Project Grant Partners

Arab Women's Union of Ramallah seeks to help the Palestinian community through aid to the elderly and an initiative to teach sewing skills to women in the community. UPA funded the construction of an additional floor in their Elderly Home in 2007.

El Amal Society for Children Care seeks to provide pedagogical, social and enjoyable activities to help children become more independent through trust building activities and through psychological support based initiatives.

Elderly Home Charitable Society provides assistance to elderly men and women whose economic and social conditions render them unable to care for themselves. The home also provides medical assistance and therapy to 100 persons of all ages in their family homes free of charge, as part of the outreach activities. UPA funded a bakery project with the home in 2007.

Land Research Center (LRC) is an independent, non-governmental Palestinian organization with activities in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza Strip, including land reclamation and land rights. UPA funded home gardens with LRC in 2008. To learn more about LRC, please visit: http://www.lrcj.org

Palestinian Agricultural Research Committee - Gaza seeks to enhance the food security and support local marketing through agricultural based initiatives. UPA funded a food drive project that also employed farmers in 2008, called "From Besieged Farmers to Besieged Families."

Palestine Center for Youth Work (PYW) seeks to support the establishment of community based centers, especially in rural areas, in the Gaza Strip. PYW also trains young leaders to develop and manage youth centers and programs. UPA funded PYW's rooftop gardens in 2008, as well as emergency grants for food and water distribution in January and February 2009, following the war.

Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) - Gaza was mandated in 1969 to provide humanitarian, health, cultural and social services when and where needed to the Palestinian population. Following the 1993 Oslo peace accord and the formal establishment of a Ministry of Health (MOH) by the Palestinian Authority (PA), PRCS, in 1996 and 1999, was mandated by the Palestinian Authority to provide national ambulance, blood transfusion and pre-hospital emergency services in the occupied territories and health services in the Diaspora. UPA funded a Women's Health Center through PRCS-Gaza in 2007. To learn more about PRCS, please visit: http://www.palestinercs.org

Patient's Friends Society (PFS) - Jerusalem was founded in 1980 by Palestinian academics and health professionals. The Society is a registered non-profit charity located within Augusta Victoria Hospital on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem. PFS is dedicated to providing public health services for Palestinian women through health education and counseling, early detection of disease through affordable health screening examinations and by conducting research. UPA funded a Home Safety & First Aid project with PFS in 2008. To learn more about PFS, please visit: http://www.pfsjerusalem.org

Relief International (RI) is a humanitarian non-profit agency that provides emergency relief, rehabilitation, development assistance and program services to vulnerable communities worldwide. UPA funded a Women & Youth First Aid Teams project for community first-responders in Gaza in 2008, as well as emergency food distribution following the war in January 2009. To learn more RI, please visit: http://www.ri.org

St. John's Eye Hospital provides access to specialist health care to Palestinians and is the main provider of eye care in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Blindness-inducing eye disease is ten times more common in these population centers than in developed countries, while up to 80% of all blindness is preventable. UPA funded St. John's mobile clinics program in 2007-2008. To learn more about St. John's ,please visit: http://www.stjohneyehospital.org/

Union of Agricultural Work Committees was established in 1986 to protect land from being expropriated by the Israeli government, and to improve the performance and professionalism of Palestinian farmers. The Union also aims to help Palestinian farmers market their produce and provides agricultural employment opportunities through a framework of cooperation with domestic, Arab and international agricultural development institutions. UPA funded a chicken farm initiative for income- generation for women-led households, which ran from 2007-2008. To learn more please visit: http://uawc.net

Union of Health Care Committees (UHWC) provides holistic health care to Palestine's general population. Over 220,000 people throughout Palestine benefit from its services every year. Through its focus on marginalized sectors of society, the UHWC is committed to raising the level and quality of primary health care services within the community, concentrating its efforts to ensure that all individuals and families have equal access to quality health care. UPA funded UHCC's mobile clinics program in 2007-2008. To learn more about UHWC, please visit: http://www.gaza-health.org

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID)
USAID is the U.S. Government agency that provides economic development and humanitarian assistance overseas. Since 1994, USAID's West Bank and Gaza Mission has distributed nearly $535 million in assistance to Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza. http://www.usaid.gov/wbg

Welfare Association is a leading Palestinian non-governmental development organization that is dedicated to making a distinguished contribution toward furthering the progress of Palestinians, preserving their heritage and identity, supporting their living culture and building civil society. It aims to achieve these goals by methodically identifying Palestinian needs and priorities and establishing sound mechanisms to maximize benefits from the available funding resources. UPA funded a food drive to benefit hungry families in Gaza as well as support farmers in collaboration with Welfare Association in 2007. To learn more about Welfare Association, please visit: http://welfare-association.org/en/

University Partners

UPA awards scholarships annually to students at each of the following universities:

Al-Azhar University is located in the Gaza Strip, and has over 11,500 students in attendance from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. It offers eight faculties including pharmacy, medical professions, economics, administrative sciences and law. To learn more about Al-Azhar, please visit: http://www.alazhar.edu.ps/arabic

Al Quds Open University (QOU) is a national institution of higher education that established its first study center in Jerusalem in 1991, and currently operates nine study centers distributed in the major cities of Palestine. The university student population now stands at 10,500. To learn more about QOU, please visit: http://www.qou.edu/englishIndexPage.do

Al Quds University is located in Jerusalem with a student population of about 10,000 students. It has 11 faculties including arts, engineering, public health, medicine, engineering and law. To learn more about Al Quds, please visit: http://www.alquds.edu

An-Najah National University has four campuses distributed between the cities of Nablus and Tulkarem. The university is home to 19 different faculties including its prestigious Center for Earth Sciences, Seismic Engineering Center, and Center for Urban and Regional Planning. The school hosts 19,000 students with 3,000 academic and administrative staff. To learn more about An-Najah, please visit: http://www.najah.edu

Arab American University- Jenin (AAUJ) is located in the West Bank city of Jenin. The student population exceeds 3,000, and its six faculties include the allied medical sciences, engineering, information technology and law. To learn more about AAUJ, please visit: http://www.aauj.edu/AAUJ_site/index.php

Bethlehem University is the first university that was established in the West Bank and is a Catholic Christian institution of higher learning with programs offered in Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Ramallah and Amman, Jordan. Bethlehem University offers programs in business administration, nursing, occupational therapy, physics, pre-school education and religious studies. As of September 2008, their student enrollment was 2,936. To learn more about Bethlehem University, please visit: http://www.bethlehem.edu/

Birzeit University is located in the West Bank town of Birzeit near Ramallah. With a student population of about 7,800, it offers numerous undergraduate and post-graduate degrees through seven faculties including commerce and economics, engineering, law, public administration and information technology. Birzeit also offers graduate studies programs in democracy and human rights; communications and public health; water and environmental engineering; and gender, law and development. To learn more about Birzeit University, please visit: http://www.birzeit.edu

Hebron University is located in the West Bank city of Hebron and offers 39 programs leading to bachelor degrees and seven programs leading to master degrees, including Islamic judiciary law, plant protection, sustainable natural resources, management and history. The eight faculties include agriculture, shariah law, nursing and finance/management. To learn more about Hebron University, please visit: http://www.hebron.edu

Islamic University of Gaza is located in the Gaza Strip and the student population is estimated at 20,639. There are nine faculties including engineering, commerce and shariah law. To learn more about Islamic University, please visit: http://www.iugaza.edu.ps/en

Palestine Polytechnic University - Hebron is located in the West Bank city of Hebron and offers two- and four-year degree programs in fields ranging from biotechnology training, renewable energy and environmental research, to power electronics and signal processing. It provides a quality vocational and technical engineering education to a student body of over 5,000. To learn more about Palestine Polytechnic, please visit: http://www.ppu.edu/EnglishSite

Child Sponsorship Partners

UPA works with the following organizations in its Child Sponsorship Program:

Aida Refugee Camp Kindergarten is a kindergarten run by the local community within the Aida Refugee Camp located at the northern border of Bethlehem adjacent to Israel's separation wall. UPA currently conducts a child sponsorship initiative through Aida Camp's local kindergarten. Al-Aqsa Islamic School serves children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Jerusalem.

Al-Huda Development Association is a non-profit organization that supports women and youth centered programs, and on relieving economic and social burdens. The association serves a southern Gaza population of about 352,000.

An-Nahda Women's Association - Rehabilitation Center provides a special education program that offers year round services to over 150 children with mental disabilities and to slow learners, aged 6-12, from Ramallah, Al-Bireh and other surrounding villages. This program includes vocational training work.

Annunciation Church of the Latin Convent is committed to serving the local community in the West Bank town of Beit Jala with social, spiritual and educational activities. The Church serves over 900 disadvantaged children with a kindergarten and high school, as well as 350 families in their parish and 250 members of their scout troop. To learn more about Annunciation Church, please visit: http://www.lpj.org/newsite2006/parishes
/palestine/index_palestineparishes.html

Arab Society for Orphans is a charitable organization that was established in 1961 with the goal of seeking to house orphans and to provide them with the necessary social services to overcome their life hardships and to equip them with the necessary skills and experience to enable them to succeed in life. Some of the notable programs that they run include a counselor trainee program and a library. To learn more about Arab Society for Orphans, please visit: http://www.yateem.ps

Arab Resource Center for Popular Arts (ARCPA) is a Lebanese non-governmental organization that promotes active learning and creative expression for youth and educators. ARCPA provides resources and hands-on workshops to assist youth in film production, animation and photo-voice publications, as a means of engaging other children. In 2008, UPA funded children's story-telling campaign for production and distribution within the Palestinian camps. To learn more about ARCPA, please visit: http://www.al-jana.org/home.htm

Arab Women Union Society (AWUS) - Nablus has become one of the prime centers serving women in the occupied Palestinian territories. The society's objectives include but are not limited to humanitarian work, charitable distributions, educational and cultural initiatives, rehabilitation and health care. Association Najdeh's core aim is to empower women, a severely disadvantage component of the Palestinian refugee community, with the tools necessary to have a more prominent role in their community. Najdeh operates 26 centers in and around refugee camps. Its programs directly focus on women and include Vocational Training, Popular Education and Tutorial Program, Mother and Child Program, Social Affairs, Domestic Violence Program, Micro-Credit Project and Embroidery. UPA currently works directly with Association Najdeh to help disseminate aid to needy youth in collaboration with many of their existing initiatives. To learn more about Najdeh, please visit: http://association-najdeh.org

Atfaluna Society for Deaf Children is the only institution in Gaza dedicated solely to meeting the needs of deaf children. Atfaluna deals with a greater than normal number of deaf children in the occupied Palestinian territories and works closely with each child and his/her family to realize their right to higher learning and vocational training. Atfaluna also provides complementary services such as audiology and health care, counseling, social assistance and eventual job placement. To learn more about Atfaluna, please visit: http://www.atfaluna.net

Dar al-Tifl al-Arabi's (The Arab House of Children in the Northern Triangle Region) goal is to improve educational quality for Arab children ages 3 months to 12 years. The organization administers a boarding and day school, and has also become one of Palestine's most importance resource centers for early childhood educational materials in Arabic.

National Society for the Visually Handicapped (NSVH) runs programs and activities are designed to improve the quality of life of blind and visually impaired Palestinians and facilitates their integration into local communities by promoting and enhancing their cultural, educational, social and economic standards. To learn more about NSVH, please visit their website at: http://www.nsfvh.org

Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) - Hebron Branch was mandated in 1969 to provide humanitarian, health, cultural and social services to Palestinians when and where needed. The PRCS assumed the role of a complementary body to the public authorities in 1993, targeting the needs of the most vulnerable groups within the Palestinian population. UPA works directly with the PRCS in Hebron to help disseminate aid to disadvantaged youth in the occupied Palestinian territories in collaboration with many of PRCS-Hebron's existing initiatives. To learn more about the PRCS-Hebron, please visit: http://www.palestinercs.org

Peace Center for the Blind (PCB) - Jerusalem is an academic and vocational training center for blind Palestinian women. The women are provided with training in basic academic subjects; in life skills such as Braille reading, housekeeping and personal care; and in marketable vocational skills such as hand and machine knitting, crochet, weaving and crafts. UPA works with PCB to aid disadvantaged children throughout the West Bank. To learn more about the PCB, please visit: http://www.pc4b.org/

Ramallah Children's Project serves disadvantaged children at the Amari refugee camp in Ramallah.

Ramallah Local Church (Home of New Life) serves needy children in and around Ramallah.

Rawdat el-Zuhur meaning "garden of flowers" seeks to expose young underprivileged girls to the magic of music, folk dancing, and art and its power to lift the spirits of the girls as a means of helping to replace their tears of destitution with a happy smile. To learn more about Rawdat please visit: http://rawdat.org/

Salfeet Women's Charitable Society serves women and children in and around Jerusalem. Society of Ina'ash El-Usra was founded in 1965 with the aim of empowering Palestinian women and serving various other sectors in the community. The Society's role has become especially vital in dealing with the enormous economic, social and political hardships emanating from the occupation. To learn more about the Society, please visit: http://www.inash.org/contact/contact.html