Background

It has been over a week since families from the Gaza envelope experienced a horrific attack on their homes, in which many of their friends and neighbors died. Those who survived endured hours of terror before finally being rescued. For most, going back is not an option while the war lasts. For many, there is no home to go back to. Many children and teenagers evacuated with their families are currently lodged in hotels across Israel. They are traumatized, dealing with horrific loss and without any of the activities that would usually keep them occupied, such as school and social frameworks. They are spending too much time online, where they are exposed to even more trauma-inducing content. Their sense of agency and control has been severely shaken. The need to return agency to them is key to their long-term rehabilitation, even before they can return home

The healing process will be long and a speedy return to routine is key

The activities of youth movements have traditionally been a central anchor of life for communities living in the Gaza envelope. It is therefore vitally important to revive youth movement activities within the communities affected and to support their use for trauma recovery. Youth movement activities focus on developing agency and helping a young person feel competent, resilient, and capable by their nature. The restoration of these activities at this time is important for establishing a sense of purpose and order and enabling ‘routine’ social encounters through which resilience can be nurtured. Youth movement activity can supply much-needed respite and the infrastructure for bonding and collaboration between the members themselves and between them and other branche

The solution

The CAC (The Home Front Commands Citizen Assistance Center – Marsel) together with youth movement staff aims to develop a program of activities that will support the displaced youth in undertaking volunteering activities within the context of their movement’s framework as a rehabilitative aid. In most youth movements, there exists a graduate class that engages in volunteering. Today, they are doing so on an ad hoc, sporadic basis. Through this program, the youth movements of Israel, along with the Israeli Volunteering Council, will recruit and train graduate staff from outside the communities affected who, together with the local staff, will rebuild the infrastructure of the movements wherever the communities currently are, allowing for re-commencement of activity while the communities are still in their temporary homes. During the program’s first phase, the dislocated youth will return to structured volunteering activities within the hotels to which they have been evacuated, engaging with their communities’ younger children and elderly.  In the second phase, once they grow stronger, they will be encouraged to engage in volunteer activities outside their temporary placements such as hospital visits, home-front support, and help in their temporary communities. Activities will include time for discussions, sharing, and collective processing

The activities will be monitored to evaluate the value of volunteering as part of trauma rehabilitation. This new knowledge will provide the foundation for an innovative model for the use of youth movements and informal educational activities as promoters of trauma healing

Program content – “The youth movement as an anchor”

Support for counselors– establishing leadership teams and training them to work with youth movement members in the context of personal and national trauma. Helping them build plans of action and activities. Supporting them in re-recruiting members into the youth movement frameworks, dealing with the trauma of members and leaders, and rebuilding resilience. Guiding them in engaging with meaningful adults within the members’ orbit and conducting risk assessments and responses

Support for dislocated youth– creating a safe space by opening the youth movement daily, supporting meaningful social encounters, and the transition to a positive daily routine. Enabling much-needed outdoor activities and encounters with other youth movement members

The request

The Youth Movements Council, Israeli Volunteering Council, and Pikud HaOref seek your support in re-opening 25 youth movement branches for teens from evacuated Gaza envelope communities who cannot return to their homes and are currently residing in temporary placements with their surviving community members. Approximately 40 such communities have already approached the team asking for help re-starting their youth movements’ activities. This request is based on the minimal estimate of monthly activity costs and assumes that at least two months of activity will be needed

The Israeli Volunteering Council (registered association number 580004950) is Israel’s leading volunteering management and skills organization, working in both times of crisis and routine to support civil society and government organizations in effectively managing and training volunteers. It operates the Israeli Network of Volunteer Organizations, which coordinates civil society activities in crisis and supports volunteering organizations’ work throughout the year. It works to expand the number, quality, and diversity of volunteers in Israeli society so that each citizen can enjoy a meaningful social role. The Council develops professional tools and working practices, trains and guides organizations in volunteer management, and promotes volunteering in cooperation with government ministries, local authorities, NGOs, and the business sector in Israel and around the world