World Vision’s Makani Summer Camps Concludes a Successful Year Fostering Resilience and Growth for More Than 17,000 Palestinian Children

Over this summer, more than 12,500 children, aged 6 to 14, took part in summer camps in 100 villages of the West Bank organized by World Vision in partnership with village councils and local schools of the Ministry of Education. Over 3 to 5 days, children took part in fun activities in a safe environment, free to enjoy childhood. They also learned and practiced critical Life Skills such as self-management or how to make responsible decisions. They mapped their communities and their services to learn how they can play a role through volunteering. The summer camps also included sessions on child rights, protection against abuses, what to do in case of emergencies or disasters, and about safe play.

These camps marked the one-year anniversary of the Makani (“my space” in Arabic) clubs, the after-school clubs managed by World Vision in more than 125 villages of the West Bank. Over the year, more than 17,000 children attended these clubs monthly following their launch in the summer 2022. The objective of this initiative is to support the education of young children and encourage their development, all with the goal of improving their resilience despite living in a fragile context. As they learn and practice important Life Skills, children are able to improve their mental health, their performance in schools and their relationship with their families and communities.

Beyond Life Skills, the summer camps also provided psycho-social support to help children to deal with stress and trauma. The clubs follow an international curriculum called Lions Quest developed by Lions Club International. It is strictly educational and has been contextualized for the Palestinian society and culture. World Vision invested around US$1.3M for this initiative over the past year funded by World Vision Australia and our Sponsorship Programme, through which thousands of individual donors from all over the world support sponsored children, their families, and their communities.

Supervised by dedicated community volunteers who undergo comprehensive training and certification, the Makani clubs benefit from constant guidance by a team of experts and trainers. Rigorous oversight by World Vision ensures the clubs’ activities are of the highest quality. The Makani clubs will restart their monthly meeting from September 2023, welcoming all children aged 6 to 14, in 74 villages.

Palestinian children, particularly those in Area C, face multiple challenges preventing them to enjoy their childhood. Poverty, marginalisation, violence and the occupation generate a lot of stress while children have limited access to safe places to play or receive support. This can lead them to feel hopelessness which may trigger antisocial behaviours, encourage school dropout and contribute to child marriage. Makani Aims to help them to reclaim their childhood while developing the life skills they will need for a successful education and life.

Notes for Editors

About World Vision International Jerusalem – West Bank – Gaza (WV JWG)

World Vision is a Christian relief, development and advocacy organisation dedicated to working with children, families and communities to overcome poverty and injustice. The organisation started to work in the West Bank and Gaza in 1975.

Since then, World Vision JWG has developed one of the largest community-based presence of any organisation operating in the West Bank with 91 dedicated staff and a total annual budget of $11 million USD in 2023. In 2022, our programming on education, early childhood development, child protection and child resilience benefited directly more than 233,000 people, including 169,000 children in 150 villages in the West Bank.

About our Sponsorship Programme

This initiative is funded through our Sponsorship Programme. This programme is a way to support participating children, their families, and communities, to build a better future for themselves. Through the sponsorship programme, vulnerable children, their families and their communities are matched with individuals sponsors from all over the world who support them over several years. Because of our community-focused solutions, for every sponsored child, four more children in the community benefit too.