The Emergency Jobs Program (EJP), funded by USAID, aims to alleviate humanitarian and unemployment problems and to lay the foundations for more sustainable economic growth through reconstruction, rehabilitation and maintenance of important infrastructure. Projects are designed in close collaboration with communities, the public sector, and the private sector. We aim to complete 150 infrastructure projects. To date, around 100,000 days of employment have been created through EJP projects.

August 2009— CHF International completed phase one of a joint infrastructure project in the West Bank village of Beit Ur al Tahta. USAID provided $250,000 to the project and an additional $150,000 donation to the project was made by the Sheikh Mohammed Shami Foundation.

CHF completed construction of road shoulders, sidewalks and retaining walls for the main road in the village and to the road leading to a girls’ school. The sidewalks have provided safe pedestrian access to the residents and especially to students walking to the newly completed school.

The project is being implemented in coordination with the Beir Ur al-Tahta Village Council, for the benefit of the 5,000 residents of the community and 20,000 people from the surrounding communities who regularly pass through the village. To date, 2,972 jobs days have been created for 70 local workers, creating much needed employment opportunities.

In phase two and three of this project, the sidewalks will be expanded to reach two additional schools and a kindergarten, and street lights will be installed along the completed stretch of sidewalks, road shoulders, and retaining walls. Your donations can help to complete this work, to make life safer for Palestinians, create employment and create a future.