Hebron City, Palestine, 24 August 2015--UN-Habitat and Hebron Municipality with funding from the Saudi Committee for the Palestinian People Relief last week organized an open day for youth and children in Hebron city to strengthen the spirit of volunteerism and civic engagement.

The event was hosted by the TVTC, a project implemented by UN-Habitat and funded by the  Saudi Committee for the Palestinian People Relief. It was aimed at  engaging females who took painting and drawing courses at the center by employing the skills they gained to enhance the aesthetic part of the center and at the same time set an example for other children participating in the day through games and other activities.

The United Nations designates the 12th of August of every year as the date of celebrating youth’s participation in development where the theme for this year is “Youth Civic Engagement”. The emphasis of this year’s theme is on the role played by the involvement and inclusion of young people in building social cohesion and collective well-being.

Around 100 children participated in this event, along with 20 volunteers from Hebron Children Municipality, the UNV Programme in Palestine and the TVTC. The event started with volunteers drawing on the walls surrounding the amphitheater and planting the green space around it. The drawing theme was urbanism and nature where volunteers chose UN-Habitat’s slogan “FOR A BETTER URBAN FUTURE” to be written on the wall and on the other side a portrait of a woman connected to buildings. The idea behind this portrait is to stress on the role young women in improving urban life and the whole society.

Parallel to that, volunteers started the games in a form of competition between two teams where children from different neighborhoods learned to support each other for one joint purpose. One of the kids participating expressed his high sports spirit saying “I came here with my two brothers, and I am playing against them, and it is okay if I lose because they will win.”