Action by Churches Together (ACT)
Appeal - Occupied Palestinian Territories
Assistance to Schools - MEPL-23 (Revision 1)
Appeal Target: US$868,625
Geneva, 12 December 2002


The cycle of violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories continues to
disrupt educational opportunities for children and youth in the West Bank
and Gaza. In addition to this, unemployment and underemployment have
further disabled parents from being able to cover tuition fees for
children enrolled in Christian schools in the OPT.

On 11 November 2002 MEPL-23 Appeal was issued to support especially
vulnerable categories of students of Christian schools who cannot cover
their tuition fees.  This appeal is now being revised to include the Arab
Episcopal school in Ramallah run by Anglican Church.

We appeal for your financial support to this deserving cause.


Project Completion Date: 14 November 2003

Summary of Appeal Targets, Pledges/Contributions Received and Balance
Requested

                                                           Balance
                            Total Appeal  Less: Pledges/   Requested
                              Target(s)    Contr. Recd.    from ACT

Anglican Church                 121,200       19,118       102,082
Evangelical Lutheran Church     278,910       19,118       259,792
Greek Orthodox Church           375,000       29,197       345,803
LWF Vocational Training Center  180,066       19,118       160,948
TOTAL US$                       955,176       86,551       868,625

Thor-Arne Prois
Director, ACT


REQUESTING ACT MEMBER INFORMATION

The Anglican Church



IMPLEMENTING ACT MEMBER & PARTNER INFORMATION

Anglican church in the Occupied Palestinian Territories runs a number of
educational programs one of which is the Arab Evangelical Episcopal School
in Ramallah. This school was founded in 1954 with twenty students.  The
main goal of the school is to provide a Christian and ecumenical
environment conducive to the provision of quality educational, spiritual,
and socio-cultural growth, especially to under privileged students.
Through the efforts of many volunteers and staff members, the school grew
to be a viable and well-respected educational institution.  The school is
being sought after by a large number of Palestinian families representing
many denominations.

Due to its history, achievements, and mission, the demand for the school
services has increased.  In order to maintain its reputation and respond
to the community needs, the school has been forced to grow beyond its
physical capabilities.  Consequently the school is in desperate need to
upgrade its facilities and buildings to maintain its current services and
respond to the ever-growing needs of the city and surrounding villages.

The experience of the Evangelical School has been very challenging during
the current political conflict.  The School caters to middle income
families and poor families who cannot access good parochial education any
other place.  The deteriorating economical situation, unemployment and
underemployment have caused many families to default on their school fees
and the School has lost USD 56,000 in revenue due to the inability of
parents to pay fees.  Many families who are very keen of educating their
children in Christian schools had to move the state school system because
it is free.  The Evangelical School has been trying to accommodate as many
families as possible but the School losses are very high.

The school faculty consists of 60 staff: six administrative, 44 teachers,
nine workers, and one volunteer.  The school offers continuing education
and workshops for all staff members in order to maintain and update their
knowledge and skills.

Many staff members have been unable to come to school from neighboring
areas due to checkpoints and closures.  The school had to react by
covering these teachers with additional staff or additional hours.  The
estimated cost for staff cover annually is around USD 10,000.

The Evangelical School can only continue with its ministry of education
through the understanding and support of its friends.  As the political
situation continues to be difficult the Palestinian civil community will
need to be sustained until such time as it can return to normal.  Without
donor community emergency funding, what little civil society the
Palestinians were able to build during the years of relative stability
will collapse.



DESCRIPTION OF THE EMERGENCY SITUATION

The failure of any peace agreement to produce substantive results for the
Palestinians is resulting in a never ending cycle of violence.  Nowhere is
this more evident that in schools.  Many families have been forced into
unemployment and can not pay their children's fees.  Others can not access
schools due to multiple checkpoints, closures and curfews.  Teachers also
can not access their place of work and many schools have to look for
substitute teachers.



GOAL & OBJECTIVES

The overall goal of this program is to provide Palestinian children and
youth, regardless their religious background, with a comprehensive quality
education.


Objectives

Provide students with comprehensive quality education up to grade 12.

Encourage students to practice their faith and lead their life as
productive citizens.

Assist students in learning about their culture and expose them to other
world cultures.

Prepare students to serve their country, people, and other nations through
education, spiritual, and social activities.



TARGETED BENEFICIARIES

The school is a co-educational institution from Kindergarten to 12th
Grade.  The enrollment for this scholastic year (2001/2002) is 560
students from Ramallah and the surrounding villages.  The boarding section
is composed of 25 students, and the rest commute daily to school.  The
school budget fully subsidizes 150 students who face debilitating economic
hardships.

Neither father nor mother are employed

The child is an orphan

The number of children for which tuition fees need to be paid exceeds
three

There is no support from family members living abroad

Parents have to care for more than one child with special needs (disabled
or retarded)

The household is headed by only one person without income/employment
(mother or father)




PROPOSED EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE & IMPLEMENTATION

On the basis of the criteria listed above, the school management has
developed a prioritized list of students eligible for financial assistance
so that the most needy receive the support first. Only in exceptional
cases, beneficiaries receive 100% subsidy.


The school is dependent on the following sources of revenue:

Fees from students represent 70.4% of the total budget.

The net collected fees represent 81.2% of the fees.

The uncollected fees represent 18.8% - 4.6% school help, 4.4% general
discount, 3.2% Staff discount, 3.2% Home discount, 3.4% due fees.

The remaining 29.6% come from friends of the school in Europe and the
United States.



Funding for the school can barely satisfy basic services.  Thus, the
school is finding difficulties in allocating funds for development
schemes.

The school was built to accommodate 300 students, but since its inception
the number of student has increased yearly.  In 1990 a new class was
started for pre- school children ages 3-4 to help working mothers. In 1991
three more classes were added to the high school in response to the needs
of the community.  The Board of Directors then authorized the use of the
administration building for the pre-school section.  The high school
section is still in need of more space.

The school is active on many other levels aside from education.  The
students and staff participate in activities, which take place in the
school, and in conjunction with other schools and community.  These
activities include sports competitions, plays, folk dancing, and a school
choir.


The Complementary Class (for students with special needs)

In 1991, a complimentary class was founded in conjunction with Al-Nahada
Women's Association.  The aim of the class is to help students in the
primary cycles who suffer from learning disabilities, behavioral
disturbances, or social and physiological problems.  Psychology and child
education experts have deemed this project highly successful.

This year the School stopped implementing this program with the Al-Nahda
women's association and the school administration is taking the
responsibility to go on with this complimentary class in order to offer
services to other schools as this section is considered to be a resource
center for special education students. We have already 30-40 students in
this section.



Secondary School Building

The school's short-term urgent priority is to build a high school building
to accommodate the increase in the number of students and class divisions.
After a careful study of the needs and the situation in the present
campus, it has been noted that the present facilities can serve the needs
of the students in preschool up to grade eight. Older students, in grades
9 to 12, should be housed in a new building that will consist of
classrooms, science laboratories, a hall, and administration facilities on
three floors.  The proposed area of the new building is about 2000 square
meters.  The building process started in 1998 and the structure of the
three stories was completed this year.  Since the structure is totally
completed, the remaining funds will go to interior work - finishing and
furnishing.



ADMINISTRATION, FINANCE, MONITORING & REPORTING

A small Advisory Committee comprising representatives of the Orthodox,
Anglican and Lutheran Churches has been established to oversee the
program. The Advisory Committee will play the key-role in program
planning, implementation and monitoring of distribution of funding.

ACT CO is in possession of all data collected by schools' directors
including files of the students selected for support.

The Anglican church will open and maintain a separate bank account for
this program. Financial support (donations) will be managed by the
church's Finance Department.

A joint audit will be arranged with two other churches involved in the
program.



IMPLEMENTATION TIMETABLE

School year 2002 - 2003



CO-ORDINATION

Anglican church will continue to co-ordinate the program with Greek
Orthodox and Lutheran churches in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.



BUDGET

INCOME	US$
Church of Sweden Aid	19,118
TOTAL INCOME	19,118


ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE

Description	Type of 	No of	Unit Cost 	Budget
	Unit	Units	US$	US$

Arab Evangelical Episcopal
school in Ramallah	Student	101	1, 200	121,200

TOTAL ESTIMATED EXPENDITURE			121,200
Less Income				19,118
BALANCE REQUESTED FROM ACT NETWORK:			102,082


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Action by Churches Together (ACT) is a worldwide alliance of churches and
their related agencies, meeting human need through co-ordinated emergency
response.  The ACT Coordinating Office is based with the World Council of
Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) in Switzerland.
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