Partner Organisation Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation
Sustaining a Community By Stephanie Shavin
AVI has supported the Palestinian Women’s Humanitarian Organisation (PWHO) for over 15 years by sending skilled volunteers to support their locally-identified programs. Returned volunteer, Stephanie Shavin, spent a year in Lebanon working as a Social Worker and shares her experience of working in Burj-Barajneh Refugee Camp.
Burj-Barajneh Refugee Camp is located in the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon. The camp was established in 1948 to accommodate Palestinians fleeing from Israel and is now home to over 27,000 people. This number continues to swell as displaced individuals and families from Syria, both Palestinian and nonPalestinian heritage, seek refuge within the one square kilometre space. The influx of Syrian refugees is one of the latest challenges faced by the camp’s community; stretching existing resources such as food and education services and putting further pressure on unregulated and poorly maintained infrastructure and sanitation. In addition, the systematic political and social exclusion of Palestinian communities living in Lebanon has meant that it is left up to organisations such as United Nations Relief and Works Agency and local NGO’s such as PWHO to ensure that adults and children have access to basic service such as education, health and income-generating opportunities. PWHO predominantly works with women, young people and children, elderly members of the community and those living with disabilities and intellectual impairments. Most of my days were divided amongst a predominantly female staff group. We supported individuals to develop and implement new skills and provided psychosocial support to PWHO beneficiaries, both during program activities and during home visits. I was in the privileged position of working with some highly-skilled staff in the kindergarten, after school centre, disability group and women’s centre. We engaged in training and information sessions with the staff to support them in identifying gaps or challenges in their programs, so we could begin working together to overcome these issues. The other half of my time was spent working with our Programs Coordinator, Director and project staff to design new projects, and develop funding proposals intended to address emerging needs within the existing community.
together to forge relationships based on trust and support. Parents supporting their children to attend additional educational activities to overcome some of the challenges they face in school. Young people engaging in awareness raising activities within their community and participating to increase the broader communities understanding of pertinent issues, including the rights of women and children. Staff, working alongside their neighbours, families, friends and other community members to create a better future for the lives of Palestinians, and those recently displaced from Syria, in Lebanon. Most of the challenges I encountered during my assignment related to the political and security instability that characterises Lebanon. Often this instability resulted in necessary shifts in organisational priorities. This made planning too far ahead challenging as the everchanging context meant that program activities often needed to be adapted or changed completely. Many staff also lived within, and belonged to the camp community, and were personally effected by shifts in the political and security landscape. Despite this they continued to dedicate themselves to supporting the community as a whole. It is my hope that the community’s situation improves and changes so that in the future the organisation is no longer required. Until this happens I hope that the organisation continues to grow and adapt to the ever-changing needs of the community, and for the staff to continue to be supported in the development of new skills and learnings so that they in turn can continue to support the empowerment of the community in which they live and work. This is a position of Australian Volunteers for International Development (AVID), an Australian Government initiative.
During my time volunteering with PWHO I witnessed the strength and resilience of the community to not only withstand, but fight to overcome some of the many issues arising from the systemic exclusion they experience on a daily basis. Women working 17