Ramallah | On Thursday, The Palestinian Association for Empowerment and Local Development - REFORM celebrated its tenth-year anniversary in Al-Carmel Hotel. The event was attended by REFORM’s donors, partners and project beneficiaries.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Ms. Carmen Kishek, a Board of Directors member, thanked the attendees and emphasised that “We at REFORM remain committed in our 2022-2025 strategy in combating polarisation and political fragmentation, enhancing the access of local and marginalised communities to justice and security, promoting active citizenship practices and fostering youth and women engagement, advancing outreach and targeting capabilities of REFORM.”
Meanwhile, the Country Director of Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Mr. Steven Hoefner gave a speech in which he emphasised the importance of KAS’s partnership with REFORM. He discussed its role as a partner in devising out-of-the-box tools and mechanisms as well as responding to the needs of youth in Palestinian society.
The 10-year celebration also included a short video presentation about the journey of REFORM and had enjoyable networking activities between the attendees and participants.
REFORM was established in 2012 by young men and women who decided to contribute to liberating marginalised, hard-to-reach communities from their beliefs that they cannot influence. This would be done by adopting social transformation theories and developing a methodology that corresponds with the Palestinian context. REFORM diversified and refined its tools to suit the needs of its target audience. Safe spaces were provided for them in order to express their opinions and influence decision-makers.
REFORM has become an agency of change that engages young men and women, mainly from marginalised areas, on both the social and structural levels. It succeeded in becoming a pluralistic framework close to the public’s needs, looking for contradictions and turning them into a common ground. It provides tools and safe spaces for dialogue with decision-makers and enhances the public's ability to restore its beliefs.
In the next ten years, REFORM aspires to find organic policies related to the needs of the public, a leadership role for young men and women and a cohesive Palestinian society that rejects complex power relations.
For more details about REFORM, visit the website www.reform.ps
