Sustainability Evaluation and analysis of NGO Methodological Approach of Development Projects in West Bank / Global Communities NGO, West Bank

Transcription

1 Sustainability Evaluation and analysis of NGO Methodological Approach of Development Projects in West Bank / Global Communities NGO, West Bank Author: Al-Fares, Banan. Global Communities, West Bank & Gaza, Palestine, Abstract summary: This paper differentiates the sustainability application and measurements in Palestine from its application in other countries due to the unique culture and political situation. Global Communities (GC) is an NGO that operates in development sector at Palestine. It seeks to enable the vulnerable communities through involving them in assessing their current situation and their future needs, to produce projects help the society to be on the path of development. The involvement procedure enforce the community sense of ownership toward the implemented projects. GC/NGO adopts another development sectors as women empowerment, youth engagement. The paper argues the community perceived sense of ownership, engagement, and empowerment as a possible associated with sustainability indicators. The paper analyzes case studies from implemented projects and sectors by GC/NGO and funded by USAID. It provides evidence that the argued concepts are contributing in improving the Palestinians life, female, youth, special needs population and the whole country. Keywords: "Sustainability, NGO, Ownership, Engagement, Empowerment".

2 Introduction: The World Commission on Environment and Development s (1987), our common future report; defined sustainability development as development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs Sustainability has become the main objective which the most nations in the world are seeking to reach and achieve whatever the ways of implementing are different. Diversity and differences in the used methods may be due to the financial capacity, political conditions or culture. Sustainability development aims to verify the efficient use of the human need resources so to enhance the living condition for present and future generations. It links the different aspects of life from environment, economic and social aspects through solid and real links to build solid and sustainable societies. Sustainability development can be measured through qualitative or quantitative measures, one of the most known measurement is the triple bottom line which use a framework of accountability with three indicators social, economic and environmental. (1) The TBL is an accountability framework that incorporates three dimensions of performance: social, environmental and financial. This differs from traditional reporting frameworks as it includes ecological (or environmental) and social measures that can be difficult to assign appropriate means of measurement. The TBL dimensions are also commonly called the three Ps: people, planet and profits. (2) Indicators provide data to guide policy-making and allow for comparisons to be made across municipalities and regions. The impacts and challenges of sustainability policies and plans on the urban environment can also be shown through indicators. (3) Professor Alyson Warhurst, defined indicators as "a means devised to reduce a large quantity of data down to its simplest form, retaining essential meaning for the questions that are being asked of the data...if the indicator is designed properly, lost information will not seriously distort the answer to the question". (4) Sustainability and Community ownership: The goal is to move countries along the country ownership continuum, from parallel systems developed during the emergency response to fully integrated systems managed by the local government in partnership with civil society and the private sector. Whether a community is defined as a family, a neighborhood, a municipality, an ecoregion, or by some other configuration, the people who fall within that boundary need to feel a sense of belonging -- an attachment to a place and other sense of personal identity. (5)

3 Community Engagement: Community Engagement is more than just holding a public meeting. It is an ongoing interactive process characterized by commitment to ever-changing community needs and interests. The outcomes of community engagement are sometimes surprising, since by bringing together community members for a common purpose, new relationships are formed within the community, as community members learn how to collaborate. Community engagement is based on partnerships with community organizations, business, as well as local government, formal and informal leaders. (6) Women`s empowerment: Women have a vital role in environmental management and development. Their full participation is therefore essential to achieve sustainable development (7) One of the central application of sustainability development is women`s empowerment, which includes dealing with women as beneficiaries as education, training, and employment. Sustainability development aims to ensure equal opportunities in decision making for both women and men, besides it supports women in their rights to access to the life needed resources. Since women make up half the world, their role in achieving sustainability objectives can`t be over-emphasized. Empowering women is necessary to empower the earth. (8) As we can imagine the world as a small family; Females are fundamental pillar in their families, their communities and the whole creation. While the community has a well educated women their skills and knowledge will reflect on their children and the future generations. Development could reach it`s forefront aim to reach sustainable communities by enable their human resources including females in managing their own small world and so on the large whole world. To reach a success sustainable community that required a joint effort of governments, civil society, NGOs. This paper aims to measure the sustainability development through assessing the intersection of community perceived sense of ownership, youth engagement, and women empowerment with sustainability indicators; environment, economic and social. That will be by assessing the impact of GC/NGO implemented infrastructure projects and the different adopted strategies and sectors on achieving the optimal possible sustainable Palestinians communities.

4 Methodology: The selection of case studies based on population size, geographical location (Area C), living conditions (Central Bureau of Statistics). The selected case studies represent a good evidence of small and large communities which seeking to maintain its capacity through cooperated planning between local municipalities and private sector. Theses case studies represent implemented projects by GC/NGO, and provide specific details of each location`s behavior towards sustainability indicators. Each case study includes location overview, link the outcomes of the implemented projects and find where these outcomes set in sustainability trip. For implemented infrastructure projects two case studies were selected in North West bank, Daher Al `Abed village/ Jenin Governorate and Illar Town / Tulkarem Governorate. Analysis tools: The paper based on desk review analysis to analyze the already methodology used by GC/NGO, through review the impact and sustainability reports for infrastructure projects, and the strategies and sectors the GC adopted to empower youth and women. In order to make evidence from the field, the researcher used the key informant interviews (KII) which including interviews with municipalities` Mayors, project managers, and beneficiaries. Desk Review analysis: GC/NGO included in its used procedure to ensure effectively measuring of sustainability; contribution, operation and maintenance plans, in addition to ownership with its legal and morale meanings, and finally it considers the durability and the impact of the project. In order to implement this, GC used several tools like focus groups and surveys to target the key persons of administrators in the implemented projects and beneficiaries. In the following, the paper will discuss tow case studies in infrastructure projects to show how GC addressed the sustainability measurements. Case study number one: Construction of Dhaher al Abed Primary Coeducational School / Jenin Governorate. Daher Al Abed village Background: Daher Al Abed village is located 30 km southwest of Jenin City. It is surrounded by Zabda, Barta a villages, and Qiffen town, and located near the Israeli separation barrier which means all the village lands located under area C classification; as Palestine is suffering from a political conflicts, the Palestinian authority is not controlling the majority of the lands(area C).

5 In addition to that it is bordered by the Israeli settlements of Reehan, Shaiked, Hananeet, Dothan, and Hirmish who controlled around 1,870 dunums from Dhaher al Abed lands. And a military checkpoint is situated on the eastern side of the village as a result of the barrier and settlements, most farmers residents don t have regular access to their lands behind the Israeli separation wall, and the citizens face many difficulties in providing basic services and issuing permits for constructing new facilities because of Israeli s restrictions on area C which caused negative impact on all aspects of living conditions of whole community; there is no health clinic, no sewage system, and no sidewalks available, but most citizens receive water and electrical services. Project Background: Back to GC/NGO assessment, before the targeted project, the village has only one educational primary school, which contains of two classrooms (their property back to school) and the rest of classrooms were in rented facility near the school. The existing old school was unhealthy and did not have the essential facilities like, laboratory, safe playground which is near the street and without boundary walls, teachers room ( in which library used as double function to be teacher room). The photo to the right shows the old school and the photo to the left shows the GC implemented school. The needs assessment was joint effort of GC team, Ministry of Education and High Education (MoEHE) and village council members, because the village suffered from bad educational conditions; village council members emphasized that the need for a new school is priority. The new school has eight additional classrooms, science laboratory, computer laboratory, library, two teacher s room and canteen and toilets including one for disabled students, also it included playground (2 dunum space), construction of boundary walls and a room and two toilets for the kindergarten, the project was handed over on April, Referring to GC sustainability analysis which was conducted on June 2013, the number of beneficiaries 132 beneficiaries (63 females and 69 males). 80% of the community agreed that

6 the community and village council members participated in maintenance and operating process. The village council participated in all project s phases from assessment, preparing contribution and maintenance and operating plans, survey works, project supervision during implementation by hiring efficient technical engineer to follow up, and after the implementation they provided furniture for classrooms and kindergarten, and supported school with financial expenses like water and electrical bills, and hired a Guard with monthly salary. According to the focus group, 80% of the project operation and maintenance plans has been executed. 90% of the school functionally operated in which it supplied and equipped. The legal ownership document and Israeli license are available in project s files. According to survey 100% of beneficiaries agreed that they were very proud of having this project in their village. They felt that this project is belonging to them. The community of Daher Al Abed are satisfied with the material used in construction and they agreed on the durability of the project by 88.57% of all community. In order to measure the impact of the project, GC conducted face to face interviews with representative beneficiaries. This project touched one of the basic needs of any human being; it touched the safety issue which is according to Maslow's hierarchy of human needs comes as second priority after feeding that we must satisfy to make sure the educational process is done in great environment so by implementing this project to contain all necessary facilities inside safe wall away from dangerous street made the most targeted beneficiaries the students feeling safe and secured. Case Study Number two: Citizen Service Center for Illar Municipality/Tulkarem Governorate. (Illar CSC) Illar Town Background: Illar is a Palestinian town located 17 kilometers northeast of Tulkarem town, in Tulkarem Governorate. The population of Illar, according to Illar Municipality records in 2013, is 7,500 inhabitants. The built-up area of the town is 2530 dunums. There are six governmental schools, and one private elementary school. There is one health clinic in the town operated by Ministry of Health (MOH).

7 Project Background: A field assessment was conduct as a team work of Illar Municipality, community representatives and GC team. The town has a small municipality building with no enough capacity to receive citizens whose need to perform their services. In addition to no access to people with disabilities. The implemented project was handed over on May, 2013, with total area of approximately 357 m2 of which 100 m2 used for the citizen service center. The center is consisting of customer information and waiting room, accountant room, administration room, IT and server room, and a lobby. It constructed to serve 1550 households from Illar town. Back to GC analysis which conducted on February, 2014, 100% of males administrators and 75% of females administrators agreed that the maintenance and operation plans were implemented.100% of both female and male administrators agreed that the project was equipped and furnished and 90% of all administrators agreed that the needed staff was hired. Based on survey; 100% of administrators and users are proud of their project. 90% of administrators and 82.15% of users agreed that the condition of project is as they expected. The legal ownership document and license are clear and documented in the project file. 100% of administrators and %67.86 of users agreed on the durability of the project and satisfied with the quality and the condition of the project. The intended impact was improving the quality of services provided for the local residents, improving the working atmosphere for the municipality staff by moving into new suitable and comfortable place with high technology equipment which will improve their working capacity and output. The new location will enhance services provided encouraging women and youth to visit the CSC for attending meetings and receiving services. Key development sectors in GC/NGO toward sustainability: Youth Engagement: Within GC/NGO programs including the last program Local Government and Infrastructure Program (LGIP) funded by USAID and as February 2014, GC contributed to create 19 Youth Local Councils (YLC`s). YLC s are democratically elected bodies made up of members aged Working in partnership with the municipality, YLC`s help youth to participate effectively on identify their community needs and priorities. And to take leadership role in their community. Basha er Othman, Youth Local Council former President from Illar/Tulkarem Governorate, served as Minister of Local Government for one day on 22 August, 2013 following her recent appointment by Minister Sa ed Al-Koni. Basha`er said that her top leadership practices were to continue the work she has done in her role as YLC President as support youth activities

8 and engagement them in the democratic process, addressing youth unemployment problem, encouraging increased investment in Area C, and learning more about the structure of government and its regulations. Youth Employment: Under initiative program, "Engineering Fellows Program", in partnership with Engineering Association, GC/NGO provides the new graduated engineers a paid work opportunities to enhance their work skills, by participate in supervision of implementing infrastructure projects, which impact positively the local economic conditions. As February 2014, nearly 200 engineers have completed the program and about 90% of participants have secured longterm employment. Women Empowerment: Under all its components, GC strongly seeking to enhance women engagement in their community, by working with municipalities to ensure a basic level of women participation in identify their communities needs and priorities for infrastructure projects, and implementing targeted awareness campaigns for women like women in leadership campaign which aims to awareness the school girls how to reach a leadership positions. Women employment also is a part of GC efforts in women empowerment as in Engineering Fellows Program. Engineer Nadine Rishmawi, 25 years old, worked with Global Communities through the 2011 Engineering Fellows Program, the program provided her with paid work experience to develop professional skills and to prepare for the job market. Nadine worked on project sites that included schools, roads and youth clubs, before being chosen as a Green Fellow, another Global Communities initiative. As part of her green engineering internship, Nadine traveled to the UAE to work with the well-known engineering firm Khatib & Alami. Says Nadine, "I had a blank CV before I came here but when I finished the program my CV was full. It made me feel good that I had real work experience. On the technical level I learned about project design and supervision. We also went to seminars...and training workshops." Following her internships, Nadine found a position with the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation in Bethlehem Governorate, specialized in protecting, restoring and managing heritage resources. Another GC initiative, the Policies and Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs Readiness program (POWER) which was helped more than 100 women to increase their income, longterm employment by engaging them in handicraft businesses. Economic Development:

9 All the adopted sectors under GC, impact positively the economic conditions in Palestine, by Job creation whether in implementing projects (skilled and unskilled workers in construction sites), or by building human resource capacity like in Engineering Fellows program. Environment Development: "The world we have created is a product of our thinking; it cannot be changed without changing our thinking" Albert Einstein. As green building considered being more expensive than Non-Green building, GC/NGO adopts some effective practices of Green Building in order to construct a sustainable projects and to minimize and reduce the quantity of waste materials which reflect a positive impact on the surrounding environment with a reasonable budget in which GC can perform a large number of projects. Some effective green practices are like: using isolation materials, walls isolation, roof isolation, using effective design elements; skylight, angled sunshades, solar heaters installation, Rain Water harvesting System and re-use of Gray Water by constructing a treatment Plant. GC implemented rehabilitation projects like: rehabilitation the tourism rout in Sabastya- Nablus Governorate and rehabilitation of Jabal an Nar Youth club-nablus Governorate (old building since 1930) Also GC implemented Stone Gabions projects in four villages in Jordan valley. These projects had great, initiative and economic impacts on the local residence of villages in the Jordan Valley. Stone Gabions projects are sustainable and durable projects; where, they were constructed to resist water floods, prevent soil erosion and protect the properties of the local residence. By collecting the natural stones needed to fill the gabions from the neighboring lands, it become more suitable for agriculture, this process also reduced the transportation costs. In addition, these projects created temporarily job opportunities for unskilled labors in that local communities. KII Analysis: In interview with Mrs. Ghada Qabaha- The principal of Dhaher al Abed School, she emphasized that, the implemented school has a positive impact on all Daher Al Abed residents, where the healthy and full operation project increase the students attendance number, the percentage of absenteeism was reduced. The presence of kindergarten encourage

10 parents to send their children to school. She said:" the computer laboratory was equipped from parents council and mothers are allowed to borrow books from the school library, the students in the new school become involved in activities at the governorate level". And Mr. Omar Amarneh- The head of Dhaher Al Abed village council emphasized that the school was a priority, and all the residents are proud to have such a typical school. And all of them are feeling like to be the owners of the school. He said:" prior the new school, the parents bear the costs of transportation in which the students need to go outside the village to complete their education, the new school cancel these costs". Mr. Tahseen Abdul Dayem, director of Anabta Municipality-Tulkarem Governorate, Anabta CSC - the same project type as Illar CSC- emphasized that representatives and experts from local residents participate and agreed that the project is priority. He said that "the design take into consideration facilities to serve the disabilities people". CSC provide electricity, water and building license services to local residents. Conclusion: In Palestinian communities, we can`t envision similar type of sustainability as in other parts of the world, because of the context of Palestinian communities impacted by political, culture and financial constraints. Under the circumstances of Palestine, sustainability practices should start from the needed awareness, building the needed facilities to help people to be educated and to be served better and empowering people. These practices shape a bridge to form long-term development and after accomplishment of these efforts, the sustainability application in Palestine can be used as the sustainability concept and applications in other parts in the world. GC works to make sustainable changes to improve the life conditions of Palestinian people, strengthen their possibilities to build communities able to continue with its tangible and intangible resources. This paper can be considered as a basic one, it can be developed to several papers in which each of them focus on addressing specific sustainability issue by using wide analytical case studies.

11 References: (1) (2) Slaper, T. F. Director of Economic Analysis, Hall, T. J., Economic Research Analyst, Indiana Business Research Center. (3) Lee, Y. (2012) Indicators for Sustainability. Canada. Sustainable Cities International. (4) Warhurst, A. (2002) Sustainability Indicators and Sustainability Performance Management. UK. Warwick Business School, University of Warwick (5) Kline, E. (1997) Sustainable Community: Topics and Indicators (6) Ramirez, R., Aitken, H., Kora, G., Richardson, D. (2005) Community Engagement, Performance Measurement and Sustainability. Canadian Journal of Communication, Vol. 30(2005) (7) Principle 20, Rio Declaration on Environment and Development, Rio Declaration. (8) Price Water House Cooper, PWC, Empowering women to empower the earth. Others: Desk review analysis references: Global Communities sustainability reports.