Children in Shu'fat Camp celebrate Universal Children's Day in November 2011
With funding from the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, MA’AN Development Center (MA’AN) and Save the Children are piloting a school based psychosocial support programme in seven schools in East Jerusalem. The programme focuses on a new approach aimed at improving children’s psychosocial wellbeing in a prolonged conflict situation. The overall objective of this programme is to enhance the access of Palestinian children to quality and protective educational opportunities through specifically targeting 600 East Jerusalem children and their families. The programme uses a nonclinical psychosocial and protection methodology that focuses on children’s positive coping skills and resilience.
Baseline Study
During September and October 2011, MA’AN and the SC staff conducted a baseline study to gauge the perceptions of children, parents and teachers of children’s wellbeing, resilience and coping mechanisms. The team used a qualitative methodology, both a wellbeing exercise along with focus group discussions. A total of 7 focus groups discussions were conducted with 20 children (12 girls and 8 boys), mainly 11 to 12 years of age, 9 mothers and 18 male and female teachers aged between 35 and 40 years. Read a summary of the baseline here.
An interview with participating children
Read an interview with two of the participating children who describe how they evolved during the programme here.
Children celebrate Universal Children's Day - November 2011
On a sunny day in Shu’fat camp about 300 children gathered to participate in a variety of activities that were organized to celebrate Universal Children’s Day. The atmosphere is joyful; clowns are playing fun tricks, children are showing off their craft skills and the capoeira corner is drawing a lot of attention. Read more about their celebrations here.