Expanding Early Childhood Education Services in Nablus, Palestine A Social Business Case for Co-operative Preschools Expanding Early Childhood Education Services in Nablus, Palestine: A Social Business Case for Co-operative Preschools Authors Sara Desai,[email protected] Erum Jaffer, [email protected] Kelsey Keech, [email protected] Corin Kent, [email protected] Nadia Sariahmed, [email protected] Rebecca Saxton-Fox, rms2204 @columbia.edu Victoria Webster, [email protected] Completed in fulfillment of the Workshop in Development Practice, Columbia University | School of International and Public Affairs. In partnership with Tomorrow’s Youth Organization, Nablus, Palestine. Submitted May 10, 2013 Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs 420 West 118th St New York, NY 10027 www.sipa.columbia.edu 2 Acknowledgements Our research team has benefitted from the support, advice and insight of many individuals, without whom this report would not have been possible. We would like to thank all the individuals and staff of organizations we interviewed in Nablus, Amman, Istanbul, New Delhi, and New York. We would particularly like to acknowledge: The Nabulsi women from Khallet and Balata for their candid contributions to our focus groups; Humaira Wakili, Suhad Jabi, Futoon Qadri, and the rest of the TYO staff for their incredible hard work and support during our field visit to Nablus; Professor C. Sara Minard for her invaluable guidance and encouragement; Dr. Cairo Arafat, Sengul Akcar, Dr. Miriam Westheimer, and Dr. Merfat Fayez for their expertise and the inspiring example they set; Professor Eugenia McGill for her determined backing of our project; Columbia University Middle East Research Center for their support in Amman; Sabrina Sariahmed for her support of operations in Istanbul; and Maya Sariahmed for her artistic contributions. The research team also offers our sincerest gratitude to all those who contributed, directly or indirectly, to this project. We dedicate this report to the children of Palestine. Figure 1: Nablus, Palestine 3 Table of Contents Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... 3 Acronyms and Abbreviations ...................................................................................... 6 Executive Summary ...................................................................................................... 7 Client Agency .............................................................................................................. 10 Rationale ...................................................................................................................... 11 Nablus – Overview ....................................................................................................................11 ECE in Nablus...........................................................................................................................11 Business Climate in Nablus.......................................................................................................13 Balata Refugee Camp ...............................................................................................................15 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 16 Three Initial Typologies .............................................................................................. 17 Home-Based .............................................................................................................................17 Workplace .................................................................................................................................18 Co-operative .............................................................................................................................18 The Vision of the Co-operative Preschool ................................................................ 20 Description ................................................................................................................................20 Inputs required for CBE2: Road Map ......................................................................... 22 Timeline: Starting the CBE2 ........................................................................................ 23 Phase I: Developing Community Awareness Program ..........................................................23 Phase II: Recruiting Workshops and Securing Partnerships for Training ...............................23 Phase III: Facilitating the Development of the Co-operative ..................................................24 Phase IV: Training and Securing a Child-Friendly Space ......................................................25 Community Awareness ............................................................................................... 26 Step 1: Brand and Communications ..........................................................................................26 Raising Awareness: Mobile Crèches .........................................................................................27 Step 2: Target Marketing ...........................................................................................................28 Step 3: Create excitement for ECE within Balata ......................................................................28 Exporting Curriculum: HIPPY ....................................................................................................29 Recruiting Workshops ................................................................................................ 30 ECE Workshop .........................................................................................................................30 Entrepreneurship Workshop ......................................................................................................31 Visioning Workshops .................................................................................................. 32 Child-Mapping ............................................................................................................. 34 Choosing and Creating Space ................................................................................... 35 Training ........................................................................................................................ 36 ECE ..........................................................................................................................................36 Entrepreneurship ......................................................................................................................36 Rotation ....................................................................................................................................36 Income Generating Activities ..................................................................................... 38 4 Ensuring Impact .......................................................................................................... 41 Parent Involvement Indicators ...................................................................................................41 Quality Education Indicators ......................................................................................................41 Financial Sustainability Indicators .............................................................................................42 Social Impact Indicators ............................................................................................................42 Co-operative Formation Indicators ............................................................................................42 Risk Management Plan ............................................................................................... 43 Year Two: Launch ....................................................................................................... 44 Enterprise Launch .....................................................................................................................44 Education Launch .....................................................................................................................45 Long-term Outlook: Growth and Evolution of CBE2 ................................................ 46 Looking to the Future and Scaling-Up .......................................................................................46 Case Study: The Sakhrah Women’s Society Co-operative ........................................................46 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 48 Annex ........................................................................................................................... 49 1.1 Survey .................................................................................................................................50 2.1 Interview Guides SAMPLE 1 ...............................................................................................58 2.2 Interview Guide SAMPLE 2 .................................................................................................60 2.3 Interview Guide SAMPLE 3 .................................................................................................62 3.1 Focus Group Guide SAMPLE 1 ...........................................................................................64