ATTACHMENT_J14__Enhanced_Palestinian_Justice_Project__-_Youth_Analysis..pdf

RFP 294-13-000005

ATTACHMENT J14: Enhanced Palestinian Justice Project - Youth Analysis.

I. Situational Analysis: Youth and Rule of Law

With all the changes taking place in the Middle East and North Africa region, these are important times to stress the importance of engaged and well-educated youth to advancing the rule of law, under the context of a changing and interconnected global environment. The efforts to promote the rule of law require the steadfast inclusion of youth. Investing in youth can be an effective tool to advance national development strategies and strengthen youth’s participation in governance and public decision making.

The Palestinian National Plan’s Youth Cross-cutting Strategy identifies youth as those individuals in the 13-29 age category1. According to this definition, youth represent 29.1% of the total Palestinian population. The Palestinian Justice Sector Assessment conducted by USAID revealed that Palestinian youth face challenges in the areas of legal education, and a lack of awareness of rights and responsibilities and rule of law issues. USAID met with Deans, faculty members and/or students across 3 law faculties – Birzeit (Ramallah), Al Najah (Nablus) and Hebron University in order to identify the needs and challenges facing legal education and the entry of law graduates into the profession. In addition, USAID met with one youth organization.

Based on USAID’s Justice Sector Assessment, the following challenges in the legal education system and citizen engagement in rule of law issues directly impact youth:

Legal Education System:

o Outdated curricula and lack of Palestinian sourced reference materials. Students from Al Najah and Hebron observed that the law program curricula were outdated and sometimes irrelevant.

Interviewees also noted that Palestinian legal scholarship has not responded to the demand for a Palestinian-sourced curriculum. Consequently, law courses are frequently based on references sourced abroad relating to the study of foreign laws (usually Jordanian), rather than Palestinian laws.

A lack of standardized accreditation contributes to the problem. The Ministry of Higher Education has not set uniform standards for law faculties, nor is it considering market needs in accrediting new programs.

o Theoretical courses and lecture-based teaching continue to dominate the curriculum despite technical assistance programs focused on interactive teaching. Students also complained that the majority of professors continue to adopt a lecture format in classes and that the coursework is overly theoretical. They noted that in most cases, students are required to memorize materials for final exams rather than learn practical skills like research, writing and analysis. Clinics and moot court programs are well regarded, but students noted that their heavy course load makes participation in clinics more challenging.

o Universities do not assist students in entering the legal profession or exploring alternative careers. Students identified diverse professional goals and at the same time expressed concern at their capacity to gain employment and a lack of attention by their universities to assisting them in entering the workforce. Universal concern was expressed at the requirement to complete two years training to enter the legal profession without guarantee of compensation.

1 Palestinian National Plan 2011‐13 Youth Cross‐cutting Strategy o Palestinian universities lack the resources necessary to raise the standard of law programs and support the development of Palestinian legal scholarship. Mirroring the students’ remarks, faculty members pointed to a lack of resources as the core problem facing Palestinian law schools. The West Bank and Gaza each have one public law school; the rest are non-profit associations which obtain 25% of their funding from the PA. Due to the dire financial situation of the PA, it cannot currently meet its commitments. Universities are therefore dependent on student registration fees, charitable donations and grants. Due to the very low average earnings of Palestinians, registration fees remain low and many universities increase their student intake in order to raise their revenues. Interviews stated that class sizes then increase, the standard of students’ falls, and less qualified faculty members are hired to meet increased demands. At Birzeit in August 2012, students demonstrated with hunger strikes when the university raised its fees. At the same time, faculty members are demanding higher salaries and pensions are becoming due for retiring faculty, adding to the financial burden on universities.

Salaries for professors are average by West Bank standards (approximately $2,000 per month) but according to faculty interviewed, still not sufficient. As a result, interviewees reported that most professors teach more than the required number of courses and hold positions across faculties or outside teaching. This means that law faculties are unable to meet the increased capacity needs of innovative new programs or address the institutional issues which impact teaching standards across the entire program. Faculty members reported that due to the financial crisis, the PA is incapable of providing the needed support to tertiary education.

Citizen Engagement in Rule of Law Issues o Lack of awareness of rights and responsibilities. UNDP’s 2011 public perceptions survey indicated those with poor legal literacy (a lack of understanding of their legal rights) were less likely to access justice, demand their legal entitlements before justice sector institutions or hold institutions accountable for due process violations. According to public perception surveys, there was strong support for introduction of ROL education at the high school level. Limited legal literacy starts in schools and continues through undergraduate education system, which affect youth acutely. Youth are not exposed to any formal education on their rights and responsibilities as citizens unless they chose to study law at the university level. Legal literacy prepares youth to become more familiar with the legal/justice system, have a greater appreciation of the rule of law, and better understand their rights and responsibilities as citizens. Legal literacy also can strengthen commitment and respect to the rule of law.

II. Youth Integration Strategies

The main goal of USAID’s youth programming as articulated in the Agency’s Youth Policy is to improve the capacities and enable the aspirations of youth so that they can contribute to and benefit from more stable, democratic, and prosperous communities and nations. Youth are recognized as actors in the development of their countries. The agency’s youth policy calls to implement programs that support youth to access quality education, health and nutrition, jobs and livelihoods, and live free from violence and abuse. In particular, the policy calls to:

- Building youth competencies and skills to become informed, healthy and productive citizens.

- Creating channels for dialogue and participation that enable youth to contribute to their own and their communities’ development.

The Palestinian Authority (PA)’s Youth Cross-Cutting Strategy for 2011- 2013 calls for expanding the participation of youth and adolescents in all aspects of public life, developing and promoting the values of citizenship and civil rights amongst youth, and reforming the education system.

The new Rule of Law Project has five main components:

1. Enhanced Accessibility and Efficiency of Justice Sector Institutions to Improve Service Delivery

2. Enhance Capacity of Family Courts

3. Improved Educational, Management and Administrative Systems of Targeted Law Schools

4. Increased Citizen Engagement and Respect for Rule of Law

5. Palestinian Rule of Law Strengthened Through Windows of Opportunity

In accordance with the Palestinian Authority and USAID’s youth policies, the new Rule of Law project focuses on youth learning and increasing their civic education and participation. The project developed interventions that will directly target youth, especially law students, under the Third and Fourth Project components. In addition, the remaining project activities will ensure a youth perspective is reflected in the design and implementation, under the First and Second Components.

The project will target to improve the educational, management and administrative systems of targeted law schools, thus providing law students with better learning opportunities and increased access to future employment. The project will also focus on increasing youth engagement in rule of law issues through legal literacy and awareness- raising interventions at the school and community levels. USAID will work with law schools, law-association, and Ministry of Education and Higher Education to achieve these goals. Proposed activities fall under two categories: Assistance to law schools, and civic engagement grants.

Building on Best Practices The youth integration strategies outlined in this document will build on best practices of youth integration in USAID projects. The project will target youth education and learning, and increasing their engagement in rule of law issues. These approaches have proven to be successful and enhance youth participation and learning opportunities.

Targeted Youth The project will target youth in high schools, ages 15 – 18, and law students, ages 18 – 25. The project will work with law schools across the West Bank and target youth in Nablus, Hebron, and Ramallah.

Additional locations will be identified when the project is launched. In addition, through civic engagement grants, the project will work with high schools across the West Bank to ensure a broad range of youth constituents are targeted.

Strategy 1: Enhance education and employment opportunities for law students

The Rule of Law project will enhance the educational opportunities for law students by focusing enhancing the quality of education in law schools. The project will focus on building the capacity of Palestinian law faculties to absorb legal education reforms. In addition, the project will increase practical education opportunities for law students through internship opportunities. Support would consist of one or more of the following components:

1. Strategic planning and institutional development for law faculties – Foreign law school administrators will support partner law faculty leadership in a process of strategic planning and systems development encompassing infrastructure, curriculum reform, budgeting, fundraising, human resource development, etc. Training and mentoring may also be provided to law faculty leadership.

2. Curriculum reform – Assistance will be provided to partner law faculties in review of existing curricula with a view to modernizing both course content and methodologies across law programs.

This would be accompanied by training for faculty on new content and methodologies.

3. Internships: The project will provide law students with internship and externship opportunities. In addition, the project will engage law students in moot court competition.

Strategy 2: Strengthen youth engagement in Rule of Law promotion

The new Rule of Law project will provide grants to NGOs for initiatives aimed at promoting citizen engagement, including youth, in the rule of law. In addition, grants will focus on civic education. Civic education is a core component in enabling people to enjoy their rights, but the Palestinian people also need support to activate their role in peaceful preservation and assertion of their rights and in holding public institutions accountable. Activities will engage civil society, community members, and public sector institutions in order to develop cooperation and confidence between citizens and government.

Grants could take several forms, including, but not limited to:

1. Education campaigns to raise citizen awareness of and their potential contributions to ROL. One of the potential areas of support is providing grants to pilot legal literacy at the high school and community levels. In addition, USAID will focus on increasing awareness of rule of law issues such as human rights, legal reform, and women- related cases.

2. Activities aimed at actual citizen participation in ROL promotion such as lobbying and advocacy activities on issues of public concern or encouraging citizen reporting of corrupt practices, traffic violations, etc. Youth will be included as a targeted beneficiary group under these activities.

Strategy 3: Integration of youth issues in other program components

The new Rule of Law project will also ensure a youth perspective is reflected in the design and implementation of the First and Second project components. For example, under the First Component (Enhance Accessibility and Efficiency of Justice Sector Institutions to Improve Service Delivery), the project may use the youth to serve as interns on short-term basis to support the teams of justice sector institution, similar to what is happening now under the current rule of law project. The Palestinian Justice Enhancement project has hired interns to help in conducting automatic archiving and filing within targeted courts and ministerial units.

III. Stakeholders

USAID will work with a myriad of stakeholders to ensure that the project directly benefits youth and that you are involved in the design of activities. Under the assistance targeted to law schools, USAID will work with law school faculties, Ministry of Education and Higher Education, and students with issues related to curricula development. In addition, USAID will work with youth and community organization on civic engagement and education issues.

The DGO team conducted the second round of meetings with related stakeholders including representatives from the Ministry of Justice, High Judicial Council, law school students and civil society representatives to discuss the main findings of the analysis and explore any additional interventions that can be provided under the new project to address youth related gaps. All interviewees agreed on USAID’s analysis and proposed areas of intervention, attached a copy of brief notes taken from the meetings.

IV. Monitoring and Evaluation

The proposed interventions will contribute to Intermediate Result 1 of the mission’s Youth Results Framework: Youth public participation and leadership opportunities increased. Through grants to civil society organizations, the project will promote youth engagement in rule of law issues. In addition, the project will provide grants focusing on legal and civic education targeting high schools and potentially university students.

The proposed interventions will also contribute also to following intermediate and sub-intermediate results:

Intermediate Result 2: Youth employment increased Sub IR 2.1 : Increased access to programs and training relevant to market needs

The project will incorporate the following indicators to measure progress on activities targeting youth:

Number of youth who benefitted from accredited apprenticeship or internship programs Number of youth who receive civic and leadership training

The project will develop evaluation tool to measure the impact of activities. Youth will be included in the evaluation of the project. Evaluation forms will be developed and distributed for the all the activities implemented under the project, including the ones targeting youth.

V. Mission Coordination/Project Linkages

The project will coordinate with USAID projects targeting youth. Some of the civic and legal education activities could be implemented in the Youth Development and Resources (YDRCs) which were established under the Ruwwad project. Grants to civil society organizations focusing on increasing the youth engagement in the rule of law issues will be discussed and coordinated with the Civic Engagement Program to avoid any duplication of efforts. In addition, the project will coordinate with the Local Government and Infrastructure (LGI) project on potential cooperation on civic education issues as LGI implements civic engagement activities that primarily target youth.