FAQ
Modalities and mechanisms are yet to be explored with donors. However, in line with the strategy spirit, it is an important principle of the funding of the strategy implementation that the youth will be put central to decision making on expenditure.
How will you make sure that future projects and agendas are aligned within the strategy’s directions?
We of course cannot – and will not – force donors and implementers to follow this strategy, but we believe that the thorough research and work that has led up to and informed this strategy has created a strong foundation, which stakeholders wish to be a part of. Furthermore, the projects of the donors and implementers will have more legitimacy and weight if they align under the umbrella of this strategy and coordinate their work in line with the strategy directions. The strategy can thus provide support and evidence that there is a real need for projects in the directions of the strategy. In addition, the strategy creates a space where stakeholders can interact directly with the youth without intermediaries.
Many stakeholders who are directly or indirectly engaged in working with Palestinian youth have limitations in terms of sustainability of the projects and programs and have explicitly expressed the need for more transparency and coordination. The Strategy Core Group – LPDC, UNRWA Youth and HCYS – furthermore brings a lot of political weight to the strategy. These two things combined will create incentives for the stakeholders to plan their programming within the frame of this strategy.
In addition, the Strategy Coordination Team will play a key role in creating an enabling environment on a practical level by making sure that coordination, transparency, meetings, working sessions etc. will run smoothly, be followed up on and have good facilitation.
Palestinian youth aged 14-35.
This is a wide age range compared to other age definitions of youth. The reason for the wide age range is for the strategy to be inclusive. It starts from 14 years because this is the age of the end of mandatory education. It ranges up to 35 years because our research has shown that Palestinian youth between 25-35 are having similar challenges as younger youth.
At the same time, the wide age range also means that the youth face different kinds of challenges. In different parts of the strategy, the youth are thus divided into the following sub groups: 14-19, 20-24, 25-35 years.
Because there is a need. There is an abundance of resources invested in the youth, but the situation of the youth is not improving much; projects are not having the impact intended; and there is redundancy in work and a lack of coordination.
Secondly, because of LPDC’s position as an inter-ministerial governmental institution attached to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers. This unique position enables LPDC to bring donors, politicians, implementers, and youth together. LPDC’s role in this strategy is thus to increase joint coordination between stakeholders and including youth participation in this process by functioning as mediator, facilitator, and coordinator from a neutral stand. It is important to emphasize that LPDC is an advisory body in the government and not politically affiliated. Thus, LPDC cannot make political decisions and execute them, but can recommend and push for policies for the benefit of the Lebanese and Palestinians alike.
Since this strategy is launched by an official government body, it provides the youth with a legitimate, official source of leverage, which they can refer to in their future actions towards change.
Youth participation in and ownership of this strategy is essential. Without the youth, there would be no strategy. We want the youth to take a leading role and thus invite input and feedback from the youth throughout the work on the strategy whether in relation to needs assessment, activities, action steps, implementation, and evaluation.
In the framework of action, the Youth Follow-up Forum is consisting of Palestinian youth only. This forum is an opportunity for the youth to influence decision-makers and programs targeting them – either through the regional Debates Spaces in different areas of Lebanon or through the Reference Groups (corresponding to the areas of action), where a group of youth represents the wider Palestinian youth community, engage directly with the stakeholders and influence the decisions.
The Stakeholder Platform and the Youth Follow-up Forum are bodies in the framework that are developed simultaneously and have equal importance for the aims of this strategy to succeed. The Youth Reference Groups have a particularly important strategic position in the implementation of this strategy.
The strategy has a framework of action that will push for the implementation of this strategy. This framework has four main bodies:
1. The Steering Committee consisting of LPDC, UNRWA Youth and the Palestinian Higher Council for Youth and Sports. This group pushes for the strategy’s vision and aims on a political level, ensures endorsement, but does not have the power of affecting decision making on the level of the Stakeholder Platform and Youth Forum.
2. The Stakeholder Platform includes key stakeholders – donors, agencies, implementers – and is divided in 5 working groups that correspond to the 5 areas of action: Financial Sustainability, Education, Changing Narratives, Physical Living Conditions, and Health. This platform has a coordinating and programming function, where transparency, collaboration, and alignment is in focus.
The Youth Follow-up Forum is made up of Palestinian youth in Lebanon. This Forum organize the participation of the youth in the strategy in two ways: first, a committed participation of youth representatives in the areas focused Reference Groups, and second, a flexible participation in the regional Debates Spaces. The Reference Groups have an essential role in the framework of action: they represent the youth and provide a direct link between the wider youth community and the stakeholders. The Debate Spaces will allow the wider community of youth to be briefed about the work being done, and to give their feedback. The Strategy Coordination Team pushes for the implementation and development of the strategy on a practical level through coordination, facilitation, and mediation between the different bodies in the strategy framework.
That last point is especially important as a FAQ page presents a unique opportunity to directly address concerns and remove obstacles on the path to purchase.
The Lebanese Palestinian Dialogue Committee (LPDC), supported by GIZ and the Swiss Embassy, and in coordination with UNRWA’s Youth Unit and the Palestinian Higher Council for Youth and Sports.
It is important to note that this strategy is not bypassing existing strategies for the Palestinian youth in Lebanon; rather, this strategy builds on these strategies and brings them together under one umbrella, where the vision, efforts, and resources can be aligned, coordinated, and optimized. We have thus met with many stakeholders during the development of the strategy to include their perspectives and their work in the best possible way and to ensure collaboration and joint coordination.
This strategy is different from the existing youth strategies on the following main points:
● LPDC’s unique position as an advisory body in the Lebanese government.
● Inclusion of the Palestinian Higher Council for Youth and Sports and UNRWA in the strategy’s Steering Committee, and hence backing the strategy with the support of the three bodies that officially represent the interests of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon.
● Ensuring youth participation and representation in the preliminary research, the development of the strategy, the framework of action, and in the continuous feedback mechanisms.
● Ensuring the participation of youth from all political factions, as well as independent youth clubs and networks in the youth Reference Groups.
● The strategy is based on thorough research conducted over more than two years with the Palestinian youth and stakeholders; the focus areas are thus developed on this basis rather than on donor trends.
● This strategy is not an end-product; it is a continuous work in progress based on the needs and input of the youth.
● A main component of this strategy is that it is suggesting a framework of action for its implementation, which avoids the strategy to end up merely on papers.
● The suggested framework of action ensures that all areas of action are being advanced at the same time.
This strategy functions as an overarching umbrella under which different initiatives and investments with and for the Palestinian youth in Lebanon can align and cooperate in ways that can mitigate redundancy in work and thus optimize available resources and increase impact.
The strategy is for all young Palestinians living in Lebanon (regardless of their “legal” situation) to have the opportunities, skills, resources, and support networks that tangibly support them to improve their life conditions, engage in their communities’ development, and influence decisions that affect them and their future.