David Weiss
President and CEO of CHF International

Despite so many news stories focusing on the violence and turmoil that have affected the Middle East in the last few years, nothing could have been further from my mind during my last trip to the West Bank. While there I met remarkable people who are working tirelessly to help improve the lives and livelihoods of Palestinians. From government officials to nonprofit organizations and civil society in general, there are many people working toward a better future in the region. And to my surprise, even people who may seem too young to understand the issues affecting their country today are doing their part and working toward a more peaceful and prosperous future for the Palestinian people.

One of the most inspiring people I met was Basha'er Othman, a 15-year-old girl from Illar, a small town of just over 6,000 people. Basha'er is the "shadow" mayor of her town and one day, she told me, she hopes to be the president of a future state of Palestine. I have no doubt that her drive and poise will take her a long way. But for now, she is learning the ropes by being the democratically elected "shadow" mayor and working with the local council members of her town. In her position, she is supervised by the mayor and the deputy mayor and is expected to engage other youth members to shadow the municipality's council members.

PHOTO: Basha’er meeting with 'Illar Municipality Council members.

Basha'er became involved in local government through the Youth Local Council (YLC) -- an initiative implemented by CHF International as part of the USAID-funded Local Democratic Reform program (LDR). CHF helped form Youth Local Councils across the West Bank to engage youth and teach them about local governance and democracy. The program targets 12 communities which are administered by democratically elected municipal and local councils: Beit Sahour, Jericho, Al Tayba, Abu Dis, Salfeet, Anabta, Illar, Qalqilya, Ar Ram, Idhna, Halhoul, Beit Fajjar. The activities of the YLCs will be expanded under the current Local Government and Infrastructure program also funded by USAID and implemented by CHF International. We hope further to implement the YLC initiative in other countries using what has been already developed in the West Bank as a model.