News

On World Youth Skills Day 2024, we recognize the importance of investing in young people to support sustainable economic development and job creation. In Palestine, where youth unemployment is approximately 40 percent, enhancing youth skills is critical to linking educational outcomes with market needs.

Among youth, Palestinian women experience additional challenges in entering the labour market. Despite having higher levels of education than men, young women in the West Bank fare worse than their male counterparts in nearly every employment indicator, including labour force participation, unemployment, and wage levels, as reflected by the 2021 Labor Force Survey (Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics).

In the renewable energy (RE) sector, for example, women’s access to jobs is severely limited. In many situations, they face challenges joining or remaining in the RE sector and have less access to decision-making authority. In engineering, the unemployment rate for Palestinian female graduates is exceptionally high and stands at 52.2 percent, compared to 18.9 percent among men.

Opening decent job opportunities in the RE sector for young women requires dismantling structural, social, and employment barriers, including perceptions of gender roles, and social and cultural norms, tackling the mismatch between labour supply and demand, investing in technical and professional skills, addressing occupational segregation by gender, and strengthening gender-sensitive work environments.

The Generating Opportunities for Women and Youth in the West Bank (GROW) Project, funded by Global Affairs Canada, implemented an array of capacity-building and job placement activities to address the technical and professional skills gap of young women engineers to meet market needs.

Training was provided in areas such as gender and environment, RE focusing on SPV installation, electrical installation, one and three-phase electrical systems, soft skills, and financial literacy. Additional training in energy auditing was offered to those interested in pursuing a career as energy auditors. This field is particularly relevant to recent national efforts to enhance energy efficiency and prioritize green buildings. To overcome the lack of internationally certified cadre in the local market, GROW invested in providing international energy audit training followed by international certifications for the engineers who successfully passed the exam. Overall, 92 young women engineers participated in 3–6-month job placements in RE-related institutions and companies in the West Bank. The job placements provided practical training to the participants and helped them find a job.

For Shourouk, a 2016 university graduate from Kufur Qadum village in Qalqilia, participation in the RE program supported by GROW Project was a life changing experience. Placement at Bayan company gave her a chance to network and meet with market actors, as well as potential clients.

“Had I not participated in GROW Project, I would have stood still, always sending my experience-lacking CV, or I would have accepted any inadequate job offer just to escape unemployment.”

One thing led to another, and after being recruited by Synergy for Renewable Energy Solutions, where she successfully secured a position as a Sales Engineer, Shourouk quickly discovered her entrepreneurial spirit and passion for solar energy. In 2023, Shourouk officially registered her own company, Al Manar for Solar Energy. The company was inaugurated with the full support of Shourouk’s family, who believed in her vision and dedication. With their encouragement and backing, Al Manar for Solar Energy was set up to provide innovative and sustainable solar energy solutions. The company provides full and part-time jobs for nine employees, marking the beginning of an exciting new chapter in Shourouk’s journey.

By equipping youth with market-relevant skills, Palestine can foster innovation, increase productivity, and stimulate entrepreneurship, thus contributing to poverty reduction and enhanced prosperity. The renewable energy sector provides enormous opportunities to generate good jobs and build more inclusive economies. In addition to our work in the West Bank, Cowater International supports investments in skills and entrepreneurial opportunities in Cuba, Cambodia, Jordan and other countries. To learn more about our work in women’s economic empowerment, click here.