Cultivating Hope for Tomorrow
IOCC has worked in the Holy Land since 1997, collaborating with local Orthodox Church and other partners, as well as with hospitals, schools, and other community groups, to improve residents’ quality of life. Through the years, assistance has addressed various needs across sectors.
Education and Opportunity
IOCC has opened three vocational centers where hundreds of young adults train for in-demand sectors like technology, mobile phone repair, solar power, and more. We’ve also placed hundreds of 18- to 24-year- old high-school and university graduates with community organizations where they honed their professional skills and helped those groups serve their communities.
Food Security and Agriculture
Through IOCC, more than 1,410 households (~ 11,000 people) in Gaza have received agricultural supplies and training for kitchen gardens or greenhouses, or livestock training to provide food and marketable farm products. IOCC has trained women heads of households in farming and marketing, and supplied specialized equipment like solar-powered herb dryers, equipping them to improve quality of life for themselves and their children.
Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH)
Water is crucial for both basic good health and successful farming, especially in an arid climate. IOCC has furnished water catchments that collect rainwater, as well as tanks for drinking water, providing infrastructure that serves farmers and their neighbors.
Children's Health and Nutrition
Through a wide network of community-based organizations, IOCC offers recreational activities for children and teens that support their social and academic development. Combating malnutrition, IOCC works with kindergartens in Gaza, reaching their staff and parents of young children, educating communities to help youngsters get the nutritional support they need.
Your Gifts at Work
Jobs for Young Professionals, Education for Local Students
Community educational centers provide jobs for graduates and extra help for students. Photo: Basel Almaqousi/JRC
In Gaza, jobs are scarce and unemployment is high (44%), especially for those aged 15–29 (60%).1 To help alleviate some of this burden, IOCC works alongside partner Peace Winds Japan to assist university graduates while benefiting local organizations that offer education in their communities. These educated young adults have a chance to gain on-the-job experience while honing their professional skills.
Stronger Communities
Matching graduates and their skillsets with community organizations in Gaza accomplishes two things: it provides short-term employment for young professionals, and it allows the local orgs to serve more people. The most recent project segment identified six community-based organizations in Gaza across several areas that have track records of success running and supervising educational activities.
Working at these local organizations, which IOCC also provided with furniture and equipment for new classrooms, young professionals in the program organize and teach supplementary classes to elementary-age students. The young adults have degrees in core subjects, such as mathematics, Arabic, English, or science, and they work with underserved students at the community centers to help improve academic performance. They also conduct community-outreach activities to help boost enrollment in the educational programs, helping each organization reach more people.
Stronger Future
In addition to work experience, project participants also attend training workshops on subjects such as strategic career planning and goal setting. The combination of real-world experience plus career training gives these young people increased confidence and skills to improve their job prospects in the future.
Because of this project, IOCC provided:
- Job placement for educated young adults specializing in mathematics, Arabic, English, or science
- Career-advancing workshops, skills training
- Educational centers established, equipped in six community organizations
- Tutoring for children with below-average educational achievements to support learning
- Community-outreach activities that bolster enrollment, support parents, improve exam success
We can only continue this work with your support. Make a generous gift today, so that together we can improve lives around the world.
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