Palestine. Stories of the protagonists of Mustaqbaluna project

Date 06.06.2019

Launched in 2018 by AVSI Foundation in the Palestinian territories, “Mustaqbaluna” (Our Future) is a three-year project centered on income-generating activities and development of 800 micro-enterprises for people with disabilities, women and artisans. Funded by Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and managed by AVSI Palestine, the initiative aims to encourage dialogue between civil society, civil society and local authorities and ministries to encourage policies that promote a sustainable and inclusive labor market.

The protagonists

Samer Mustaqbaluna Palestine

Samer is one of the protagonists of the project “Mustaqbaluna – Our Future”. Before he didn’t have the money to take over the family business and his disability was a social barrier to find work. With the help of the Bethlem Arab Society for Rehabilitation Organization he was included in the initiative and he received a micro-loan, to be repaid in 4 years without interests. Samer followed a training course and he was able to buy sheep and goats, and to start his own business to produce cheese.

They taught me a lot of things: how to plan and start a business, how to evaluate it from the beginning, and how much are the expenses and the gain

Samer, beneficiary of the “Mustaqbaluna” projectHanan Mustaqbaluna Palestine

The project "Mustaqbaluna - Our Future" changed the life of Hanan as well. She used to bake and sell loaves with no help in Aqbet Jaber refugee camp in Jericho, Palestine. “Now ten women work with me” says Hanan. “Thanks to the project our lives and those of our families have changed”. With determination, she coordinates other women to make flat bread, pizza and snacks, about a thousand a day for schools, markets and coffee bars.

AVSI supports groups of women in the development of their micro-enterprises, in order to create jobs and to benefit the whole community

Veronica Dal Moro, AVSI Foundation Project Manager “Mustaqbaluna”

Mustaqbaluna in arabic means “our future” and it’s to improve the future of people like Samer and Hanan that AVSI designed this project in the governorates of Jericho, Bethlem, Hebron, Jenin, Nablus, Tubas an Qalqilya.

To reach and train beneficiaries, AVSI coordinates with two Italian partners, Regione Emilia Romagna and Cooperative Sociali Nazareno, and five Palestinian partners, Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation (BASR), Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA), Palestinian Shippers’ Council (PSC), Palestinian Fund for Employment and Social Protection (PFESP), and the Arab Center for Agricultural Development (ACAD), to reduce unemployment among disabled and vulnerable people.