In its efforts to instill values of integrity, principles of transparency and systems of accountability and citizenship concept among the Palestinian public in general and students in particular, AMAN held a round-table discussion on Wednesday, October 26, 2016 to review the final copy of the university course entitled “Integrity, Transparency, and Accountability in Combating Corruption” taught at six Palestinian universities and colleges up to date. This course is evaluated and updated every couple of years, based on feedback from instructors and students alike in order to better achieve the desired objectives. Other elements which compel AMAN to revisit and update the course are changes in anti-corruption legislations and institutions.
According to the Ms. Lana Tawasha, Awareness Raising & Outreach Unit manager at AMAN, the course consists of several focal points mainly: definition of corruption, its forms, and negative consequences, the national integrity system, in addition to a range of specialized topics proposed in the various academic disciplines.
Review of the final copy of the course included participation by representatives from the various Palestinian universities in the West Bank and Gaza; Al-Najah University, Palestine Ahliya University, Modern University College, Al-Quds Open University, Birzeit University, Al-Quds University (Abu-Dees), Hebron University, as well as representatives from the Curriculum Department of the Ministry of Education.
At the end of the session, all agreed upon remarks were integrated in the final copy, which will be the fourth edition of the course. The printed copy will be distributed to Palestinian universities prior to the beginning of the second semester of 2016-2017.
It is worth noting that the course had been part of the curriculum in six Palestinian Universities, as mentioned above. These are: Al-Quds University (Abu-Dees), Birzeit University, Hebron University, Arab American University, Al-Najah University, Islamic University, and Modern University College. In addition, Al-Quds Open University, Palestine Ahliya University, and Bait Al Mqds College for Technical Sciences expressed enthusiasm and desire to teach the course.
In that regard, AMAN will sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation with the abovementioned universities and colleges to incorporate the course within their programs and course design.
AMAN and the Palestinian Ministry of Education in Gaza jointly launched the new phase of the project “Combating Corruption through Education”. The project aims to instill and spread concepts of integrity, transparency and accountability in the government schools’ educational system and curriculum. Activities of the project will be carried out from September 2016 until June 2017.
Mr. Wa’el Ba’lousheh, AMAN Office manager in Gaza, stated that the Ministry and AMAN will sign a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the coming days. The memorandum aims at uniting their efforts to combat corruption and to raise awareness among the youth of transparency, integrity and accountability. Ba’lousheh said that AMAN and the Ministry have been jointly implementing this program, “Students Projects for Combating Corruption” since 2010. He further explained that the program is designed for 9th graders whose curriculum includes a Civic Education course. AMAN and the Ministry found that to be an opportunity to fuse concepts found in their civic education classes with integrity values. Practically speaking, the students will be able to examine the extent by which transparency and integrity are being practiced in the management of some services or projects being implemented within the local community, and may hold officials accountable at a later stage.
Activities of the project include conducting central workshops for education supervisors. Other workshops are also included for 9th grade teachers located from the various directorates of the Gaza Strip. In addition, there are a number of awareness raising sessions concerning the program, which are held in different areas of the Gaza Strip. Follow up activities include field visits to designated schools, which aim at assisting students in writing project proposal, as well as methods of implementation and follow up.
AMAN will provide the Ministry in the Gaza Strip with awareness raising literature and training material, in addition to all needs related to the implementation of workshops and training programs. Furthermore, AMAN will distribute publications and awareness raising brochures, participate in the evaluation of students’ initiatives and presentations, during the final event where winning schools will be honored and awarded laptops.
