Ref: 15/02020

Date: 25 February 2021

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) concluded five training courses under the HAYA Joint Programme in partnership with United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) “Awareness-Raising and Capacity Building for Educational Institutions’ Staff to Eliminate Violence against Women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.” The training courses were conducted in cooperation with United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) to train UNRWA schoolteachers across the Gaza Strip.

All 5 of the training courses (twenty-five training hours each) were held via Zoom between 08 – 25 February 2021 over the course of 8 days; 123 teachers received training, including 95 women (77% participation).

In total, PCHR has conducted 2020 training courses under the Haya Joint Program and 513 teachers received training.

This training course is a part of a project conducted in partnership between PCHR and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) through the HAYA Joint Programme, funded by the Government of Canada.  The project aims to develop the knowledge and skills of teachers to contribute to decreasing violence against women, particularly gender-based violence, based on an updated educational methodology promoting human rights.

In conclusion of each training course, PCHR organized a closing ceremony, where ‘Abdul Halim Abu Samrah, Head of PCHR’s Training Unit, praised the collaborative relations and joint cooperation between PCHR and UNRWA’s education sector and highlighted the value of these training courses in enhancing teachers’ awareness and skills towards creating a supportive, safe and inspiring educational environment. Abu-Samr called upon participants to share the knowledge they received in the training courses in their communities and to apply it in their lives in order to contribute to a generation fully aware of their rights and freedoms.

Mona al-Shawa, Head of PCHR’s Women’s Rights Unit and Project Manager, stressed the importance of this training for teachers and school counselors because they play a major role in disseminating the culture of combating violence against women and girls among students and their parents. She invited participants to share the information received in the course among students and parents in extracurricular activities, as this will enable us to build a generation that believes in the principles of justice and gender equality and combats all forms of violence against women in Palestinian society.

The participants affirmed that the course covered a variety of relevant topics, and the trainers efficient, varied and interactive training methods used in the course shed light on several important topics, all of which served to enhance and develop their professional skills.

Haya Joint Programme seeks to eliminate violence against women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. HAYA is funded by the Government of Canada and jointly implemented by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN–Habitat), and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), in partnership with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and the Ministry of Social Development as well as other ministries and civil society organizations.