The first Jerusalem Youth Forum opens with the participation of 400 young Jerusalemites

The Jerusalem Youth Forum and a group of Palestinian institutions and universities have launched the first Jerusalem Youth Forum, entitled «Challenges Facing Volunteering». In the presence of more than four hundred Jerusalemite youth from institutions, universities, schools and youth groups.

The Forum, which was took place at the Notre Dame Hotel in Jerusalem, was implemented within “Forsa” project, in the presence of representatives of local and international institutions, Palestinian universities, schools and youth groups.

The conference was attended by Ziad Yaish, UNFPA Assistant Representative, and Officer in Charge, UNFPA Youth Program Officer Sima Alami, coordinator of Y-Peer groups Farah Jibreen, researcher Luisa Margentin, Director of the Higher Council for Youth, Department of the Center Mutasem Abu Gharbieh and the Media Department of the Council of the Center Yassin Al-Razem, as well as a group of representatives of Jerusalem institutions, schools and universities.

The Executive Director of Burj Al luluq Social Center Society (BALL), Muntaser Edkaidek, started by welcoming the attendees, personalities and institutions. He stressed that this conference comes after long steps of hard work to promote the spirit of volunteerism among the Palestinian youth in Jerusalem.

Edkaidek added, that BALL worked to develop the idea to start today from this conference to convey the message of the importance of volunteering and youth work within the Palestinian society and to show the available opportunities in a safe and effective environment.

Ziad Yaish, UNFPA Assistant Representative, and Officer in Charge, stressed that the empowerment of youth is a priority of the UNFPA through a special program includes youth issues, and urges to give them the tools to be effective in their communities with the most important to develop the spirit of volunteerism to become influential and able to change society.

The conference included several educational sessions, awareness and success stories, in addition to awareness workshops and standup comedy show.

The sessions included several topics such as the importance of volunteering with international institutions, local volunteering in various fields through success stories and volunteering at the university level, where the use of electronic voting as a tool to guide the question and dialogue with the audience and discussions. It is worth mentioning that the conference was implemented by the Jerusalem Youth Forum and supported by the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA) as part of the “Forsa” project, which aims to support Jerusalemite youth initiatives.