REPORT ON THE FIELD SURVEY OF INSTITUTIONS IN BEIT SAHOUR
Done by Rifat Odeh Kassis & Moussa Rabadi
Presented to TH MUNICIPALITY OF BEIT SAHOUR
Foreword Beit Sahour is considered a very active city politically, economically and socially. It was a pioneer in making several initiatives which have left their print not only on the city but also on the entire region and the world at large. These initiatives culminated in the important role it played in the First Intifada, as it led the tax insubordination in the West bank. It also played a creative role in the nonviolent struggle and in its ability to reach to and impact the international community. This was brought by a strong national movement and its well-established institutions and its long experience in national political and institutional work. The youth in Beit Sahour had a clear impact on this activity since over 75 per cent of the city population are under 40 years of age. In addition, 20 per cent of its population are community college or university graduates. The institutional movement started in the city in the thirties of last century and took hold in the fifties with the establishment of the Women’s Union and Muslim Charitable Association, which were followed in the sixties by the foundation of a number of clubs, on top of which were the Orthodox Club and the Youth Cultural Club. The clubs and institutions in the city satisfy only the minimum needs of the community although the youth are the group that is targeted most. Most clubs offer services exclusively or mainly for the youth in a variety of fields such as sports, scouting, culture, and the arts. Despite this, the demand of the youth for such activities is relatively low, except scouting and sports, which are usually meant for outstanding and creative young men. Unfortunately, none of the youth institutions direct their activities towards all young people who are interested in sports in order to train them all following the slogan “Sports for all�. Despite the concentration of most youth clubs on sports and their claim to be open to everybody, athletic facilities at these clubs are restricted almost exclusively to football fields and basketball courts. The lack of variety in athletic facilities deprives the majority of athletic groups from participating in athletic activities and lowers the number of participants in these activities. However, it is worth mentioning that the YMCA offers a variety of athletic activities and has good facilities,
including a swimming pool. Unfortunately, its membership dues are out of the reach of many people. It should be added that there are very few athletic facilities for women. With regard to institutions targeting women, there are very few of these and the existing ones lack activities which are suitable for women. The Women’s Union, for example, offers programs that serve women indirectly such as a kindergarten and a nursery. However, it has become a profitinstitution in order to ensure its survival but at the expense of its quality and ability to satisfy the needs of the women’s sector and sometimes it offers activities to other groups. Women’s Union officials attribute this to the fact that women have never been interested in coming to the Union or participating in any kind of activity and the only contact with the Union’s general assembly is at election time. Consequently, the Union has failed to be the voice of women and representative of their interests and concerns in the city as stipulated in its declared objectives. On the other hand, the activities of Beit Sahour Club for Women have been restricted to intra-mural athletic activities but it has not been able to break this circle. Currently, this club is suffering from a severe financial crisis which might lead to its closure. In addition, there is also the Program for Women, an affiliate of the Center for Alternative Information, which has taken upon itself the responsibility to improve the status of women. Yet its activities have been limited to holding traditional educational lectures or meetings which do not contribute to the advancement of the status of women. The Program for Women has also failed to direct its activities to specific groups and thus enable them to participate in meaningful social activities. In a different aspect, there are a number of institutions that target their activities to people with special needs. The YMCA, for example, offers social, psychological and professional services to people in trauma and to the physically challenged at a national level. In addition, the Club for Senior Citizens, an affiliate of the Committees for Health Work, offers outstanding services which are really needed by seniors. A third institution is Mihwar Center, which offers services to battered women at the governorate level. Two other centers (one affiliated with Committees for Health Work, and the Women’s Union) offer rehabilitation services to the mentally retarded. In the cultural field, there are no clubs or institutions that are really interested in cultural activities except a few which offer activities to the intellectual elite, for example Jadal, and the Sahouri Diwan. This situation is in disagreement with the history and cultural status of the city. Cultural institutions of Beit Sahour have always played a pioneering role in this field. For instance, it is
worth mentioning that since the forties and fifties of the last century the city of Beit Sahour has been involved in outstanding intellectual, theatrical and musical activities. There are also other working institutions which attempt to offer cultural services for the youth and children. The activities of these institutions are restricted to holding lectures and cultural meetings or symposia, but they usually attract few young people or children. Sometimes cultural institutions manage musical bands or dabkeh troops. However, such institutions usually lack a clear vision of how to deal with the young and how to identify their ever-changing needs. There is a small library for children in Beit Sahour. It is run by the Educational Center for Children. In addition there are some school libraries which are of little service to the community. The present researchers were not able to evaluate these libraries. Yet, in theory, these libraries can form the nucleus of a public library provided that the Municipality initiates some coordination among all these libraries and undertakes the construction of a public library for the city. There is a clear lack of institutions which encourage creative writing, learning music, singing, drawing and painting and popular dance. One exception to this is Jadal, which in fact is interested in such activities. Despite the presence of the prestigious Edward Said music institute in the city, there is a bad need for good cooperation between the music institute and the city’s other institutions. As for facilities for the performing arts, the city has few halls which are usually used for theatrical performances or musical concerts, though they are totally unsuitable for such activities. These halls are not exploited properly. It can also be added that the city does not have any important theatre or music groups. It should be noted that on the psychological side, the hard security circumstances (imposed by the Israelis) have had negative effects on Palestinians in general. These circumstances have brought about very bad psychological conditions. The youth are suffering from psychological disorders such as introversion, nervousness, and a regression in all aspects of self-development such as learning and creativity. Unfortunately, however, nobody has shown any real concern about the new psychological conditions and the lack of institutions specialized in this field has further aggravated the psychological problems of the youth. The only institution in Beit Sahour area which is involved in this field is beyond the reach of most members of the local community. Moreover, parents are not
able to appreciate their children’s psychological conditions and consequently represent a source of anxiety and tension instead of being a source of support and comfort to their children. Schools also seem to have failed to assume a significant role in this respect. The Study The idea for this study was initiated by the municipality of Beit Sahour City, which commissioned/contracted Badayel for Development Consultations to undertake an evaluation of the civil society institutions in Beit Sahour and to prepare a report about the status of these institutions, and their current and potential capabilities. The Municipality declared that the main aim behind this evaluation is to encourage understanding and learning and to improve the performance of the city institutions as well as learning from their collective experiences and providing a database for evaluating their activity outcomes. In addition, the municipality hopes that this evaluation will result in establishing policies and strategies for work with the women and youth sectors. It also hopes to design a program to develop the capabilities and personnel of these institutions so that they can improve their work and overall performance. Badayel conducted an institution evaluation for 14 organizations and institutions representing the civil society institutions which are officially registered at the various ministries. The company started with a field survey of the civil society institutions and examined any development with regard to their management, finances, and programs and analyzed the impediments that they face as well as their plans for the future. The evaluation survey included the following institutions: First: Membership public institutions 1. Beit Sahour Club for Women 2. Arab Women Union 3. Arab Orthodox Club 4. Arab Orthodox Charitable Society 5. Islamic Charitable Society 6. Al-Awdah Social Center for the Youth 7. Cultural Youth Club
Second: Non-membership public institutions 1. Cultural Center for Palestinian Children 2. New Tomorrow Center (Algad Aljadeed) Third: Non-governmental professional institutions 1. YMCA 2. Palestine Center for Convergence among Peoples 3. Center for Alternative Tourism 4. Center for Alternative Information (Youth and Women’s Programs) 5. Union of Health Work Committees (Jadal) General Notes:
Work at non-governmental professional institutions is different from work at membership institutions as the latter require different skills and credibility. The former type institutions must be maintained because they reflect the vitality of the society and their contribution towards its development, and also because of the moral value which people associate these institutions with, despite their limited services they render to the public.
Membership-institutions complain about the little participation of their members in their activities. Often enough the influence of political powers is negative especially in the choice of the administrative bodies. So, automatic renewal of membership in these institutions must be cancelled.
There is a lack of agreement between the current vision of the individual institutions and their activities or existing objectives. In most cases, the success of these institutions is measured by their success at raising funds and ensuring the survival of the institution instead of their ability to meet the needs of the targeted groups.
Membership-institutions should be persuaded that they cannot work with all sectors of the community of Beit Sahour, and must therefore take clear decisions in this regard.
Some membership-institutions lack the expertise required to deal with the new and changing needs of the youth, and consequently decrease their ability to attract young people to their activities.
The majority of people working in these institutions are community volunteers, which is a two-edged tool. On the positive side, this reflects the volunteers’ commitment to the institution; on the negative side, it prevents the accumulation of special expertise, bearing in mind that often most volunteers work in areas that are not related to their capacities or even interests. These institutions also have a weakness in dealing with volunteers and so people who volunteer often feel frustrated before long.
These institutions have potential capabilities but they are not well utilized. So, the vision, aims and targeted group of each institution must be spelled out clearly. Institutions must invite also the targeted group so as to listen to them.
Athletic activities usually require big budgets; this has always led to leaving these activities to the big membership-institutions, which are already suffering from financial crises and an increase in their budget deficits. It is worth mentioning that sports are not for everybody—they are for talented and outstanding people. Despite the popular belief in “sound mind, sound body,” the main aims of sports are competition and profit and not the creation of an athletic generation.
Professional institutions can render great services to membership-institutions providing that better coordination is created among them.
Results of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks of membership institutions Strengths: 1. Institutions with a large membership enjoy a good reputation and credibility both at the national and institutional levels, as well as a long history of great achievements and a variety of activities, mostly athletic, cultural and national. The long and outstanding history of achievements has allowed institutions to accumulate rich experiences which have ensured their survival despite their chronic financial crises, and has also allowed them to cover most of their activities and periodical expenses from internal sources such as membership dues, profits from calendar sales, concerts and other activities held by these institutions. 2. The almost total dependence of these institutions on volunteer work and on the presence of committed members who are willing and ready to work, in addition to the institutions’ ability to minimize running costs. 3. These institutions are distinguished by an extensive membership of up to 1800 in some cases, and which is open to people from all sectors, faiths, and age groups.
4. On the administrative side, these institutions stand out for the presence of a real, internal democratic life as represented by the periodical elections and the existence of democratically elected administrative boards. 5. The existence of transparency as reflected by the periodical reports issued by these institutions. To the best knowledge of the researchers, there has never been a case in the long history of these institutions where the financial credibility of any elected member has been questioned. Recently, however, a case of alleged improper use of funds against an elected member has been shown to be totally ungrounded. The financial credibility of these institutions distinguishes them from professional institutions, whose credibility comes into question from time to time, whether rightfully or not. 6. The existence of good relations among these institutions, though cooperation among them could be improved much more. Weaknesses: 1. Weak vision and professional planning and the shortage of an ability to examine the needs of targeted groups and their priorities. This is clearly reflected in the absence of annual work plans based on the institution’s clear vision of its mission and aims and which are backed up by realistic, precise, measurable and verifiable indicators that enable administrative boards to move from improvisation to programmed and strategic planning. 2. The lack of strategic plans for any institution usually leads to improvisation which is subject to the whims and moods of the individual members of the administrative board. This has led to a weakness in accumulation of expertise and the inability of one board to pass down its experience to the next board, especially that most workers in these institutions work on a voluntary basis. 3. The absence of participation by the general assemblies in the decision-making process. This has thrown all the burden on the shoulders of the administrative boards, which has in turn weakened the effectiveness and performance of the institutions and the role of the administrative boards in leading the institution and establishing its policies, laying down its strategies, approving programs and budgets and financial statements and monitoring the execution and evaluation of these policies, strategies and programs. There are several objective and subjective reasons behind this condition, most importantly: a drop in the interest in institutional work, a fall in volunteer work, a drop in political commitment and a doubt about the possibility of change.
4. All these factors play a clear negative role in the drop in the interest of the youth in general and their turning away from participating and getting involved in the various activities and programs provided by the institutions. This avoidance has created a real new challenge for the leaders of institutions to find ways and methods to attract members to participate effectively in the activities of the institution and its leadership. 5. Some of the challenges that face institutions are: the limited financial resources, the dependence of institutions on income generated from activities and membership dues, the limited experience of administrative boards in raising funds, the weakness of relations with the funding sources, the lack of trust by donors that institutions are actually able to carry out projects. A further challenge is the absence of interest by institution to establish relations with the local private sector regardless of its weakness. 6. The absence of long and medium range development projects and programs. This reflects itself in the financial sustainability and the incapability of institutions to appoint executive directors to run their activities and programs. 7. The need to develop the internal administrative, financial and information systems in order to keep up with the progress in institutions world wide. 8.
In spite of the presence of younger and older women as members in the general assemblies of most institutions and as volunteers in some activities, and despite the existence of all-women and mixed sports teams, women are not represented on the administrative boards of the following institutions: Orthodox Club, Islamic Charitable Society, and Arab Orthodox Society. However, there is one female board member in the Cultural Club. So the absence of women from leadership positions in institutions strengthens the stereotypical picture of institutions as male-dominated, athletic, and as places for playing cards. It further affects negatively the development of these institutions and their ability to make good use of outstanding, capable female competencies.
Opportunities There are plenty of opportunities available to institutions in Beit Sahour. These opportunities merit further research and a closer examination so that suitable strategies are designed to make the best use of these opportunities order to develop the institutions and expand their activities. The most important opportunities include:
1. The interest shown by the municipality and other institutions to work on the development of city institutions, their vision and work methodology. This provides administrative boards an important opportunity which must be exploited to put forward proposals which meet the growing needs of the youth and the local community in Beit Sahour. 2. There exists a real potential for joint work among the city institutions and therefore mutual benefit from the expertise and resources of these institutions, provided that they have better coordination among them and enter into a serious dialogue to establish needs and concentrate on priorities and beginning to build real partnerships. For instance, Beit Sahour Club for Women can use the hall of the Women’s Union for its athletic and social activities without having to assimilate with the Union if they don’t want to do that; in the meantime both institution can benefit from the resources which the Center for Alternative Informative can provide about training and empowering women, and so on. Similarly, institutions can benefit from the capabilities and expertise that Edward Said Center can provide to train musical bands or scout bands, all of which suffer from a clear shortage in this respect. 3. The opportunity to set up a coordination committee among institutions thereby providing ample opportunities to institutions to study the growing needs comprehensively, clarify their visions, build partnership relations and joint work, exchange expertise and experiences and set up joint projects which spring out of a clear and comprehensive vision. 4. With joint work, institutions can be able to overcome the problem of attracting people to their activities and to set up activities that meet people’s needs. Risks and Threats Following are the most serious risks facing institution: 1. Appearance of new problems and challenges in the local community, particularly among the youth. These reflect themselves on civil institutions, their orientations and activities, and impose pressure on institutions requiring quick action and setting up plans to face the pressure or the total incapacity to attract the youth to work in these institutions. 2. The general economic slump will result in further aggravation of the financial crisis of these institutions as most membership institutions live on membership dues and profit generated by seasonal activities.
3. Dependence of membership institutions in raising money from international donors contributes to the reduction of self generated programs and consequently destroying what is left in terms of local initiatives, collective or individual alike. 4. The increase in the number of civil institutions in general and youth institutions in particular, due to issuing permits to a large number of new institutions, has resulted in duplication of programs in institutions thus increasing the level of challenge for these institutions.
Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, risks and threats in non-membership public institutions Strengths 1. In great demand by targeted group. 2. Strong sense of belonging by targeted group. 3. Attracts a public from all social groups (faiths?) 4. Quick at keeping up with change due to its small size. 5. Quicker decisions and higher capacity to keep up with needs due to its small size and the harmony among its board members. Weaknesses 1. Factional labeling of institutions often limits the wider participation of the targeted group. 2. Competition with membership institutions weakens both sides. 3. Selection of administrative boards is made on a political basis. 4. Work of these institutions is based on diversified activities which do not agree with long-range, clear aims, which decreases its ability to change and measure this change. 5. Weakness in ability to formulate a clear future vision based on scientific and professional grounds. Opportunities 1. Opportunity to intertwine with other institutions and benefit from their services. 2. Joint planning with other institutions to avoid competition and to provide expanded and more professional services. 3. Ability to raise funds from donors due to their specialization provided reforming their organizational structure.
Risks 1. Inability to compete with professional institutions. 2. General economic slump may result in aggravation of the institutions; financial crisis, as some of them aim at raising their own funds. Analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and risks of professional institutions Strengths 1. Have extensive resources. 2. Have more expertise. 3. Have accumulated experiences. 4. Have clearer vision and aims. 5. Have qualified personnel in general. 6. Have ability to make quick decisions and are quick at adapting with new circumstances. Weaknesses 1. They are project oriented and work according to the availability of financially supported programs and this limits them drastically from reaching out the comprehensive needs of people. 2. Isolation of some institutions from the concerns of society at large and the issues of the community according to the supported program “point 1�. 3. Address and deal with a small public, mostly with their friends. 4. A small authority represented by an administrative board, which is either self appointed or elected by a small general assembly. 5. Great dependence on outside support, with all the risks this represents to their survival. 6. Lack of community credibility. Opportunities 1. Opportunities to intertwine with membership-institutions in order to benefit from their members and to develop their programs. 2. Opportunities to lessen competition through cooperation with other professional and membership-institutions. Risks
1. Dependence of professional institutions in raising funds on international donor institutions. 2. Constant change in the policies and areas of interest of financing bodies and donors. 3. Change in the Palestinian Authority policies regarding professional institutions. Problems facing institutions working in Beit Sahour
Vision: Most institutions, including even some professional institutions, lack a clear vision for developing the realities of the Palestinian youth. This is reflected in the absence of a development character in their programs and orientations. This also reflected in the lack of clarity of their objectives and the lack of agreement between their activities and the needs of the sector which they claim to represent. Most activities provided by these institutions are athletic or in very specific areas and lack well-qualified trainers or they are for scouts. Clearly lacking from all these programs are intellectual and creative activities. It is sufficient to mention, for instance, that the city does not have a public library which suits its cultural status, as the city has produced a number of creative writers and intellectuals, some of whom have long been forgotten.
Strategic planning and creative initiatives: Most institutions, even professional ones, do not have strategic planning. In general, their programs are unplanned and are run according to the prevailing circumstances. This leads to many problems.
Leadership and capacity to manage resources and activities: Most institutions which are run by volunteers lack executive and administrative bodies and leaders who are capable of managing and motivating others to work.
Shortage of personnel: These institutions lack well-qualified personnel who are specialized in working with young people. They also lack well qualified educators, especially in teaching music, drama, which affects the outcomes of these programs. In addition there are no programs for training the trainers themselves, the fact which impedes the development of these institutions.
Weakness of coordination and intertwining among working institutions: Working institutions lack mechanisms for good and professional coordination in carrying out programs. The lack of coordination results in unnecessary duplication of work and services. Better coordination among them would render a lot more to the community. Moreover, there is a weakness in the relationship with government institutions working in the youth sector, most notably the Ministry of Youth and Sports. This deprives these institutions from existing capabilities.
Difficulty of development: Most services which are provided by the institutions are athletic and restricted either to football or basketball. It is worth noting that some membership-institutions have not developed their programs since their establishment. Often, changes have meant introducing activities that are not relevant to the needs of the youth such as playing cards, which in fact is the most outstanding service, provided by two of the major clubs in the city.
Infrastructure: The infrastructure of most institutions is unsuitable. Most also lack a technological infrastructure.
Financial problems: Financial problems are the most serious impediments especially that the majority of youth activities are athletic and require high budgets. Some “professional” institutions depend on outside financing sources, which makes them more active. Nevertheless, this does not mean that they have a greater ability to survive or that hey have a clearer vision of the future. It is worth mentioning that a lot of activities which have been carried out according to the desire of the financing body compete or are parallel with activities held by membershipinstitutions.
Weak participation: The lack of awareness by people participating in programs and services provided by institutions, their low involvement in activities, and the drop in the number of participants as well as those who frequent institutions, all result in little benefit from institution services. The poor programs of guidance and counseling which are directed towards parents in regard to the importance of the sector of the youth and the role the youth play in developing the community also contributes to the low participation.
The nature of the programs: The majority of youth programs offered by institutions are directed at the youth but not initiated by them. In other words, they don’t depend on the participation of members in determining needs, planning and execution. This weakens the programs and their sustainability, and gives them a seasonal character.
Absence of evaluation: The absence of mechanisms for evaluating programs and measuring the effectiveness of these institutions and their services and the extent of people’s satisfaction with institutions and their impact on them are important aspects which can be very helpful for taking decisions about repeating or changing certain programs.
Problem of control by political parties and factions: Political and factional control over certain athletic or cultural clubs is a clear problem which could lead to the weakening of the professionalism and motivation of the workers and volunteers of these institutions.
General Recommendations
Developing and enhancing the concept of positive competition among membership and professional institutions and benefiting from one another as the former has a wide people base, whereas the latter has resources and programs.
Re-evaluating and changing institutions by-laws so that they match up with the time and current progress. With the appearance of new institutions which are more lively and more suitable to the current reality, membership regulations must be changed so that membership must first be first in the various departments or committees to ensure actual participation in these; membership should be revoked for any individual who does not show actual participation. “A smaller number of active members is much better than many non-active members.”
Allocating a budget for these institutions by the municipality which can be covered from local taxes or by related ministries.
Establishing clear visions, aims and strategies for all institutions in the country, and then establishing the vision for each individual institution according to its capabilities and experience, and designing proper programs for each institution to improve their personnel and volunteers and enable them to understand the institution’s vision and apply it.
Establishing programs to train the members of administrative boards and documenting this for the future. The training should include actual participation in designing the aims and activities of the institution in addition to its internal program, regulations, the role of volunteers, communication skills with others, settling differences, how to deal with the youth and their good and bad behavior, management, and strategic planning.
Re-evaluating present programs and the extent of their compatibility with needs, and proposing other programs which are based on complementation among all institutions and their compatibility with needs.
Raising the level of coordination among institutions working in the youth sector, so that the work of these institutions becomes complementary and ensures providing better services that are fairly distributed. For example, making the capabilities or facilities of one institution available to other institutions, such as the athletic facilities of the YMCA. Also, it is possible to contribute to solving the problems of certain institutions, for example, by conducting a study to finance and complete the main building of the Orthodox Club and its athletic facilities providing that these facilities will be open to the use of everybody once they are completed.
Meeting with decision-makers in the municipality, relevant ministries and working institutions in the country to inform them about the needs and problems of the youth, and to suggest issues that are of concern to the youth so as to help them to stand against the circumstances surrounding this region.
Devising a comprehensive plan for the youth under the supervision of the municipality and in cooperation with civil and community institutions and adopting the principle of partnership in determining needs, planning and implementation, provided that the youth sector is not simply a targeted group but also as active participants and contributors to the decision making process.
Ensuring that the youth share in making decisions, through organizing youth frameworks and forming special organizations for them, or even through the formation of a youth parliament in Beit Sahour similar to that formed at the country level.
Forming pressure groups among the youth to follow up laws which relate to the youth and to coordinate work with the municipality and the institutions involved in this aspect.
Establishing a youth network in order to intertwine with the various youth institutions in the country and in the governorate.
Activating the role of student senates at schools and working with them. This will encourage serious dialogue and give the youth the opportunity to practice the freedom of opinion and expression and respect of others.
Design program for the youth to provide them life skills, since young people tend to be isolated--especially with the existence of the internet. The programs could include: preventive programs such as dangers of drugs, alcohol, smoking, etc; artistic programs: drama, singing, music, etc.; establishing a theatre group (the theatre being about to become extinct in the city); cultural programs: creative writing, reading, poetry, etc; character-building programs: critical skills, and presentation, dealing with anger and controlling it; building bridges with the other, particularly since the positive relations which used to characterize the city are eroding. Others include conducting activities which motivate and encourage the youth, such as conducting cultural, science, intellectual, athletic activities, or holding festivals and youth activities to preserve and revive Palestinian cultural heritage.
Investigating the status of school athletics and setting programs and policies to develop them and to achieve complementarily with the various clubs since schools provide athletic activities to all students, male and female alike, and not only to the outstanding students, and to make the best use of the facilities at these clubs. However, care should be taken in order not to exhaust schools with programs which are usually imposed by the institutions due to the inability of the
latter to reach to their people/audience and so compensate for this by a mechanical exploitation of school students as audience/spectators. 
Conducting a feasibility study for building a playground/stadium in Beit Sahour with international standards, instead of the existence of several athletic facilities all of which suffer from shortfall. A good facility is much better than several bad facilities.
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Founding a public library and encouraging the production of printed publications.