Taawon

Director General: Aida Essaid
Establishment: 1983
Type: Non-profit civil society organization
Focus Region: Palestine, refugee camps in Lebanon
Sectors: Education, Culture, Community Development, Emergency, and Humanitarian Assistance

Taawon is a non-profit civil society organization registered in Switzerland. Since its founding in 1983, Taawon has supported vulnerable Palestinians to live in dignity. Taawon works in partnership with local communities to relieve hardship and meet basic needs. We create better opportunities by supporting sustainable development initiatives.

Our work touches the lives of around 1 million Palestinians every year in urban and rural areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the refugee camps in Lebanon, and marginalized Palestinians in the 1948 areas. We work with all segments of Palestinian society, especially with children, youth, women, people with special needs, and the underprivileged

Taawon is committed to advancing creativity, gender equity, a green and sustainable environment, and high standards of governance. All of these factors are crosscutting themes within our impact areas in education, culture, community development and emergency and humanitarian assistance.

 MISSION

As a leading non-governmental Palestinian development organization, Taawon strives to make a distinguished contribution toward furthering the progress of the Palestinians, preserving their heritage and identity, supporting their living culture and building civil society. It aims to achieve these goals by methodically identifying the Palestinian people’s needs and priorities and establishing the soundest mechanisms to maximize the 

VISION

Taawon envisions the Palestinian people as citizens of an independent, free, and democratic Arab Palestine living in dignity, prosperity, and self-fulfillment, with equitable access to opportunities to realize their full potential with distinction and creativity.

OBJECTIVES

• Encourage the preservation of Palestinian culture and identity and the revival of Palestinian cultural heritage.
• Develop, upgrade and empower Palestinian individuals to become productive professionals and capable of achieving their goals and aspirations and contributing to economic and social change.
• Empower local institutions and assist them in providing services that respond to the needs of Palestinians by implying the requirements of good governance and achieving sustainability.
• Provide rapid and effective response to emergency situations that may put the life, security, or health of Palestinians at risk.

TAAWON IMPACT AREAS 

• Education: Since its inception, Taawon has achieved remarkable progress in supporting efforts to enhance quality education from pre-school to post-graduate studies, particularly for those traditionally pushed to the margins of society: the disabled, the orphaned as well as women. Since 1983, Taawon’s contribution to the education sector has reached over $165 million. For the period 2014-2016, Taawon has budgeted $22 million to support the following programs: Early Childhood (Sukkar), Mustaqbali Program: for the orphans of Gaza, Schools of Excellence, University program (Zamalah) and Alternative Education in the areas 1948.

• Culture: Culture is a very important means by which Palestinians have held on to their identity, values, norms and traditions, not only in Palestine but also in the diaspora. Taawon has long recognized the importance of culture as an important factor in preserving Palestinian identity and also for the development of Palestinian society as a whole. Since 1983, Taawon’s contribution to the Culture sector has reached over $99 million. For the period of 2014-2016, Taawon has committed $37 million to the cultural sector for the following programs: Cultural Development (Ta’bir),Old City of Jerusalem Revitalization Program (OCJRP), and Palestinian Museum.

• Community Development: Since its establishment in 1983, Taawon has been working to give communities sustainable solutions to overcome poverty using an inclusive, rights-based approach to development with contributions of around $170 M. For the period 2014-2016, Taawon has budgeted $63million to support the following community development programs: Youth Employment (Tamkeen), the Heath program (Shams) the Community-Based Rehabilitation of Persons with Special Needs, Food Security (Hasad), Capacity Development of Community Organizations (Asas).

• Emergency and humanitarian assistance: Ensuring the survival, protection, and dignity of those living in emergency conditions through rapid and effective response is a priority for Taawon. Since 1983, Taawon’s contribution to this sector has reached over $116 million. For the period 2014-2016, Taawon has budgeted $5 million to support the following programs: Provision of Humanitarian Assistance and Health Services, Response to Emergency Needs (Rapid Intervention)