YWCA

“Empowering socially excluded young women in the Occupied Palestinian Territory to become economically active and advocate for their rights with local decision makers”, Market Study – 2014

The YWCA – Palestine contracted Solutions to conduct a market study on the potential impact of empowerment of socially excluded young women in Palestine. Solutions focused on the project’s pre-identified seven villages within Ramallah and the Jordan Valley Areas. For these target villages, Solutions established clear benchmarks, provided market information and analysis. Based on the outcomes of the analysis Solutions recommended a list of training topics that fulfil the needs of young women and empower them to become economically active.

By increasing livelihoods opportunities and building the capacity of community-based organisations; the YWCA aims to increase the contribution of young people, especially women, within their own communities, promote more a democratic and free civil society through achieving reduced employment levels and reduced social exclusion.
 

Mapping and Needs Assessment of Women MSEs in Palestinian Villages –  2013 – 2014

The YWCA was in the process of designing an intervention for assisting women MSEs in villages in Ramallah and Jerusalem. They needed a study mapping and assessing the needs of women MSEs in the targeted regions. The study incorporated:

• A description of goods and services produced/offered.
• A village and MSE profile.
• An assessment of the gaps faced by MSEs in terms of production, systems, management, financing, and market access.
• A list of possible interventions for the YWCA to undertake to fill those gaps.

The YWCA built on Solutions’ recommendations from the first phase, and focused the second phase on 3 villages and 6 products. The second phases included:

• Market study for 6 selected products
• Value chain analysis for each of the products
• Needs assessment of the MSE’s
• Recommendations for intervention