PRCS Takes Part in Palestinian Voluntary Service Organizations’ Meeting

(Al-Bireh - 2/5/2019): PRCS took part in the Palestinian Voluntary Service Organizations’ meeting held at PRCS’ headquarters in Al-Bireh on May 2, 2019.

PRCS was represented by Dr. Khaled Joudeh, PRCS’ Director General, and Mr. Rabah Jaber, Advisor to the President’s Office and member of the National Team for the Institutionalization of Voluntary Service in Palestine. The meeting was also attended by Eng. Majdi Al Saleh, Minister of Local Government, Ms. Dalal Salameh from Fateh Central Committee, Eng. Musa Hadid, Mayor of Ramallah, and more than 100 representatives from other local institutions.

Mr. Jaber underlined the Society’s role as an independent National Society serving Palestinians both inside and outside Palestine. He called for more importance to be given to constructive and productive voluntary work and recalled that voluntary service, which drives various PRCS’ programs, is one of the fundamental principles of PRCS and the International Movement of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. “More than 20 000 volunteers work with PRCS both inside Palestine and abroad. Our Youths Program aims at harnessing their potential to enhance social development”, he added.

Jaber also spoke about voluntary service in Palestine over different periods in time, including during the Ottoman Empire and the British Mandate, when voluntary service aimed at providing help and assistance to those who needed it, as well as after the Palestinian Nakbeh of 1948 and during the first Intifada, when voluntary service aimed at building resilience and resistance. Jaber highlighted the economic value of voluntary service, especially given the financial crisis currently affecting the Palestinian Authority.

The meeting discussed several topics including the institutionalization of voluntary service in Palestine, the role played by young people in promoting voluntary service and the obstacles it faces, volunteering as a national trend in times of disasters and crises, and the role played by partnerships, political movements, the private and public sectors and the UN in promoting and enhancing voluntary service in Palestine.

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