DVV International and the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) have started a strategic partnership since 2012, aiming at supporting development of Adult Education in Palestine. This partnership emerges from the principle of lifelong learning and adult education as human rights for all and as very essential tools in empowering individuals and communities, and in poverty and unemployment reduction towards sustainable human development.
This partnership was initiated through cooperation implementation of Project “Mehani” which aimed at supporting development of vocational and technical education in Palestine. The project was implemented in vocational and industrial secondary schools in five communities from the West Bank and Gaza Strip in partnership with the MoEHE and Sharek Youth Forum. Post-school and evening vocational initiatives were supported in two of the participating schools that were selected as a model to pilot the idea of opening vocational schools after school to provide training and services to the public. Cooperation with the Ministry included also implementation of Potentials Project to support adult education centers in Palestine, which was implemented with 15 local organisations in the West Bank, Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. The project was implemented in partnership between DVV International, MoEHE and Johood Association for Rural and Community Development, and was funded by the European Union and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).
Within the partnership with MoEHE, other national and local non-governmental organizations and Palestinian expert practitioners and professionals, the very first National Strategy for Adult Education was developed with the leadership of MoEHE and participation of several other Palestinian ministries and civil society organizations. The National Strategy has been approved officially by three ministries in 2016.
In 2017, a national team started the process of developing the national action plan for realization of the Strategy. This ongoing process included several consultations and discussions with many national and international stakeholders in Palestine.
Cooperation with the MoEHE included, in addition, development of the first set of qualification standards for AE facilitators. In addition, the cooperation included implementation of various training programmes for trainers, educators and workers in the Adult Education sector using methodologies and curricula that have been developed by DVV International and its partners globally and have been implemented in many countries around the world.
DVV International supported participation of the Palestinian MoEHE in the Arab Decade for Literacy and Adult Education through training of new AE facilitators for 15 new centers in Southern West Bank, and through supporting Universities’ initiatives in this regard in Gaza Strip.
Cooperation with the MoEHE commenced in November 2017 in partnership to launch the national conference “Adult Education in Palestine- Pathways to the future: What kind of adult education are we talking about?” Following this event, a new Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education for 2018-2025 to continue supporting the development and extension of the national strategy for adult education and lifelong learning, supporting the work of the national team for Adult Education, and developing and adopting a detailed action plan, in addition to cooperation in the implementation of studies, training programmes and technical support for the sector of non-formal education and adult education in Palestine.
In this context, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in partnership with the DVV International, started preparing in 2018 for a comprehensive analysis and mapping study for the Adult Education Sector in Palestine, at various levels of governmental, public and private sector involvement in the Adult Education provision. The study aims to provide a deeper picture of the reality of adult education in terms of analyzing the situation (SWOT Analysis) and providing a comprehensive quantitative and qualitative map of adult education service providers and programmes in Palestine.
Consultations are also taking place between the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and DVV International to support development of the national team for adult education to include all stakeholders in Palestine.