NONVIOLENT YOUTH SERVICE Project
The Nonviolent Youth Service project started in June 2012, and was headed by Dana Tabari, with the aim of training 100 Palestinian youth from East Jerusalem in subjects such as nonviolence, conflict resolution, leadership and project management.
​
Participants then actively engaged with local civicl society by promoting volunteerism amongst their peers and managing a pilot project within their community. The project has now been successfully realised thanks to the collaboration and partnership of MEPI (US State Department, Middle East Partnership Initiative) and MEND.
​
Marginalization, the result of economic, social and political factors, means that young people lack opportunities and so often turn to violent or desctructive mechanisms to try and bring about change. This project has therefore successfully provided an alternative; giving at least some young people the skills and connections to bring about change in a positive nonviolent way, and a sense of the power of volunteerism and self-belief.
ABOUT US
Recently there has been a growing interest in alternatives to violence even at the level of long-term
political activists. In fact these activists and community leaders have specifically expressed their
dissatisfaction with the cycle of violence and its results, and requested information and training for active
nonviolence.
​
MEND, having built its reputation on a holistic and creative approach to violence in schools, has taken this
approach further to reach the general population. Working through film, the internet, radio, bumper
stickers, posters, and news advertisements, MEND has changed the local attitude to nonviolence from one
of scepticism or dismissal (when MEND was first established in 1998) to one of interest and appreciation - so that now even the Palestinian President talks about nonviolence. If there can be a visible nonviolence
movement, this will give hope to all those on both sides who fear the cycle of violence and cannot see
any partners for peace.
​
© 2017 by MEND.
Proudly created with Wix.com