Start Your Business: action-research to foster social business in Palestine

VIS – Volontariato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo

Salesian Technical School – Betlhlehem, Bethlehem University

Action Aid Italia e Palestina, Comitato Internazionale per lo Sviluppo dei Popoli – CISP, , Comune di Milano, Dipartimento di Scienze per l’Economia e l’Impresa dell’Università di Firenze – DISEI , Institut Européen de Coopération et de Développement – IECD

Agenzia Italiana per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo – AICS

In 2020, the unemployment rate in Palestine reached 26.6 % (over 49 % in Gaza and 14.8 % in the West bank), with a youth unemployment rate of around 40 %, further rising to 54 % when considering young graduates in the 18-29 age group.  In 2020 the labour force participation rate has reached 65.9 % for men, while the female participation rate has further deteriorated, reaching 16.1 % (PCBS, 2020).

In addition to structural causes and political instability, critical issues in the labour market are also due to factors such as the gap between the supply of training and the real demand for labour, poor access to the international market, the lack of job counseling services for freelance entrepreneurs, the lack of market diversification and the hegemony of the major economic centers that in any case fail to absorb the existing workforce.

The study carried out by all the partners participating in the Start Your Business project highlighted that:

• The youth unemployment rate increases with the level of education: graduates of technical and vocational schools have a lower unemployment rate. The TVET sector remains the key sector where action can be taken to reduce unemployment.
• There is a need for skilled workers among Palestinian companies, especially in construction, industry, and renewable energy.
• there is a strong lack of entrepreneurial and managerial skills. In general, there is little entrepreneurial capacity among young people and therefore little enthusiasm for starting a business.
• there is little incentive for women to participate in the labor market for social and cultural reasons, but this can be overcome if women’s employment proves to be profitable and useful for the family
• there is very little awareness of social enterprises and social business, but the development of this sector could benefit the whole community, particularly women
• with proper awareness and information, the local community could welcome, promote and support the spread of entrepreneurship and social business as well women and vulnerable young people’s employability.

Given this context, the “Start Your Business” project aims at facilitating the processes of starting up and strengthening businesses, acting on the one hand on the preparation of human resources and on the other hand on the creation of favourable conditions for starting up and accompanying new businesses and also existing ones that want to improve their performance.

The idea is indeed to generate benefits for the local market in terms of quality of entrepreneurship and unemployment reduction the areas of intervention. By focusing on vulnerable groups such as NEETs, young people and women – accompanied by awareness-raising, information and advocacy actions – the project also aims to generate positive changes in local society, making it more aware of and welcoming to female employment, the integration of the excluded and the creation of social enterprises.

The Department of Economics and Management of the University of Florence in cooperation with the YSBCUF and ARCO’s Social Economy Unit have provided the Bethlehem University and the Yunus Social Business Centre of Bethlehem University with technical and scientific support for the design of joint research programs on Social Business (SB) and Social Enterprise (SE).

Based on the joint research work, the team will draft three research papers regarding the current status and potential development of social enterprises and their ecosystem in Palestine.  The purpose of the papers is to localize such themes in the Palestinian context and create a participatory research agenda for SEs in Palestine to both contribute to the academic literature and fill the information gap which hinders the creation of an enabling ecosystem for social enterprises.