Tackling youth unemployment in Jerusalem, West Bank & Gaza
In Palestine a large number of young people are unemployed. According to the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Palestinian children struggle to find a job when they grow up.Currently, 40 percent of young men and 63 percent of young women are struggling to find work.
Nineteen-year-old Yazan’s future used to look quite bleak. His family couldn’t afford to give him an education and he ended up working in poor conditions in a local factory for very low wages.
However, last year Yazan was accepted onto a training programme run by World Vision Jerusalem West Bank Gaza. He’s now a qualified electrician and earns a good wage with a local company.
His boss, Hazem Nabali, has been really impressed by Yazan’s work ethic:
Yazan is a resource technician in our team and he performs as if he was an electrical engineer in terms of understanding the blueprints and the work he accomplishes. He loves what he does and I believe a great future is awaiting him.
- Hazem Nabali, Yazan's boss
Yazan’s goal is to start his own business in the near future, and he’s proud of his progress:
I feel proud to discover my inner strength, to prove myself and have a new beginning.
- Yazan, 19
There were 29 other students in Yazan’s training course last year, and next year’s intake looks to be even larger. Some 1,500 young people have already applied.
World Vision has been working in Jerusalem West Bank Gaza since 1975. World Vision’s budget is primarily spent on education, health, economic development and child protection initiatives.
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