Lifelong Learning in Palestine

PROJECT MONITORING REPORT II – Months 9 to 21

May 2012to July 2013.

Download

The overall objectives and outcomes of the second and third work packages

The first work package involved gaining information about the situation on the ground in the West Bank and Gaza, establishing pockets of good practice and locating gaps in existing provision.  The second work package involved putting the findings of the first work package in packs – notes, draft papers and so on.  It should be noted that the process was done and redone several times. A lot of material was rewritten because we tried to get things absolutely right for everyone.  In a big consortium, this can be difficult.

Draft documents were written and in circulation by the end of 2012.  These were placed on the website. CARE and the Society of Women Graduates became more involved during this period.  Key European documents were circulated on leadership, culture, community and economic development, pedagogy and Gaza training materials.  Considerations relating to the development of a national policy were deferred to August 2013.   Website development and the purchase of materials for Palestinian partners along with a review of quality assurance were all, for the most part, completed and placed in circulation through the website.  There were no more than a few mobilities in the second work package but a considerable number, involving all European partners travelling to the West Bank for the delivery of seminars occurred in the subsequent work package.  No one went for any period longer than a week and no one could travel to Gaza for reasons outside of the project’s control.  Overall, there was far more of a focus on work with NGO networks in the third work package.  The Gaza seminars were extremely successful in this respect; the Gaza team brought a wide variety of stakeholders together for their events. The third work package showed different institutions moved at different rates but they all completed the tasks of the Logical Matrix.  Some did this with more of a commitment to the project than others, which is exactly what might be expected in projects like LLIP. 

Activities of the second work package with the outcomes (in bold) and dates they were completed written directly below …

Activities         2.1 Development of leadership materials

Papers on leadership circulated.   Observation reports noting points on leadership – Ireland June 2012

                              2.2 Development of cultural and leadership materials

                              Paper on collective memory in circulation – St Mary’s June  

                                                                                                                        2012

2.3 Development of economic materials

Economics materials – Glasgow & Bethlehem November 2012

                              2.4 Development of pedagogical materials

Pedagogical materials in circulation – Malta & Al Quds

                                                                                                                      November 2012

                              2.5 Gaza materials

Gaza materials – Glasgow & IUG November 2012

                              2.6 National development proposals

                              Discussions on national considerations – all partners December 2012

On the ground management conditions …

The major difficulty during this period was coordinating the work so that everyone worked together.  The local management group on the West Bank was not used to working together.  The group had been specifically set up for the collective purchase of materials.  But different institutions had different regulations for purchasing materials.  At a meeting in Ramallah – May 13^th 2012 - it was agreed that the Palestine partners would purchase materials individually.  Materials were then purchased on an institution by institution basis.  Two IT centers opened in Jerusalem and Gaza. 

There were also different understandings of the tasks listed in Logical Matrix.  Some partners were used to working with such plans and others were not.  Whilst the whole project read the same documents, there was not the same understanding of what the tasks required. Progress was thus uneven but the project stayed reasonably on schedule.  None of these problems were unusual.

Conditions of travel and keeping to the schedule …

The conditions in Egypt made travel to Gaza very difficult. Travel involves one night in Cairo and one night in Al Arish before crossing into Gaza.  This added two days on either side of work.  However it should be noted that the work in Gaza has constantly set the standard for this project.  The Gaza team have had to operate in isolation but there has been constant communication between Glasgow and Gaza.  The team in IUG have focused on exactly what was required by the project documents.  Everything that has been done has been done professionally and on time and to the very highest quality.  This has been the pattern throughout the project.

The procedures for the colleagues from Gaza gaining visas; however have been increasingly difficult.  On the West Bank the conditions have been much less difficult but travelling short distances has still been problematic at times.

By June 2012 all the tasks of the second work package were completed but different partners had progressed at different speeds and different partners understood the project differently.  Communication was a problem. There simply was no discursive culture within the consortium. The situation could not be helped.  Again some tasks had to be planned and then re-planned and followed through at later dates.  But everything followed the Logical Matrix.

There was a meeting of the consortium in Glasgow, in August 2012, reviewing progress and detailing plans for 3^rd Exploitation package.  This went very well and the minutes have been placed on the website in the same section as this report.   More video-conferencing and Skype discussions took place.  But we could talk only very briefly with Gaza on-line.  We did so often.  The Gaza team simply could not get travel documents to join the August meeting; we thus had to link through video conferencing.

Language and communication

Not all the partners had the time to read all the documents in circulation.  Some partners had different staff involved in the project and different staff attending meetings. There were several difficult meetings on the West Bank for the Palestinian partners relating to materials. There were many Skype meetings with Al Quds during this period, and the website was built by IUG.  Few partners contributed to the website, which is in English and Arabic and almost all the dissemination tasks fell upon IUG, which they carried out with great efficiency.  Finances were transferred to all the partners.  Again there were no problems that were unusual in a consortium of this size.

2.1 Leadership materials

Leadership materials were difficult.  Palestine is a conservative society. The idea of collaborative leadership can be a difficult idea.  Any suggestions about change had to be sensitive to local history, and the conditions of a belligerent military occupation. The project initiated lots of discussion but participation was not the same right across the consortium.  The leadership materials are on the website in the same section as this report. Seminars on leadership were held in Gaza and the West Bank. Also interviews with higher education leaders, women, and young leaders were posted on the website in the same video as IUG leadership seminar. The video presents comment from local leaders. The seminar also produced discussion between academic institutions and their alumni who assumed leadership roles in the youth.

2.2 Cultural and Community Development materials

Professor Nur Masalha produced notes on Palestine as a learning culture and the function of collective memory.  He gave a long seminar at the August meeting.  He focused on the importance of oral history.  He spoke of the tradition of Rosemary Sayigh.  It is notable that Birzeit have some outstanding cultural historians and a number of centers doing work close to Professor Masalha’s.  We could have perhaps involved some of these far more. Professor Masalha produced detailed and highly readable notes and policy recommendations. The materials were refined constantly right up to the seminars and the notes are on the website.  The seminar and the workshop present discussion and comments with local players that are involved in culture, heritage, and oral history. IUG cultural seminar was held at Gaza Museum and brought together government agencies and ministries, NGOs, academic institutions and center, small businesses, women groups and local museums.  The Ketab Satellite TV and IUG produced and presented a 15 minute video on craft and heritage work in Gaza.

2.3 Economic Development materials

The benchmarking showed a disconnection between the universities and regional economic engagement.  Some institutions were involved in courses on Entrepreneurship and others had Incubation Units.   Some like Birzeit were involved in research on the broader regional economic situation and Al Quds had several projects in Jerusalem’s Old City working directly with the Palestinian community.  An important element in this work package was the work of Sara Roy who writes on the policy of ‘de’ development.  Roy’s work was always in the background. A number of papers on economic issues were in circulation and visits to Development Agencies carried out by the Gaza team in April 2013 were in circulation.  The report is on the same section of the website as this report.   Other papers were also placed on the website.  This is the area of the LLIP project that needs the most ongoing work if some sustainable results are to be achieved.  There needs to be far more international ‘on the ground’ links with organizations like women’s groups.  Various comments from colleagues on the ground show there is little that is standard in the economic conditions of the West Bank and Gaza.  Economics is rarely concerned with development in the conditions of an ongoing military occupation.  Much more work would need to be done in this area.  Papers are on the website.

All this added up to economic issues constituting the most challenging area of the second and later, the third work package.  Gaza functions economically almost exclusively through the tunnels.  They have no way of importing or exporting produce right now.  Most of the Palestinian partners have incubation units, which are mentioned in the two reports by Glasgow and Maynooth, completed in the community assessment reports of the first work package.  A variety of external sources have been placed on the website …

2.4 Pedagogical development

Presently Palestine has very traditional pedagogical practices.  Many of these have been inherited from early education projects led by organisations like UNWRA.  These practices were shaped by difficult financial conditions and huge increases in the student numbers.  The number of students accessing higher education has increased at a phenomenal rate. There is little linking of access to pedagogical issues, though some experimentation with student centred techniques takes place in CAC in the Old City.  But it is not clear how these feed into university practices.  Professor Peter Mayo produced overheads and a paper that was circulated for this section of the project around his work on Freire.  The aim was more student-centered approaches and papers are posted on the website co-authored with Najwa Al Silwadi.

2.5  Training materials for Gaza

Glasgow coordinated with Gaza on the materials for the IUG workshops.  But IUG has exceptional staff and centers.  However, the content of seminars in Gaza had to reflect the above spread of seminars and has to add local flavors and touch base with the Gaza environment and siege  so they used a lot of the above material in combination with local knowledge. 

The Gaza team were very motivated and quickly developed materials following visits to Scotland and Ireland.  The subsequent workshops were filmed and form extensive range of resources in Arabic that are on the LLIP website.

2.6  National development materials

Understandably, there was quite a lot of concern about who would write the materials.  The task was thus deferred and an agreement made to have discussions facilitated by the Tempus Office in Ramallah. The date for these discussions is August 2013. ‘Considerations’ for national policy however coming out of the experience of other states have been circulated but ultimately, the recommendations for national policy will be down to the Palestinian colleagues. Others can be brought into discussions as required, but the task is fundamentally one for Palestinian universities. This was agreed at the very first kick-off meeting in Amman.  A lot of useful material has been placed on the website about the Turkish experience. 

A film and overheads about considerations of a national framework for lifelong learning was put on the website by Keith Hammond along with the overheads that could be consulted in the third workpackage.

Outcomes of 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4, 2.5

The benchmarking results were circulated.  There was a lot of discursive material that came out of the exercise, and this was placed on the website but the data has many different ways of being read.  The major outcome of the exercise was that Palestinian institutions developed their own capacities in constructing and applying the tool.  Findings in the main were reflected in the community assessments.

Information on the experience of Scotland and Ireland in building lifelong learning systems was also placed on the website along with lots of relevant EU and Palestinian reports.  Film of meetings and talks were placed on the website.  A whole section on materials was built that will be of use in sustaining LLIP.

Additional outcomes

Glasgow university sponsored a trip for Keith Hammond to 60 years of UNESCO in Hamburg.  An academic paper was published.  Several talks and seminars were done in professional and NGO organizations in Ireland and Scotland.  Museums, Parks and Recreation of Glasgow City Council was linked to Birzeit University and their new People’s Museum project.

Problems

The major problem in the early work was that partners did not know one another.  But differences of opinion were not such that they held things back.

Problems were settled amicably.  Nothing was unusual in a consortium of this size. 

In November 2012 Keith Hammond was in Gaza.  The area was shelled and bombed by Israel.  The hotel where Mr Hammond was staying was shelled and lots of damage done whilst he was staying there to the whole learning infrastructure.  This did not influence subsequent work.  Commitment by the team in IUG soon picked up the pace of the work. 

Mr Hammond was diagnosed as having post-traumatic shock once he returned to Glasgow at the same time as a an official complaint was made by Professor NurMasalhato the University of Glasgow about the coordinator Keith Hammond.

The complaint was investigated thoroughly according to university regulations and procedures listed on the university website.  Whilst the complaint was being investigated, Professor Alison Phipps stood in as the coordinator.   Mr Hammond then returned to coordinating in early 2013 after being on sick leave for eight weeks.  None of these events were hugely significant but work on the project slowed down …it also picked up with third work package and a meeting in the Tempus Office in Ramallah.

EACEA Report dated 12^th February 2013

The EACEA report is on the website.  It advises more thought on sustainability, which was read to be about embedding practices more in NGO networks and clusters of collaboration in the different regions.  Gaza has been extremely efficient in rolling out discussion of the project to a whole range of other providers.  They have also developed what might be a clear learning strategy for Gaza.  The impact tool returned by the Society of Women Graduates in Gaza shows the project has had a clear impact.  Alas Bethlehem shows a much more modest immediate impact.  Other impact returns are yet to be collected and assessed.  These will be detailed in the last interim report.

Points were noted in the EACEA report on NGO networks along with more of a focus on issues of sustainability.  The points were fed back directly into the consortium.  A final sustainability plan will drawn up at the final consortium meeting and placed on the website …

THIRD WORK PACKAGE

The overall objectives and outcomes of the third work package

Community visits along with the benchmarking provided a lot of material directly relevant to the project objectives.  This being said, the third work package pushed practice on the ground in exploitation.  In line with the 2000 Memorandum on Lifelong Learning the aim was to connect different universities, NGOs and various stakeholders on leadership, culture, pedagogy and leadership.  With wide debate, the structures for a national framework could be teased out, and participation broadened with the aim of further embedding the lifelong learning agenda in ordinary Palestinian culture.

Little feedback has come in at the time of writing this report.  However the Women Graduates of Gaza and Bethlehem University report say that more people in their area are now talking about Lifelong Learning. They describe their organization as being involved in regional strategies for building lifelong learning and they are working far more in the PNGO network.  Bethlehem state that management discussions are going on so that the project of ‘lifelong learning’ can be included in the mission statement of their university. Their Institute of Community Partnerships website is being rebuilt to include a lot of information on the LLIP project. 

There is a discussion on film on the LLIP website on the impact of the project in Gaza.  The discussion was 11^th June 2013, and the film lasts for 40 minutes.  Dr Elaydi goes into Third Mission strategies for knowledge transfer in regional engagement.

Seminars

The following gives a list of dates and places where seminars were held.  The content of the seminars have been posted on the LLIP website and each of the seminar presenters have given feedback on the number and organisations in attendance.  These have been posted on the same section of the website as this report.

Activities         3.1   Training/Leadership workshops

               Glasgow at Al Quds 4^th May and leadership workshop delivered.

Ireland follow through on leadership with workshop at Al Quds  2nd June 2013. Both were filmed but not on the website yet. 

IUG delivered Gaza seminar and workshop on leadership on April 24^th at IUG.

The participation in Gaza workshops involved all segments of the society and concerned parties such as government, NGOs, academia, private businesses, private individuals, experts, students, young graduates, and public figures.

All Gaza workshops were filmed.  Around six hours of workshops and training events in Gaza on website. 

The IUG seminars and presentations are individually grouped and there is a complete film of one days training with NGOs and partners

AL QUDS OPEN IT TRAINING SUITE

December 2012

IUG OPEN IT TRAINING LAB IN GAZA

10^th March 2013 – see report on website.               

Equipment purchased for above as part of the LLIP project.

3.2         Sustainability and strategizing

Yousef Najajreh delivers seminars in Glasgow and meets Deans to discuss follow on collaborations 20^th to 22^nd of June 2012.  Talks with various Glasgow staff about sustainability.  Meets with Community Development Team and discusses possibility of Community Development course in Al Quds.

Ireland 3^rd June in Al Quds deliver workshop.  Idea of learning society being a self sustaining learning system.  Delivers workshop with Community Activism Center on Reunification of families – the Irish experience.

Glasgow 6^th May seminar and discussions at Al Quds on possible

Strategies for building on work so far ...

Glasgow meeting with Yousef Najajreh 9^th June in Jerusalem.

Further possibilities discussed on co-delivering courses.

Seminars in Gaza of strategizing sessions with NGOs on website. 

Meeting between Ireland and Bethlehem 5^th of June in Bethlehem.

IUG team visit Scottish Parliament in April 2013 and have long meeting with Sandra White – SMP and Chair of All Party Committee on Palestine – exchanges and ongoing support to LLIP discussed.  Full report of this visit on website.

In April 2013, IUG team delivered two seminars on Lifelong learning in Palestine under siege at Glasgow and Maynooth.

During IUG April visit, IUG team discussed future cooperation and working ideas with Edinburgh University and Glasgow University.  During Ireland visit, IUG team visited the border area and several avenues for cooperation and building peaceful community were looked at. Models for economic development  were looked at and future bids will include those ideas and the experience of Ireland after the peace agreement.

IUG delivered Gaza seminar and workshop on Learning Society on May 13^th at IUG.  Many different sorts of learning providers included.  Strategy of linking formal/informal learning discussed.

3.3   Cultural and Community Conditions training

Filmed talk between Keith Hammond and Yousef Najajreh in June 2012.  The film was made in Glasgow and placed on website.  It gives the cultural context of Higher Education in Jerusalem.  There are specific problems relating to Al Quds work in East Jerusalem – problems relating to accrediting profession qualifications.  Much of needs to be thought about in relation to other topics like sustainability.

Ireland session on cultural understanding, cultural barriers, and what kind of perceptions of the self and ‘other’ hold people back – 2nd to 5^th June on West Bank.  Experience of Ireland after peace agreements.

St Mary’s workshop presentations on collective memory and history in lifelong learning 2^nd and 3^rd in Al Quds; 3^rd July in Old City; 4^th and 5^th in Bethlehem and 6^th and 7^th in Birzeit.  Professor Masalha’s report and paper are on the website.

IUG delivered Gaza seminar and workshop on culture on May 6^th at Gaza Museum.

3.4   Follow up with strategic applications

Ireland discussion with family reunification group in Jerusalem; women’s group 3^rd June.

Glasgow discussions online with Gaza throughout May and June.

The workshops in Gaza were all organized and carried out by the IUG team.  All are filmed and on the website.  Around 100 people from different organizations look at lifelong learning from different angles.  Overheads and around teen hours of film are on the website.

3.5   Economic Development

Glasgow discussion on line with Gaza throughout May and June.

Well attended seminars …  in conjunction with the Graduate Women of Gaza and PNGO network.  Seminars and workshops held at different venues – museums and NGO locations.

Glasgow in Birzeit 4^th July – seminar on national framework of economic considerations. Filmed but not on the website as yet.

IUG delivered Gaza seminar and workshop on Economics on May 12^th at Materna House (private facility) – filmed and on website.

3.6   Economic considerations – follow up

Glasgow online discussions with Gaza throughout May and June.

Glasgow discussions with Al Quds on line throughout May and

June.

Glasgow deliver seminar on economic considerations inlifelong learning at Al Quds 3^rd May 2013.

Paper in circulation and on the website about the innovations being developed in Edinburgh.  Linked Palestinian partners to Launch.ed.ac.uk  This is a European prize winning project linking student ideas to business.

Ireland in Jerusalem talking on economic issues 5^th June.  Discuss community development initiatives in Ireland.

3.7   Planning for social development

Ireland deliver workshop on 3^rd June in Al Quds

St Mary’s deliver seminar in Al Quds in Old City 1^st July 2013.  Professor Masalha discusses Collective Memory Website with CAC.

Possibilities for Oral History Group.

IUG delivered Gaza seminar and workshop on Pedagogy on May 13^th at IUG.

On line discussions between Glasgow and CARE and the Women Graduates of Gaza throughout May 2013.

Skype between Gaza and Glasgow end of May and throughout June.

3.8   Social development follow up

Deferred for conference in Glasgow - September 2013.

Plan for link between Al Quds and Community Development Degree team in Glasgow.

3.9   Lifelong Learning plan for Palestine

Meeting called for Palestinian partners 20^th August 2013.

3.10 European support structures

To be determined after 20^th August 2013.

3.8, 3.9 and 3.10 – around 15 hours of film material has been collected on the website in different seminars and discussions.  The idea has been that these can be used for follow up work.  Social development, the creation of a Lifelong Learning Plan for Palestine and drawing upon European structures needs considerable input from the Palestinian partners.

Follow on discussions can be organized and the films used …

3.11 Briefing Papers

Several papers already written and on website.  The main papers will relate to collective decisions taken by the Palestinian colleagues at their management meetings on the West Bank which have had video links to Gaza.

3.12 Podcasts

IUG giving costings.

3.13 Video conference reflections on WP3

                         Throughout June and July with Al Quds and IUG

Extensive feedback mechanisms used at every meeting. 

Outcomes

The following were outcomes were achieved by the end of the third work package at the end of July 2013:

1.     Materials were on the website giving the content of seminars on:

·       Leadership

·       Culture and collective memory

·       Pedagogy

·       Economic issues and employment

·       Specific issues in relation to Gaza

·       Considerations for a national framework

2.     Seminars had been carried out in Birzeit, Bethlehem, Al Quds and the Islamic University of Gaza in collaboration with the Center for the Application of Research in Education and the Society of Women Graduates in the Gaza Strip.

3.     Feedback had been collected by the different Palestinian partners and films of the seminars placed on the website.

4.     Feedback had been obtained from those presenting in the seminars and workshops – see separate document on the website.

A point made by Professor Masalha in his feedback was endorsed right across the consortium which said there needed to more time for seminars. 

Additional outcomes

As an additional outcome of this third work package a paper was published on Lifelong Learning in Palestine in the GLOBAL UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR INNOVATION in their year book – sponsored by UNESCO, United Nations University and the Universitat Politecnica De Catalunya.

Detail of Visits …

1.     West Bank to Glasgow

See separate document on meeting over three days on the 21^st, 22^nd and 23^rd of August in Glasgow.   Those attending were:

Keith Hammond, Rebecca Kay, Alison Phipps - Glasgow

YousefNajajreh, Raid Zaghal, Asma Imam and Najwa Al Silwadi – Al Quds

NurMasalha – St Mary’s

Josephine Finn, Michael Kenny - Maynooth

MoussaRibadi – Bethlehem

Mai Shanti – Birzeit

No visa’s were not granted to the IUG group – a latter visit was arranged.

Films made of participation in Edinburgh International Festival and Panel Discussion in Centre for Contemporary Arts – Glasgow.

The agenda of the Glasgow meeting and the minutes of the meeting are on the LLIP website.

2.     Gaza visit to Glasgow and Ireland

Visit to Glasgow by Gaza team who could not obtain visas for August 2012 meeting.  Travelling were Hatem Elaydi, Fahid Rabah, Hala El Khozondar and Osama Qunoo.  Separate reports on institutions visited in Edinburgh University, Scottish Parliament, Glasgow University, Maynooth University and Irish Development Agencies.

A separate item is published on the website in the same section as this report …

Conditions in the consortium

Different partners have understood the project documents differently at times. In a meeting in February 2013 however, held in Bethlehem and Gaza, facilitated through Skype, the Palestinian partners confirmed their commitment to the project and coordinated the tasks amongst themselves.   All agreed who would be working with whom doing what on the second and third work packages.  Later Bethlehem and Birzeit voiced concern to the Tempus Officer in Ramallah. Dr Nedal Jayousi then called a meeting and the coordinator travelled immediately to Ramallah.  Sitting around the same table with all the West Bank partners, the Logical Matrix was considered carefully and an action plan agreed as below …each partner thereafter knowing exactly what they were doing.

Action Plan

Much of the materials were rewritten at the request of Bethlehem and Birzeit and the project was very quickly on track and on schedule.

Travel and schedule

Mobilities were one way during the third work package.  However,seminars were requested by Al Quds for pedagogy and culture, which were then very enthusiastically provided by Professors Mayo and Marsalha.   The feedback provided by the seminar presenters is a separate item on the website. The project at the end of workpackage three was on schedule and the whole project will be completed on time.

Specific points relating to this section of the project.

The project needs much more material in Arabic.  

The Palestinian partners have had to absorb a lot of new material and put it into practice over a very short period.  They have few documents in the Arabic on lifelong learning.  On top of this they function in conditions of a belligerent military occupation.  Their work was exemplary.

Core funding for all the partners is a constant worry.  There were many strikes in Al Quds and the travel conditions for getting in and out of Gaza became increasingly difficult.

WORK PACKAGE FOUR

Work package four involves assessing quality in the over project plan.  At 4.1 it required the re-administration of the tool focusing on progress in regional engagement.  It records the way the idea of lifelong learning has been rolled out in outreach work.  This tool has been constructed and is being completed by five individuals in each of the partner institutions at the end of July.   4.2 requires the administration of an impact tool which to date has not been completed.   4.3 requires new tools for medium and long term impact which have also not been completed.  The final interim report will cover all these tasks plus the dissemination and management packages of 5 and 6 in the Matrix.

In addition there will be considerable refinement of the material on the website.  The aim will be to build this resource for the ongoing development of the LLIP project into 2014 and on …

KH 30^th July 2013

Final Project Monitoring Report follows in late September.

Download