Young Women's Christian Association- Jerusalem (Y.W.C.A)

The YWCA of Jerusalem is a national membership-based women organization registered locally as a non-governmental association affiliated with the World YWCA movement, which has a special consultative status at the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). It was first initiated in 1893 by informal groups of Christian women who were meeting in Jaffa and Jerusalem as YWCA groups, and consequently established officially in Jerusalem in 1918.  Throughout the years, the YWCA has developed a wide range of programs and projects with the aim of empowering women and girls and to improve their status through enhancing the accessibility of educational and cultural activities, creating and developing economic opportunities, and raising awareness, and advocating for their individual and national rights. The work and values of the YWCA has given it a special identity as a community development organization that is widely respected, both among Palestinians and internationally.   The YWCA of Jerusalem mission is to create women leadership, especially among young women and girls, to realize their full rights and capabilities, and to promote and advance their full participation in decision making on equal footing with men and in all aspects of their lives as they contribute to building a democratic and free civil society.