During the official closing ceremony of “Jadara Initiative”, held on Thursday 21, 2017 at the Martyr Belal Amro Theatre at the PPU, the Minister of the Social Development Dr. Ibrahim al-Shaer, the Chairman of the Broad of Trustees at Palestine Polytechnic University Mr. Ahmad Saeed Bayoud al-Tamimi, and the PPU President Dr. Imad al-Khatib in addition to the UNDP Special Representative Mr. Roberto Valent, concluded Jadara Initiative activities. This initiative which is funded by the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) aims to enable the university youth to have their own startups enterprises.
At the beginning of the ceremony, al-Tamimi welcomed the guests and stressed the University role to enhance the youth and reduce unemployment in the Palestinian labor market by supporting all the projects that are of great benefit to the labor market. Then he thanked all those who have collaborated and exerted a great effort to make this initiative a success, pointing out that this will enhance the solidarity of the Palestinian youth against all the pressures exercised by the Israeli occupation.
Dr. Ibrahim al-Shaer stated that Jadara Initiative has come in line with the resolutions of the Board of Trustees of the Palestinian Economic Empowerment Program to expand the target groups and the scope of the project’s work to include all the Palestinian people inside and outside Palestine. One of these resolutions aims to empower the Palestinian youth, in general, and the new university graduates, in particular, to be distinguished entrepreneurs and work on developing their technical and management skills to be integrated in the economic process and in the development of society.
He said also that this project aims to enhance the young people’s competitive advantage of entrepreneurial projects according to the needs of the local, regional and global markets, opening the horizons to create more job opportunities through networking with employers inside and outside Palestine. The program also focuses more on entrepreneurial ideas that can be achieved and expanded by developing the human capital and providing technical assistance for project design and engineering.
Then he congratulated the graduates wishing them a great success in putting their entrepreneurial ideas into action. He also thanked the Islamic Bank and the Arab sponsors for funding the projects, the UNDP for managing the implementation of projects, the Higher Council for Youth and Sports as a partner in the youth empowerment process, and the PPU as a partner in the project implementation.
Mr. Roberto Valent explained the effect of the project compared to the limited financial resources. He stressed the importance of this project in this area - under the Israeli occupation - in giving a real opportunity for young people with entrepreneurial and innovative ideas since the various sectors of the project include technology, environment, and organic and green agriculture. Then, he expressed his pride in supporting entrepreneurship and empowerment in Palestine.
As well Dr. al-Khatib emphasized the importance of Jadara Initiative, which has shown a positive effect on the students, especially those with entrepreneurial and creative ideas, for it motivates them to recruit their skills and experience in establishing their own projects to meet the needs of the Palestinian economy. He also added that the entrepreneurial projects have drawn the attention to the creativity of our students and he praised the partners who have played a great role in making this initiative a success.
It is noteworthy that “ Jadara Initiative” is a project to empower the University youth in Hebron district through practical training and incubation of projects. It is one of the components of youth empowerment in partnership with the Higher Council for Sport and Youth under the supervision of the PPU at a total cost of $163/000. The project has benefited 130 male and female student of which %68 are female. They received advanced training in entrepreneurship, creativity, business models, economic feasibility and business plans. 20 of them were employed for three months to gain a practical experience in preparation for their integration into the labor market. 15 new startup projects created at least forty jobs.
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