Jerusalem Evaluations
 | Final Evaluation: Regional Cooperative Health InitiativeThe Regional Cooperative Health Initiative (RCHI), led by Search from September 17th, 2015 to March 31st, 2017 and a project of the Middle East Consortium on Infectious Disease Surveillance (MECIDS), seeks to build professional and personal understanding among senior public health officials and technicians in the Israeli, Jordanian and Palestinian public health sectors, with participants increasing professional capacities and conflict management skills while also building positive attitudes towards their regional counterparts. MECIDS was formed in 2003, and since then has served as the only mechanism through which key players in the participating Ministries of Health can conduct joint trainings, shared information, and coordinated cross-border responses. In terms of building professional capacities, the project successfully improved bio-safety capacities (10.5% average increase in test scores) and supported the harmonization of bio-safety standards across the three countries. While the project led to increased cooperation among health professionals, and was favorably evaluated by participants in the sustainability of networks it opened (95% expressed a readiness to work with each other on common issues), it did not increase the conflict management skills of participants. There were important lessons from the evaluation on how to create a move even platform on which participants could meet, specifically by more openly and effectively addressing state-level conflicts that while they may be outside the control of participants, undoubtedly effect how participants approach each other. |
| Final Evaluation — Creating the next generation of Palestinian Democratic Leaders: “The President” — July 2016“The President” is a Palestinian reality TV show, created by SFCG in partnership with a local Palestinian news agency Ma’an Network. It is based on a mock presidential election and during the season, Palestinian youth role-played as presidential candidates, campaigning locally and nationally throughout the West Bank and Gaza. This series was the backbone a project, funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which aimed to create a new generation of Palestinian leaders and develop a political culture of peaceful civic activism and inclusive democratic practices. This report is the final evaluation report for this project. It assesses the relevancy, effectiveness and impact of the project overall. “The President” achieved a high standard of performance and impact: high numbers of viewers and listeners and positive responses from youth participants, viewers, audiences and key informants. Over the course of the project, 36 episodes were produced and aired, reaching 1.2 million viewers and drawing 250,000 SMS votes. The show had a marked impact on its audience members as well: 94% of those polled indicated that, after watching the show, they had increased knowledge and awareness of participation in civic life. 91.8% said they had increased knowledge and awareness of religious tolerance. This was an external evaluation done by Alpha International. |
| Best Practices: Strengthening Respect for Religious Pluralism on Mt. ZionFrom 1 September 2015 to 1 June 2016 with funding from the Robert Bosch Foundation, Search for Common Ground, in cooperation with the Jerusalem Intercultural Centre (JICC), has implemented workshops on religious issues for Israeli pre-army groups. The workshops took place within pre-army education programs (called ‘MECHINA’ in Hebrew – a voluntary preparatory year for high school graduates before army service) when groups visit Jerusalem. The workshops provide information in an experiential way about the three Abrahamic religions in Jerusalem (Christianity, Islam and Judaism) and deal with interreligious tensions. The students discuss the challenges and opportunities that arise regarding shared sacred places. The overall goal of this project was to strengthen respect for religious pluralism among Israeli youth. The specific objective was to develop greater awareness among Israeli pre-army youth of the attachments that religious people of the Abrahamic faiths feel towards their holy sites. In total 561 participants (17-19 years old) participated in 27 workshops. |
| The Universal Code of Conduct on Holy Sites – 2015 Annual Report |
| Strengthening Citizen Participation on Critical Social Issues to Prevent Conflict*Strengthening Citizen Participation on Critical Social Issues to Prevent Conflict *was a 2-year project funded by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and which was carried out in partnership with Ma’an Network, a local Palestinian News Agency. The project aimed to create and/or strengthen the mechanisms for citizens’ participation in policymaking on critical social issues; it secondly sought to strengthen constructive engagement between civil society and local authorities on critical social issues. The report demonstrates that the project achieved its goals and indeed exceeded all expectations through the implementation of several activities, most notably the creation of an innovative reality TV show. After watching the reality show, 91.4% of the respondents in survey agreed the format of reality TV was an innovative way to encourage political and social dialogue. This was an external evaluation done by Alpha International. Click here to download a one-page summary of the findings of the evaluation. |
 | Bosnia Herzegovina Pilot Project – Final Report Year 1“Monitoring and Responses to Attacks on Religious Buildings and Other Holy Sites in BiH” is a one-year pilot project that was implemented in cooperation with the Inter-religious Council of Bosnia Herzegovina (IRC), the Nansen Dialogue Center Sarajevo (NDC) and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights (OC). It was developed within the framework of the wider project “A Universal Code on Holy Sites” run by four partners: One World in Dialogue (EVID), Search for Common Ground (SFCG), Religions for Peace (RfP), including European Council for Religious Leaders (ECRL) and the OC. From a broader perspective, the overall goal of the project was enhanced trust and improved relations between the religious and ethnic communities in BiH. |
| Bosnia Herzegovina Pilot Project – Final Report Year 2“Monitoring and Responses to Attacks on Religious Buildings and Other Holy Sites in BiH” started as a one-year pilot project (November 2010 – October 2011) that has been implemented in cooperation with the Inter-religious Council of Bosnia Herzegovina (IRC), the Nansen Dialogue Center Sarajevo (NDC) and the Oslo Center for Peace and Human Rights (OC). It was developed within the framework of the wider project “A Universal Code on Holy Sites” run by four partners: One World in Dialogue (EVID), Search for Common Ground (SFCG), Religions for Peace (RfP), in addition to the European Council for Religious Leaders (ECRL) and the OC. The goals of the project are the safe use by religious adherents of their sacred places world-wide and to build trust and promote inter-religious reconciliation. Currently an effort is being made to have a UN resolution adopted in the spirit of the Code. The pilot project was completely financially supported by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (NMFA). |