EcoPeace Core Support 2022-2026

1. BOTTOM UP - Completed the 2023 Water Diplomacy and Biology teacher cohort, with 10 teacher trainings that reached 149 teachers from Israel (55), Palestine (52), and Jordan (42). These trainings provides participating teachers with opportunities to engage with each other directly to compare experiences, share best practices and experience cross border cooperation with colleagues from the other countries. - Started and concluded the 4th cohort of the Climate Diplomacy for Young Professionals training programme comprising of two phases: basic training (national training and a regional workshop) and advanced training (project development). The program improves the knowledge and competencies of young professionals and equips them with knowledge and networks to help advance solutions to shared environmental issues. The program reached 66 participants from Israel, and 43 participants from Palestine. Out of the total 109 participants 65 were women, representing 60% of the total participants. - Initiated the 5th cohort of the Climate Diplomacy for Young Professionals training programme by revising the content for the Basic Training as well as the three tracks (Community Leadership, Advanced Diplomacy, and Media and Storytelling) of the Advanced Trainings. Additionally, the education teams started the preparatory activities and logistical arrangements for the first introductory events of the incoming cohort. - Initiated the 2023 ShaRED Sea Young Professionals Initiative in Israel and Jordan, by organizing several lectures and community events to present the program to a wider audience and recruiting 11 out of 12 young professionals for the first cohort in Israel, and by organizing a two-day training for 14 (5 female) participants with sessions on the Red Sea marine biodiversity, ecosystem challenges, the state of plastic pollution, and on various ways of reducing plastic footprint and altering plastic behavior in Jordan. Due to the ongoing war, the Young Professionals Initiative had to be paused and adapted. - Launched the 2nd cohort of the 2023 ShaRED Sea Youth Training Programme, providing specialized training centering on the Red Seas biodiversity and marine plastic pollution to 21 (10 female) participants to equip youths with scientific skills to minimize their plastic impact and promote sustainable practices through community projects for the region's environmental well-being. - Held a National Teachers Training for 26 (18 female) educators. The participants met with leading scientists and environmental activists to discuss climate change, nature based solutions, the importance of ocean preservation, biodiversity, plastic pollution, community based projects and place based education. - Conducted a feasibility study to establish a paper bag factory in Aqaba, and conducted a series of meetings with Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority in which the parties discussed the possibility of providing incentives to the potential investors of this factory. This vision aims to meet the commercial paper bag demand of Aqaba, whilst potentially addressing the needs of neighboring countries. - Conducted a total of 128 Neighbor Path Tours that reached 3,519 participants from Israel (1210), Palestine (1148), and Jordan (1161), showing the natural and cultural heritage of the communities of Israel, Palestine, and Jordan and informing about their water resources both in the past and in the present. - Expanded the purview and reach of EcoPeace's existing water diplomacy curriculum for the 12th grade to 10th and 11th grade, and develop new water-related curriculum and trainings for teachers in disciplines such as biology, science, and technology in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan. During this reporting period, this included translation of a the new Water and Climate Change in the Middle East curriculum from Hebrew to Arabic and three curriculum development workshops for the National Water Diplomacy Teachers Curriculum in Palestine. - Initiated the Alumni Program, focusing on youth (14-18 years old), teachers, young professionals, and entrepreneurs who have participated in EcoPeace's Good Water Neighbors project, to create sustained alumni engagement that will broaden EcoPeace's impact in Israel, Palestine, and Jordan, and deepen collaborative networks among peers. - Implemented national youth-led projects in Israel, Palestine and Jordan, engaging youth, teachers and community members on issues related to water, pollution, and climate change. For example, a series of Environmental Awareness sessions on environmental concepts such as sustainability and ecology in various schools throughout Palestine, with 200 youths participating in total. 2. TOP DOWN - Promoted the signing of the Jordan-Israel MoU on a future deal to exchange solar energy from Jordan and desalinated water from Israel, holding various meetings with relevant ministries on both sides, and with the third party governments involved. - Advanced the rehabilitation of the Jordan River and the Jordan-Israel MoU for Jordan River de-pollution signed at COP 27, the Israeli cabinet decision to rehabilitate an 11-km stretch of the Jordan River in Israel, the Jordan Minister of Agriculture policy announcement in support of a regional climate smart center in Jordan, and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Hebron to enhance Palestinian-Israeli water management. - Supported the emergency response in Gaza including humanitarian aid, WASH assistance, "Day After" advocacy, to address urgent humanitarian issues and to reflect changing geopolitical circumstances through new advocacy priorities. - Facilitated regional water and renewable energy cooperation to advance the renewable energy transition and harness it towards regional peace, facilitating investments and multilateral agreements that will diversify renewable energy supply chains through regional cooperation. - Fostered dialogue and engagement with high-level professionals and staff in essential ministries around the need for Palestinian-Israeli climate security and resilience. - Participated in several high-level international conferences, and organized several stakeholder conferences in Jordan, Palestine and Israel, to advance regional cooperation and strengthen engagement with actors from the international community. - Expanded relationships with key European actors involved in the MENA region, to advise European stakeholders on climate resilience. - Conducted five Regional Forum events, including its annual Regional Forum gathering in Athens, Greece, to exchange ideas, ask questions, and share information about environmental challenges and opportunities in the region. - Identified several challenges requiring innovative technical solutions based on stakeholder consultations and meetings with relevant entrepreneurs, investors, and public officials, and made significant outreach and matchmaking efforts to advance promising initiatives. - Utilized social media outreach in Hebrew, Arabic and English to showcase the impact and communal projects of EcoPeace's work in making the region more climate resilient and secure. - Led several legal objections and advocacy cases against Israeli construction projects in the West Bank that would deleteriously affect local Palestinian communities and the environmental heritage of the area

The vision of EcoPeaces strategy is that "the people of the Middle East benefit from mutually reinforcing climate security and regional peace", which is defined as the reality that EcoPeace is trying to create or contribute towards. The mission is "to advance mutually reinforcing climate resilience and regional peace between our people and between people and regional environmental cooperation" The vision and mission are manifested through two main goals defining EcoPeace's role in moving towards that vision, namely: i) To advance Middle East climate resilience and security through regional cooperation and integration; and: ii) To advance a just peace between our peoples and between people and nature, through environmental cooperation. Finally, the 5YS has ten focused objectives, representing measurable and achievable outcomes that the organization will work to achieve. Five of the objectives involve externally focused outcomes, four on outcomes related internal capacity development and one targeting both internal and external outcomes. The externally focused objectives are categorised either as top-down or bottom-up depending on which stakeholder groups the activities under the objectives are targeting. Bottom-up activities are targeting constituencies, particularly children and young people, and top-down activities are targeting decision makers and other key stakeholders. Externally focused objectives - Riper conditions for peace (Bottom-up/top-down) - Increased climate resilience, climate security, and respect for the environment (Top-down/bottom-up) - More climate/environmental deals in the region (bilateral & multilateral) (Top-down/bottom-up) - Increased movement up ladders of engagement (Bottom-up/top-down) - EcoPeace continually builds the credibility needed to advance its objectives Externally/internally focused objectives - EcoPeace has tighter, more consistent messaging, with more (trained) messengers Internally focused objectives - People consider EcoPeace a Best place to work - Programs remain innovative & define "best practices" - EcoPeaces finances, including fundraising, are sustainable and mitigate risk - EcoPeace has a continually smaller ecological footprint. More detailed description of the Theory of Change is included in the EcoPeace 5YS and the proposal.