Friends of the Earth Middle East Eighth Quarterly / FINAL Program Report Covering the Period: July 1, 2009 – September 28, 2009 Name of Project: Advancing Community Based Reconciliation by Focusing on the Shared Water Resources of Neighboring Palestinian and Israeli Communities “Good Water Neighbors” Presented to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Cooperative Agreement No. 294-A-00-07-00212-00 *NGO in special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations FRIENDS OF THE EARTH MIDDLE EAST (FOEME) 85 Nahalat Benyamin Street, Tel-Aviv 66102 Tel: 972-3-5605383 Fax: 972-3-5604693 E-MAIL: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.foeme.org Table of Contents: 1. GOALS & OBJECTIVES 2. SUMMARY 3. PROGRAM ACTIVITIES (this reporting period) 4. RESULTS AND IMPACTS 2 1. GOALS & OBJECTIVES The overall goal of the "Good Water Neighbors" project is to build capacity in the 17 Jordanian, Israeli and Palestinian communities over 24 months to transform and advance dialogue based on common water and environment issues as a means to promote common understanding, conflict resolution and the shared interest of achieving peace in general. The specific objectives of the project are: Youth Water Trustees A) To empower youth water trustees to carry out actions that promote water sustainability in their respective communities Adult Forums B) To create adult forums in support of cross border cooperation and promote entrepreneurship based on supporting a healthy environment Mayors Network C) To create a cross border Community Mayors Network in support of community led sustainability The following outputs were used as indicators to measure impact and effectiveness in each of the three community levels of the project: Youth Water Trustees Created water trustee youth groups in each community involving an average of 30 youth in each community and totalling 390 youth from the 13 Israeli and Palestinian communities. Educated 780 youth on regional water issues through use of WaterCare text book. Trained 5 youth from each community on ecological building and built a physical example of wise water usage in each of the 13 communities. Undertook a common campaign on a shared river /stream, crossing a pair of communities. Published and distributed several thousand posters, stickers or project brochures. 3 Adult Forums Developed and published flyers describing 13 "Neighbours Paths", one for each of the communities. Undertook 30 site tours in each community along the neighbours trail or cross border trails with an estimated 20 persons participating in each tour involving in total up to 7,800 adults. Held annually a regional event involving in total 80 resident entrepreneurs from the communities to review progress. Mayors Network Held up to 34 mayors’ meetings with potential investors / funders to advance development issues. Held bi-annual discussions and site visits for each pair of cross border mayors. Held annually meetings of the Mayors Network to discuss cross border municipal cooperation. Project Wide Published 24 issues of the water and peace email bulletin to a distribution list of several thousand readers worldwide. Attracted hundreds of media articles in the local community, national and international press. Partnering communities by country: Israeli communities Palestinian communities Jordanian communities (Supported by USAID WB/G) (Supported by USAID WB/G) (Supported by USAID Amman) Jordan Valley Regional Council Muaz Bin Jabal Beit She'an Tabket Fahel Baka Gharbia Baka Sharkia Emek Hefer Tulkarem Tzur Hadassah Wadi Fukin Auja Dier Allah Tamar Regional Council Jericho Safi Eshkol Regional Council Abasan (Gaza) 4 2. SUMMARY The "Good Water Neighbors" (GWN) project is carried out in 17 cross border communities, 13 of them Palestinian and Israeli communities. Each community is partnered with a neighboring community on the other side of the border/political divide. The project utilizes the mutual dependence on shared water resources as a basis for developing dialogue and cooperation. In each community, field staff works in close partnership with youth, adults and municipalities to create awareness of their own and their neighboring community’s water and environment reality. By undertaking concrete activities, highly relevant to the needs of the communities involved, the project aims to promote common understanding as regards water and environment issues and build trust between communities as the basis for Israeli / Palestinian conflict resolution and peace building. This reporting period includes the eighth and last quarter of the project funded by USAID; July 1 – September 28, 2009, and has seen, in summary: 1. Youth "Water Trustee" groups operational in all communities undertaking varied and diverse environmental awareness activities as described in the next chapter. During the summer months, many communities held "green" summer camps, involving hundreds of children. With the new school year, beginning in September, new Water Trustee groups have been created in each community. 2. The “WaterCare” textbook, used by FoEME field staff and/or school teachers in the science, environment or geography departments, or in ongoing Water Trustee meetings, are educating youth about water as a regional issue in all communities. 3. “Neighbors Paths” tours have been carried out in all communities. (Clarification: these tours are undertaken by both adults and youth, but falls under the sector of the adults, hence they are reported in the coming pages under the adult section). During this reporting period, 23 tours have been carried out, involving 749 participants. 4. Several cross border meetings took place this period, most notably: o "The Elders", a group of eminent global leaders, asked to see on-the-ground peacemaking efforts and chose to learn - amongst other grass roots initiatives - about our Good Water Neighbors project. Ten residents from Wadi Fukin and ten from Tzur Hadassah participated in a 1½ hour discussion sharing their very personal reasons of why they have chosen to work together and how they believe that their achievement is a model that can encourage other Palestinian and Israeli communities to problem solve together. 5 o On July 23rd and 24th, Baka Sharkia Water Trustees hosted a cross border youth campaign with Israeli Water Trustees from Baka Gharbia, and other Palestinian Water Trustees from Tulkarem. The campaign called for the protection of their shared water resource, the Mountain Aquifer. Together they visited both Palestinian communities’ reconstructed wetlands, toured both Baka Sharkia and Tulkarem’s Neighbors Paths, and undertook a clean-up activity in one of the schools. In the evening, they attended a lecture on the uses of GIS mapping as a tool for identifying environmental hazards in their community, and then held a Questions & Answer competition on ecological issues. The visit was then reciprocated in mid August, with Baka Sharkia and Tulkarem youth, visiting in Baka Gharbia. o In August, FoEME organized an Israeli / Palestinian cross border meeting between Tour Guides and other adult residents from Jericho, Auja and Bethlehem, to visit their counterparts in their partnering community in the Tamar Regional Council (Ein Gedi). This visit came at the request of both the Palestinians and Israelis who spent 2 days together this past June, visiting the Neighbors Paths of their partnering Jordanian communities. The tour explored the western shores of the Dead Sea, explaining the ecological degradation occurring and was followed by a discussion on cross-border water issues in the region. 5. Several key Mayors / Investors meetings and visits have taken place with potential investors this reporting period as reported in the coming pages by month. Accomplishments in relation to these meetings include: o Resulting from the cross border events promoting the GWN Jordanian Neighbors Paths, tourism operators are incorporating one or more of the Neighbors path stations into their scheduled tours. o Renewed cooperation between Emek Hefer and Tulkarem over joint waste water management issues, following several recent, successful meetings. o The German Tour Agency, Studiosos, has expressed great interest in the proposed Jordan River Peace Park, initiated by FoEME and the Israeli and Jordanian GWN communities that reside on both sides of the River. Studiosos will incorporate the proposed Peace Park site into their tours to the region, offering it to approximately 1,500 tourists annually. o World Water Forum, Stockholm, Sweden – A primary focus at this important international water conference was trans-boundary water management, with FoEME Jordanian Director invited to be a key note speaker. 6 6. An impressive list of on-line media articles in relation to FoEME’s work in International, National and Local papers can be seen in Attachment 1 to this report. The on-line articles are also posted on our website. Worth noting are important articles, such as: o Washington Post Op Ed, written by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who, after his recent visit with "The Elders" to the region, talks about the example of successful peacemaking he witnessed between the GWN communities of Wadi Fukin and Tzur Hadassah. o Ha'aretz article, a leading Israeli newspaper, wrote about the Good Water Neighbors project's peacemaking efforts, in particular about Wadi Fukin and Tzur Hadassah. o BBC "Our World" featuring FoEME Jordanian Director, Munqeth Mehyar, on trans- boundary water resources in the region, including