ECD Symposium - Amman, JO 2024

In light of the ongoing genocide faced by children in Gaza and the recurring wars and crises impacting children in Palestine, the Palestinian and Arab Networks for Early Childhood Development, in collaboration with the Jordanian National Council for Family Affairs and organized by Juzoor for Health & Social Development, organized the symposium titled "Young Children Under Crisis and War: Nurturing Health, Education, Protection, and Resilience in Palestine," which was held in Amman, Jordan, on July 30-31, 2024.

Experts from the organizing bodies and members of the Palestinian National Committee for Early Childhood Development, including the Ministries of Health and Social Development, representatives from UNRWA, UNICEF, and participants from various local and international NGOs from Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Oman, Yemen, Turkey, the Netherlands, Ireland, and the United States, participated in the symposium.

Key Objectives of the Symposium:

1. Highlight the current situation of young children in Palestine and the recurring crises they face, addressing the urgent and sustainable responses needed to enhance their resilience and ensure their rights to health, education, and protection.
2. Showcase the current interventions by Palestinian organizations involved in early childhood care and educational needs in Gaza and the occupied West Bank and ways to enhance the protection of children in conflict zones.
3. Include lessons learned and transfer of effective practices from similar emergency crisis settings, with a focus on Gaza.
4. Mobilize solidarity and advocacy for children by encouraging organizations to direct their humanitarian programs to address the urgent situation in Gaza, strengthening regional and international solidarity, coordinating efforts, and mobilizing resources.
5. Engage international partners and donors, emphasizing the importance of their support in completing the initiatives of local organizations in Gaza.
6. Highlight the expected long-term impact, emphasizing the need for ongoing support and investment in rebuilding efforts.

Key Issues Discussed:

1. The severe challenges faced by Palestinian children amid the ongoing genocide and daily realities, including deprivation of their basic rights to a dignified life. These challenges encompass the destruction of their educational and healthcare systems, continuous psychological trauma, deteriorating food security leading to famine, instability, constant displacement, violation of their rights, and environmental destruction, stripping away their childhood to facilitate their imprisonment, abuse, and eventual killing.
2. The challenges faced by civil society organizations in providing support to children and their families and direct caregivers, and the importance of collaboration and coordination between local and international institutions to achieve greater and more sustainable impact.
3. Presentation of successful initiatives from several countries that experienced similar crises and emergencies to exchange experiences and inspire ideas for developing effective programs tailored to the needs of Palestinian children.

Participants Emphasized the Importance of:

1. Taking serious and urgent steps to find a just solution to the Palestinian issue and end the genocide in Gaza.
2. Adhering to international legitimacy, human rights standards, and the Convention on the Rights of the Child as the basis for finding a sustainable solution to the issue.
3. Integrating children’s rights and their best interests into the priorities of humanitarian policies and initiatives, as protecting children’s rights and well-being is a moral and legal obligation.

General Recommendations:

1. Enhancing Cooperation: Strengthening collaboration between Palestinian and international institutions to ensure integrated support for Palestinian children in all areas, focusing on unifying efforts and sharing information to ensure effective and coordinated responses and the application of best practices in health, education, and protection.
2. Implementing Best Practices: Adopting and implementing the best practices reviewed during the sessions, particularly those related to primary healthcare, psychosocial support, and emergency education.
3. Strengthening Protection Programs: Enhancing protection programs for the most vulnerable children, including those who have lost their parents and families.
4. Immediate and Sustainable Support: Intensifying efforts to provide immediate and sustainable support to children in Gaza, who live under harsh conditions, with a focus on programs that provide psychosocial support and alleviate the psychological trauma caused by continuous violence.
5. Supporting Community Initiatives: Supporting community initiatives and development programs focused on early childhood development, ensuring the provision of education and healthcare under all circumstances, with the aim of building a strong generation capable of facing challenges and contributing to their community’s development.
6. Pressuring the International Community: Exerting greater pressure on the international community to fulfill its commitments to Palestinian children’s rights and ensuring the effective and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid, with a focus on protecting children from the effects of violence and conflict and enhancing international accountability mechanisms against the violations they face.
7. Engaging the Local Community: Involving the local community, including families and civil society organizations, in the design and implementation of programs targeting children to ensure actual needs are met and the highest level of effectiveness is achieved.

General, Immediate, and Medium-Term Recommendations:

1. Adopting a Holistic Approach: Adopting a holistic, integrative, and liberation approach to enhance the care, development, protection, and education of children in crisis and under genocide through:
   • Developing and implementing integrated child care and development frameworks that include healthcare, learning, safety, and psychosocial support, enhancing children’s rights, including those with special needs, and providing them with enriching and safe environments for play.
   • Strengthening mechanisms to prevent violations of children’s rights, such as violence, exploitation, harassment, and discrimination, including mechanisms that strip away their childhood to facilitate their imprisonment, abuse, and eventual killing, and effectively combating these violations.
2. Special Care for Injured Children: Giving special attention to injured children who have lost limbs and require multiple and urgent reconstructive surgeries.
3. Special Care for Orphans: Providing special care for orphaned children who have lost their parents and families.
4. Prioritizing Mental Health: Prioritizing mental health and psychosocial support through:
   • Establishing and expanding mental health and psychosocial support programs for children and caregivers.
   • Building the capacities of healthcare and social workers to provide mental health services effectively and with cultural sensitivity.
5. Ensuring Quality Education: Ensuring access to quality, multi-level education through:
   • Implementing flexible educational curricula such as distance learning and community-based, non-formal education in affected areas.
   • Securing temporary and safe educational infrastructure in affected areas.
6. Strengthening Comprehensive Healthcare Systems: Strengthening comprehensive healthcare systems by rehabilitating healthcare facilities and providing essential medicines and vaccines.
7. Addressing Food Security and Nutrition: Addressing food security and nutrition through implementing emergency food distribution programs and developing sustainable food security strategies.
8. Enhancing Family and Community Resilience: Enhancing family and community resilience by supporting family reunification efforts and promoting community initiatives that strengthen social cohesion.
9. Mobilizing Resources and Strengthening Partnerships: Mobilizing resources and enhancing partnerships by advocating for increased funding from international donors and strengthening partnerships between local and international organizations.

Long-Term/ Post-War Recommendations:

1. Evaluating and Integrating Lessons Learned: Evaluating successful interventions in other conflict areas and adopting them in the Palestinian context.
2. Investing in Reconstruction: Investing in reconstruction by allocating sufficient resources for rebuilding destroyed and partially destroyed infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals.
3. Engaging the Local Community: Engaging the local community by building trust and enhancing community participation in early childhood programs.
4. Empowering Local Actors: Empowering local actors by investing in the capacity-building of local organizations and community leaders.
5. Ensuring Adequate and Sustainable Resources: Ensuring adequate and sustainable resources by diversifying funding sources and developing long-term financing plans.
6. Enhancing Comprehensive Monitoring and Evaluation Systems: Enhancing comprehensive monitoring and evaluation systems by using modern technologies to collect and analyze data effectively.
7. Building Partnerships, Cooperation, and Coordination: Building partnerships, cooperation, and coordination by enhancing coordination between local and international organizations to ensure a unified and effective response.
8. Supporting Diplomatic and Political Efforts: Supporting diplomatic and political efforts by enhancing international advocacy to support Palestinian children's rights and ensuring compliance with international laws and standards.

After our meeting under the banner of resilience, we can only express our deep respect for the courage and steadfastness of Gaza's children and their families, who are being slaughtered and terrorized before the eyes and ears of the world, yet continue to demonstrate that their unyielding will to liberate their homeland remains unbroken. Caring for childhood is both our duty and responsibility. By working together, we can overcome obstacles and remind the world that childhood must not be a casualty of double standards and global complicity, and that the children of Gaza, the West Bank, and all those suffering under this brutal killing machine are running out of time.