaders are the ones who listen.