West Bank / Gaza

YBI teamed with the Education Development Center on designing large-scale youth engagement program to provide basic employment training, civic engagement, and life skills training to Palestinian youth while they built play areas for children in 50 communities. The funder, USAID, cancelled this project in 2006 in response to the election of Hamas.

A second YBI project, funded through the USAID mechanism Palestinian Community Assistance Program (PCAP) is currently on hold due to the restrictions in USAID funding of projects for Gaza. This project, “Youth Livelihood Development and Recovery in Gaza,” is a partnership between YouthBuild International and Save the Children and aims to increase employment and self-employment opportunities for 6,000 young people, ages 15-29. YBI will provide construction skills training to young men and women who will make repairs to youth serving centers throughout Gaza. In addition, YBI will provide training for the creation of youth run micro factories focused on the manufacture of solar lamps.