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About Us
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Overview
The "Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGOs Forum" is a dynamic, yet formal infrastructure, promoting ongoing cooperation and interaction between active Palestinian and Israeli Peace NGOs. Forum members work together to influence decision making and public opinion, support the peace process and reconciliation efforts by mobilizing civil society and greater populations of the region.
The Palestinian NGO, Panorama Center and the Israeli NGO, Peres Center for Peace commenced preparations for the launch of the "Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGOs Forum" in November 2005, with a view to coordinating a program of activities to enhance the independent and joint efforts of Palestinian and Israeli Peace NGOs. The Peace NGOs Forum is kindly funded by the European Union.
The program focuses on Peace NGOs, recognizing that they serve as a unique link between the macro and micro levels. On the micro level, most of the organizations that are members of the forum are grassroots organizations and consequently, have direct connections to the citizens. This, of course, enables them to reach a vast range of audiences. The program also enhances the capacities of these Peace NGOs, allowing them to better work towards their goal of reconciliation among the populations. On the macro level, although there is stagnation at the governmental level, the fact that there are joint efforts from Palestinian and Israeli peace NGOs that are dispersed over different fields makes them potential catalysts for change and dialogue.
In order to utilize this uniqueness, the Forum includes three working platforms; 1-the Palestinian Peace NGO Forum, 2-the Israeli Peace NGO Forum, and 3-the Palestinian-Israeli Peace NGO Forum. Working in parallel on three separate tracks provides a way to accommodate our societies' varying audiences and enables the generation of independent, yet, appropriate means of action and messages. Furthermore, two separate Forums, the Israeli and the Palestinian, fulfill the need for internal work between organizations, as well as in each respective society in order to strengthen the civil societies. The key elements of the three forums include ongoing meetings and workshops (separate meetings for representatives from Palestinian and Israeli Peace NGOs, joint Palestinian-Israeli conferences); Working Groups (to address specific issues of mutual concern); and an online community (website).
Through these three avenues, the program provides activities in the fields of networking, competence building and media advocacy, thereby increasing the skills of the local institutions and amplifying their message to the public. |
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