HISTORY
Ibdaa Cultural Center is a grassroots organization that provides social, educational, health and cultural programs for children, youth and women in the Deheisheh Refugee Camp and the surrounding areas. Ibdaa has been established in the Deheisheh Refugee camp in 1994 in response to the needs of the population of the camp. In 2010, Ibdaa has more than 50 employees, 100 volunteers and more than 2,800 direct beneficiaries from the different projects of the program. Ibdaa is a vital center for the Deheisheh community, organizing events, workshops, projects and emergency activities. Ibdaa also forges strong relations with its international supporters, particularly in the field of advocacy. Ibdaa is a registered Palestinian NGO and is governed by the bylaws of the Palestinian Authority and its internal bylaws. The Board of Directors is democratically elected every 2 years. Currently, out of the 7 Board members, 5 are from the Ibdaa beneficiaries during the previous years.
IBDAA Background
1. The Theatre and the Dance Troupe, performing at both the national and the international level.
2. The Computer Center, offering communications between the camp youth with other Palestinians in the Diaspora.3. The Sports Club, with both boys and girls teams and with national winning awards in basketball and football for a number of years.4. The Health Committee, with projects in ophthalmic health, a Diabetics Club, psychosocial and educational support for both women and children in need, and support for the mentally and physically challenged in the camp and the district in cooperation with other local partners.5. The Kindergarten and Nursery, providing educational and recreational activities to more than 120 children from the camp. This project includes a library for both children and adults and is open to all the camp residents and the surrounding areas.
6. Women Economic Support Project, supporting more than 90 women on a regular basis preparing traditional Palestinian embroidery. The embroidery is sold at both the national and international level and all income generated from the project is redirected to support the women and to develop and sustain projects supporting needy women in the camp.
7. The Oral History Project, raising the awareness of refugee children about their heritage. This project includes video conferencing between the children of the camp and other refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.8. In addition to this, Ibdaa has a rooftop restaurant and a guest house that is open to the public including the international community at affordable prices. Those facilities are also used to host international volunteers. All income generated by both the restaurant and the guest house is redirected towards Ibdaa projects.(*) Recently, Ibdaa has started 2 new independent projects that were outcomes of other existing projects:1. The Children's Parliament, an outcome of the child Psychosocial and Educational Support project. An adult only supervises the project; otherwise, the project is managed and run by the Children's Parliament members. The Parliament is addressing social, health, educational and child rights issues at the district level.2. The Puppet Show Group, also an outcome of other projects where children expressed interest setting up the group. This project is also utilized to address current social, health, educational and child rights issues in the camp as well as at the Bethlehem district as a whole.(*) Ibdaa has its own Theatre that is humbly equipped with audio visual systems, as well as a stage and a seating capacity of 300 people. The Theatre is located in the main Ibdaa building in the camp.
2. The Computer Center, offering communications between the camp youth with other Palestinians in the Diaspora.3. The Sports Club, with both boys and girls teams and with national winning awards in basketball and football for a number of years.4. The Health Committee, with projects in ophthalmic health, a Diabetics Club, psychosocial and educational support for both women and children in need, and support for the mentally and physically challenged in the camp and the district in cooperation with other local partners.5. The Kindergarten and Nursery, providing educational and recreational activities to more than 120 children from the camp. This project includes a library for both children and adults and is open to all the camp residents and the surrounding areas.
6. Women Economic Support Project, supporting more than 90 women on a regular basis preparing traditional Palestinian embroidery. The embroidery is sold at both the national and international level and all income generated from the project is redirected to support the women and to develop and sustain projects supporting needy women in the camp.
7. The Oral History Project, raising the awareness of refugee children about their heritage. This project includes video conferencing between the children of the camp and other refugee camps in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan.8. In addition to this, Ibdaa has a rooftop restaurant and a guest house that is open to the public including the international community at affordable prices. Those facilities are also used to host international volunteers. All income generated by both the restaurant and the guest house is redirected towards Ibdaa projects.(*) Recently, Ibdaa has started 2 new independent projects that were outcomes of other existing projects:1. The Children's Parliament, an outcome of the child Psychosocial and Educational Support project. An adult only supervises the project; otherwise, the project is managed and run by the Children's Parliament members. The Parliament is addressing social, health, educational and child rights issues at the district level.2. The Puppet Show Group, also an outcome of other projects where children expressed interest setting up the group. This project is also utilized to address current social, health, educational and child rights issues in the camp as well as at the Bethlehem district as a whole.(*) Ibdaa has its own Theatre that is humbly equipped with audio visual systems, as well as a stage and a seating capacity of 300 people. The Theatre is located in the main Ibdaa building in the camp.