Helping Young Palestinians Build Job Skills

Helping Young Palestinians Build Job Skills

This year’s Engineering Fellows Program includes 58 recently graduated engineers. 
Global Communities has launched the 5th year of the Engineering Fellows Program with 58 new participants. This successful program has been made possible through funding from USAID and in partnership with Engineering Association Jerusalem Center (EAJC). Through the Engineering Fellows Program recently graduated engineers are provided hands-on, paid working experience with the aim of developing their workplace skills. At the same time, the program builds local capacity and promotes best practices for implementation of labor intensive infrastructure projects aimed at revitalizing the local economy.
The program provides on the job training in Global Communities and EAJC offices for new engineering graduates in the West Bank. As part of the program, fellows are employed for up to one year working in a variety of capacities including site supervision, assistance to local government engineering offices in design preparation, quality control/assurance, review of designs and specifications, GIS mapping and basic design production.  In addition, they are mentored by Global Communities and EAJC staff and develop individual work plans tailored to their career goals. Regular workshops organized by the program expose the fellows to relevant topics in the engineering and development field such as safety, construction management, quality control, and use of construction-related software. To date, 159 engineers have completed the program and approximately 90% of the program participants have gone on the secure long-term employment.
Initially implemented as part of the Emergency Jobs Program (EJP), the program now continues under the Local Government and Infrastructure (LGI), a $100-million USAID-funded project, which is responding to community infrastructure needs by working with community leaders, municipal governments and other community-based organizations to identify and implement infrastructure projects and improve local governance strategies to better the quality of life for Palestinians.