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Welcome to the A.M. Qattan Foundation e-newsletter. We hope you
enjoy reading our top news from November and December 2011 and
we welcome comments to the editor at nida@qattanfoundation.org |
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Participation in the Award Ceremony of Prince Claus Fund |
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At the invitation of Prince Claus Fund in the Netherlands, Ziad Khalaf, Executive Director of the Foundation, participated in the 2011 Awards Ceremony of Prince Claus Fund. During his stay in the Netherlands from December 13-17, Mr. Khalaf also participated in meetings of the Fund’s network of partners. He briefed participants on the Foundation’s work in general, and the project of support for cultural initiatives in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon which will be implemented by the Foundation and Prince Claus Fund in partnership. |
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Arab Foundations Forum Members’ Meeting |
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On December 8-9, Ziad Khalaf, Executive Director of the Foundation, and Nida Tawil/ Disi, Director of Communications and Resource Development, participated in a meeting of members of the Arab Foundations Forum (AFF), held in Jordan to share best practice in philanthropy among AFF members. |
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Panel Discussion on Working in Arts |
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On November 16, Ziad Khalaf, Executive Director of the
Foundation, participated in a roundtable discussion on working
in the arts and community sectors in Palestine. The discussion
was convened by the British Council in Ramallah, and was held in
the presence of Martin Davidson, the Council’s Chief Executive
Officer. |
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| Publications | |
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Annual Report 2010 – 2011 |
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| The A.M. Qattan Foundation released its Annual Report for 2010 – 2011 in December. The report gave a panoramic view of the most important achievements of the Foundation's projects and programmes over the past year. Click here for a soft copy or visit the Foundation headquarters for a hard copy. | |
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35th Edition of Ru’a Tarbawiyya |
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The Qattan Centre for Educational Research and Development /
A.M. Qattan Foundation recently released the 35th issue of Ru’a Tarbawiyya Magazine. The new volume focussed on
“Dorothy Heathcote and Drama in Education”, along with a special
section entitled "School Stories" and numerous educational and
scientific articles. The special focus was dedicated to
Heathcote’s contributions related to the use of drama in
education during different stages of her life and especially in
recent years. It reviewed some of her conclusions from a career
spanning over sixty years. For the contents of the 35th issue of Ru’a Tarbawiyya, please
click here. |
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To obtain any of the Foundation's publications in Palestine or abroad (click here) |
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Strengthening Parents’ Communication with Primary Schools |
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The Centre’s Outreach Service Unit launched a project to develop and strengthen parents’ communication with their children’s primary schools at three schools in east Gaza. Funded by the Norwegian Refugee Council, the project aims at strengthening the role of parents as their children's first teachers. A range of activities were carried out during the project. One of the most important was delivery of 16 training hours on the concept of family culture to 15 male and female teachers. Another was establishing six parents’ clubs at the targeted schools, which held 24 meetings that focused on means of dealing with children during examination periods and included implementation of joint activities between parents and their children such as puppet making, literacy activities, and awareness-raising seminars aimed at improving parents’ knowledge and understanding of child education, child development, and the encouragement of reading. |
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"Optimum Usage of Computers" for Parents |
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During the period December 11-22, the Information Technology Unit at the Centre organised a training course for parents on how best to use computers. The 12- hour course is the first of its kind to address issues pertaining to the internet, safe search engines, viruses and virus prevention methods, tips and guidelines for protecting children from misusing computers, and the use of parental control software. Parents who participated in the course expressed interest in what they learned. They noted that the teaching outcomes have had positive implications for how they and their children use computers. |
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Launch of the Palestine Science Festival |
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| On November 1, the Centre launched the Palestinian Science Festival in cooperation with the French Cultural Centre and with funding from the Welfare Association. Over three days, the festival attracted more than 1,800 school students, individuals interested in science and a number of institutions including the Tamer Institute for Community Education, the Health Care Association and the Medical School and Engineering Department of Al-Azhar University. The festival included several scientific activities such as thinking games; three dimensional cinema; a pretend "clinic" activity corner in which children played the doctor role, inspected medical and laboratory equipment and were encouraged to try using them by themselves. | |
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Celebrating World Child Day |
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The Centre celebrated the World Child Day on November 20.
Children from the Centre, from partner schools and kindergartens
took part in the activities organised by the Centre in an
atmosphere filled with joy. Activities included drama, physical
games, thinking games and computer activities. Children were
presented with the opportunity to express themselves, including
by writing letters to imaginary friends and to the United
Nations Secretary General on upholding children’s rights. They
were also facilitated in producing drawings on the theme of
children’s rights, which were then displayed on a mural
dedicated to the day. |
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Launching Ceremonies for the Book "Suleiman Mansour" and the Music Album "Silence" |
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| On December 14, the Foundation hosted at its Ramallah building a launching and autograph ceremony for the book "Suleiman Mansour," which was published by the Palestinian Art Court. The book came as a follow-up to the retrospective exhibition that was organised by the Court for the artist Mansour in Jerusalem in May 2011. Additionally, the Foundation hosted the launching ceremony for the album "Silence" by the late musician Muhsen Subhi. The ceremony was organised on December 11 by Al Kamandjati Association in the presence of a large audience including the late musician’s family and friends. The ceremony included the playing of several musical pieces with the participation of Ramzi Abu Radwan, Mohamed Najim and Dimitris Michelis. The album was released in Summer 2011 in Lebanon. Its production was supported by the Culture and Arts Programme under the Qattan Fund for Performing Arts in 2009. | |
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Launching of the 2012 Young Artist of the Year Award and New Grants in Performing Arts and Cinema |
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In early November, the programme invited applications to the Qattan Fund for Performing Arts for the year 2012. The deadline for receiving applications for this grant is February 10, 2012. Additionally, the programme invited applications to the third round of the Production Support Project, which supports the production of short and medium length feature films. The deadline for applying for these grants is February 15, 2012. Finally, the Programme invited applications to the 2012 Young Artist of the Year Award. This competition is organised by the Programme every two years. The deadline for applications for this competition is January 31, 201. |
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The Production Support Project Procures Lighting Equipment |
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| After a year-long effort, the Foundation procured lighting equipment as part of the Production Support Project, which was launched in 2010 and is co-funded by the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. This equipment will be provided as part of the Programme’s Production Support Project for the production of short and medium length feature films. It will be made available for use by workers in the film industry in Palestine at very competitive prices in order to promote a vibrant national film industry. | |
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Workshop on Maintenance and Repair of String Instruments |
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In cooperation with "Music Fund" of Belgium, the Programme organised a training workshop at the Gaza Music School (GMS) on the repair and maintenance of string instruments as well as of the piano. This workshop is part of the cooperation between the Foundation and Music Fund to build expertise in the field of maintenance and repair of musical instruments in the Gaza Strip, and is one of the GMS activities that aim at enhancing musical life in the Gaza Strip. |
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Extended By Popular Demand: From Palestine to Israel Exhibition |
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The Mosaic Rooms presented an astonishing photographic exhibition in November, “From Palestine to Israel”, curated by acclaimed visual theorist and curator Ariella Azoulay. The exhibition documents a critical four year period in the history of Palestine/Israel, 1947-1950, and featured over 200 photographs from the Israeli State archive. The Exhibition was accompanied by this series of talks on the relationship between archival photography, film and the writing (or re-writing) of history. Click here to hear some of these talks. In December, the Mosaic Rooms launched “Out of It”, Selma Debbagh's first novel. Selma is a British-Palestinian lawyer and writer. Click here to find out more. We are exceptionally happy to see the number of visitors to the Mosaic Rooms triple during 2011. For that incredible growth, we offer our sincere thanks to our many loyal visitors. See our upcoming events for January and February. |
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Conclusion of the "Animation in Education" Project |
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| On December 22, the Centre organised a closing ceremony for the “Animation in Education” project which was implemented in partnership with the Welfare Association. The ceremony included screening of films produced by students from the participating schools in the presence of approximately 350 students and teachers from different areas. The screenings were conducted under the supervision of Kifah Fanni from the Qattan Centre, Jan Kaspers from Germany and Gary Rosborough from Ireland. This project is being implemented under the arts in education track, through which 14 teachers from 7 schools in Jerusalem Governorate received intensive training on different techniques in the art of animation and its applications in the classroom. | |
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Conclusion of "Mantle of the Expert" Drama Training |
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| On December 11, training on using the “Mantle of the Expert” methodology was concluded. It was supervised by expert Luke Abbott from England. Forty kindergarten teachers engaged in the "Comprehensive Development of Kindergartens in Jerusalem" project participated in the training. The course goal was to develop the capacity of participants to teach using this teaching and learning technique, which was developed by Dorothy Heathcote. The “Comprehensive Development of Kindergartens in Jerusalem” project is implemented by the Qattan Centre and the Early Childhood Resource Centre and funded by the Arab Fund for Social & Economic Development through the Welfare Association. | |
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| Deir Qiddis Students Set an Example in Cleanliness | |
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| On December 28, a voluntary work day was organised in Deir Qiddis village west of Ramallah under the slogan "For a Clean Deir Qiddis." This voluntary day was led by 50 female students from the Deir Qiddis Basic School and organised by the Centre in concert with the schoolteachers as part of the“Teachers’ Professional Development Programme”. Based on the idea of involving the school in a community learning project; students collected donations in order to purchase small trash containers to be placed in front of houses after village residents commit to maintaining them and keeping their surroundings clean. They also led the residents of the village on a day involving planting trees and another day involving painting murals with the participation of Palestinian artists. | |
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Conclusion of "The Olive Shall Remain Green" Exhibition |
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| Aboud Basic Mixed School, in cooperation with the Centre, concluded its week-long exhibition in the school’s hall under the title "The Olive Shall Remain Green", which highlighted the implications of the olive tree for the lives of the people of Aboud. The exhibition resulted from the students’ involvement in an integrated community learning project entitled "The Olive Tree: A History and a Tale", implemented by the Centre’s "Teachers’ Professional Development Programme”. Through this project, the students embarked on research and exploration of all aspects of the olive tree, and expressed what they learned in the form of products, tools and stories documented in sound and images. | |
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Workshop on Mantle of the Expert Technique in a Bedouin School |
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On December 15, the Centre organised a workshop on the “Mantle of the Expert” approach for teachers of the first and second grades of the Al-Khan Al-Ahmar Basic School. The workshop was supervised by expert Luke Abbott from Britain, and aimed at introducing the teachers to the approach and its direct practical application with children. The school serves the Bedouin community in Al-Khan Al-Ahmar area, which is located between Jerusalem and Jericho. It is built out of tyres and other basic resources as it is located in Area C where construction is prohibited due to the Israeli occupation. |
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