ActionAid Palestine (AAP), the Palestinian partner of INTERNISA, celebrated the graduation of 60 women who took part in the specialized digital training on digitizing the tourism and textile sectors.

The ceremony was organized in the halls of the Smart College for Modern Education in Hebron on the 3rd of April 2022 concluding the training which took place on 6th January 2022 for 5 days. It included speeches which highlighted the importance of enhancing the digital skills of female workers in these two sectors during and after the COVID-19 crisis. At the end of the ceremony, certificates were distributed to the trainees.

INTERNISA project seeks to bridge the gender digital gap and provide women with marketable digital skills and qualified skilled labour according to the needs of the labour market. The project will increase the efficiency and relevance of education and professional training to the labour market by combining digital skills in the digital sector with professional development in the Agri-food, textile, tourism, and financial sectors.

Irina Halasa is one of the young women who received this training. She used to work as a tourist guide, licensed by the Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities. She lives in one of the neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem and she is affected by COVID-10 and lost her source of income.

She stressed the importance of this training saying: “I was able to register for this training through social media platforms through a Facebook post titled “Digitizing Tourism and Textiles.” Since I am a tourist guide and I aspire to become more experienced and knowledgeable in this field, I registered for this training to develop my skills and knowledge as one of the tour guides in the governorate  of the country. The training was very useful and full of valuable information, and I want to thank AAP and the Smart College in Hebron for this training. I hope that the next training will last for more days and I hope that it includes practical items such as visiting archaeological sites and sites such as Ibrahimi Mosque, and the pottery factories in Hebron and the Old City. The tourism sector is one of the national sources of income for the state of Palestine and it is mostly affected by COVID-19.