The GRIT Project

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Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the West Bank

The Challenge

Unemployment rates are high in the West Bank, particularly among women, youth, and people with disabilities. Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) provides a promising path for employment and self-employment, but significant barriers limit women’s participation in training and employment. Financial, logistical and movement barriers hamper their access to training programs and workplaces.

Although university graduation rates are high, there is often a mismatch between education and market needs, and women are sometimes inadequately prepared for the work force. Training is also not always responsive to the needs of women, particularly women with disabilities.

The GRIT project recognizes the capacity and tenacity of Palestinian women, including women with disabilities, and seeks to reduce barriers to help them achieve their educational and career goals.

Our Response

The GRIT project (2019-2025) helps women and people with disabilities achieve their learning and employment goals through support in three areas:

IMPROVING ACCESS

  • Outreach in communities throughout the West Bank is addressing cultural barriers that prevent women’s participation in TVET, while also rising awareness about the opportunities available. 
  • Scholarships and other practical and financial supports are reducing access barriers to TVET. 
  • Physical improvements to TVET institutes are promoting access, safety, and comfort for women, including women with disabilities.

IMPROVING QUALITY

  • The variety of market-relevant training opportunities available to women, including women with disabilities, is being expanded through the creation of new programs and improvements to existing programs.
  • Trainees are gaining practical work experience through apprenticeships and internships and are learning important life skills that promote employment and self-employment.
  • Employers are being supported to make their workplaces more gender-responsive and inclusive.

IMPROVING SYSTEMS

  • Extensive sharing of best practices and lessons learned, along with stakeholder capacity building, is promoting gender-responsiveness and inclusion within the broader TVET system in the West Bank.
  • Improvements in the availability of relevant research, information and data are helping TVET stakeholders make informed decisions about gender, disability and TVET.

The ultimate objective of GRIT is to achieve improved and equitable learning and employment outcomes for women and girls, including women with disabilities, in the West Bank.

GRIT will benefit 17,250 women and girls, including 1,143 who will be directly trained through short courses and one-year programs. The project will also create 257 new training spaces. 3,200 women will benefit from improvements within the TVET system, and 1,000 stakeholders will take part in knowledge sharing and capacity building to provide better services to women, including women with disabilities.

Iqbal's Story

This is the story of Iqbal, one of the participants of the GRIT project:

 

Our Partners

GRIT represents a partnership between Canadian Lutheran World Relief, and Lutheran World Federation Jerusalem, with funding from Global Affairs Canada. The project is being implemented through nine TVET institutes throughout East Jerusalem and the West Bank:

  1. Episcopal Technological and Vocational Training Centre (Ramallah)
  2. Hisham Hijjawi College of Technology (Nablus)
  3. Lutheran World Federation Vocational Training Center (Jerusalem)
  4. Lutheran World Federation Vocational Training Center (Ramallah)
  5. Palestine Polytechnic University –Centre of Continuing Education (Hebron)
  6. Talitha Kumi Vocational Training and Education Centre (Beit Jala)
  7. YMCA (Jericho)
  8. Salesian Vocational Training Center (Bethlehem)
  9. In’ash Al-Osra Association (Ramallah)

Transformative change in the TVET sector requires close partnerships with a wide variety of Palestinian TVET stakeholders, including government, civil society, and the private sector.

Why "GRIT"?

GRIT is an acronym for the project title: Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the West Bank. GRIT also represents qualities in the women participating in the project: courage, strength of character, perseverance, and passion.

The GRIT project strives to nurture these qualities and support women to reach their own educational and career goals.

Further Reading: