Our work is structured around the importance of self-initiation, partnering, learning, cost efficiency, sustainability and innovation in delivery.
We help young people come to new understandings of themselves and their relationships. We expect more, putting youth in the driver’s seat and respecting their voice and contribution. In this way, they come to recognise their talents and develop confidence and new skills for future success.
We believe that everyone, whatever their starting point in life, can make progress through learning – it is just about providing the right support. In practical terms that means:
We are not alone; we cannot be all things to all people, but by collaborating with partner organisations we can extend our effectiveness. Without duplicating existing programmes, we have greater flexibility to meet the needs of young people at different points in their lives, and we can better address needs specific to each locality.
Our wide-ranging partners include the government and local authorities, international and regional youth organisations, grassroots organisations, private-sector institutions, and youth movements, groups and unions. Our programme areas are consistent with national strategies, international development agendas and, above all, the needs young people identify themselves.
We strive to avoid a ‘one size fits all’ approach to the development and engagement of young people. Instead, we engage with them to develop tailored services that are carefully adapted to individual and local needs, making them more user-focused and effective.
We passionately believe that young people have a lot to offer – yes, we learn from them! Their ideas make our work better, so we create tools and platforms that let them contribute to the design and delivery of our work. Involving them from the beginning ensures our support keeps meeting their changing needs in an ever-improving process.
We spend less for more results. Our admin expenses are kept to a minimum: no fancy offices, a normal PC is fine, a simple desk is perfect, and our volunteers do a great job. The only luxury we have is our great working environment and team. We would rather invest our money directly in youth interventions – less money and higher returns, that simple!
We don’t look only at the surface. Since we are making the effort, we make sure we address the root problems. If that means a bottom-up approach, we go to the grassroots and work from there; if it means a top-down approach, we don’t hesitate to challenge decision makers – we are pretty good at that!
Taking youth issues seriously, responsibly and deeply means looking for sustainable actions, and only sustainable actions.
PYU is not only a service provider; it also plays an important role in influencing, mainstreaming and advocating youth interests among official decision-making centres and the public. With its strong volunteer base and partner network, PYU has run advocacy campaigns on education and labour-market issues, civil freedoms and human rights, the political and public participation of youth and women, and many other issues of youth and women’s inclusion. For this purpose PYU established in 2007 the first community radio in Palestine (Shabab FM), led and managed by young people themselves.
PYU is a member and board member of many local and regional networks and institutions, notably the Supreme Council for Youth and Sport, PNGO (the Palestinian NGOs Network, as a board member), the Euro-Med network, the Anna Lindh network for youth, and the Arab Federation for Youth and Environment (an arm of the League of Arab States).
While PYU works toward an enabling environment for youth participation, it works in parallel to develop young people’s capabilities to play their expected role in society and public life. Over 20 years of investing in youth development, thousands of young men and women have benefited from capacity-building programmes on democracy and human rights, political participation, career development, business development and entrepreneurship, life skills and many other areas.
Notable partners and donors in this field include the Olof Palme International Center, COSPE-Italy, UNDP, the EU, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment, and many others.
PYU believes that youth should be the most productive element of society. It has therefore invested in developing young people’s capabilities and opportunities in the Palestinian labour market by providing knowledge and skills and developing attitudes toward better participation, including self-employment as a career option through promoting and teaching entrepreneurship.
Over the last four years, PYU helped create around 600 job opportunities for young men and women from poor families, around 200 small enterprises were established, and thousands of hours of career-skills training were delivered. PYU will continue to equip young people with the tools and resources to fulfil their ambitions and those of their families, by providing the income resources needed for the desired level of livelihood.
PYU uses voluntary work and community service to enrich young people’s experiences and promote social responsibility among them. Hundreds of summer camps and community service campaigns are examples of this work.
“A nation without history is a nation without a future.” PYU believes it is everyone’s responsibility to protect and promote the authentic values of Palestinian society and of humanity as a whole. PYU has therefore supported youth groups to establish music bands, theatre groups and dance troupes, provided them with training and costumes, and helped organise concerts for these talents. PYU has also implemented several programmes to renovate archaeological sites and promote alternative tourism in Palestinian areas.
Publications and information dissemination are also part of PYU’s efforts in this area.