Community Giving Training for Women
On the 14th of September 2022, Dalia Association implemented a training in community giving for the women’s groups who received the 2022 grant from the association at Beit Al-Karmeh.
The training was joined by 16 trainees who represented diverse community initiatives, which varied from agricultural initiatives, to cultural or environmental, or initiatives that work with people with disabilities.
The training aimed to encourage the initiative owners to reflect on their work within the initiatives, and how it can grow to become more participatory and just. The training focused on the importance of having an inclusive vision in community work, and considering environmental, economic, social, and cultural aspects in each initiative.
The training addressed concepts of collaborative work and reflection on the social environment, as well as the importance of good relations and ways of living through a training on collaborative thinking. The training also addressed the need to examine the relationships around us, and interact with them in our social contexts. In addition to that, a training was implemented in crowdfunding and the importance of reliance on the community as a cultural, intellectual, and practical resource for community work, as well as mechanics of inclusivity in the activities of the initiatives, and how the community can be integrative to achieve the social change it seeks.
Rula Abu Daho, who is a social activist and academic staff member of Birzeit University’s Women’s Studies program, was hosted at the training. Abu Daho highlighted the concept of “Resilience Economy”, which was adapted by the Palestinian community during the first Intifada, and was formed thanks to the community’s solidarity and cohesion, dependence on local resources and boycott of Israeli products, which contributed to the formation of a society that embraced the national struggle in that period, in contrast with the culture of consumption which appeared after the Oslo Agreement, and the dependence on the neoliberal economic system that pushed towards taking the financial power away from agriculture and manufacture, and created a community that is more dependent on banks.
And in partnership with with Sawaed 19, social activist and cofounder of Sawaed 19 Hiba Awaysa offered a training titled “Building the Community of the Initiative” which covered the following subjects: analysis of the initiative, setting strategies and technicalities to build a community, designing a volunteer program as a resource to grow the initiative, and management of communities through digital tools.
The training was rich, and the participants were excited to start the experience of community work with more effective approaches, which we hope will have a deeper influence in their communities.
