Within the framework of the political and economic decisions that were taken in the 6th and 7th Extraordinary Islamic Summit Conferences of the OIC as well as 34th and 35th Ministerial Sessions of the COMCEC, a technical and financial support program, namely COMCEC Al-Quds Program, was initiated in 2020 to support Palestine in culture and tourism areas.
The Program aims at supporting the restoration efforts, improving the civil society engagement and emphasizing the Palestinian-Arab identity as well as Islamic importance in Al-Quds through a grant program. In line with this, several projects under a multi-year program has been implementing in tourism sector and other crosscutting areas such as culture, trade and education.
The supported projects has specificaly targeted to rehabilitate and promote touristic architecture in Al-Quds, increase the capacity of tourism workforce in Al-Quds, make product diversification along with promoting Al-Quds as a prominent tourism destination, and organize various events for raising awareness on the value and tourism potential of Al-Quds.
All legal and fiscal responsibility regarding the implementation and monitoring of the projects belongs to the Ministry of National Economy of Palestine. Al-Quds Tourism and Heritage Council (ATHC) is the implementation partner which collaborates and coordinates several stakeholders locally. Projects are being implemented by non-profit-making organizations established in Al-Quds.
For the pilot phase, ATHC has implemented 2 projects in 2020, focusing on the analyses of tourism infrastructure of Al-Quds and institutional capacity development of ATHC.
With the evaluation of the output of the first two projects, the program has been extended to different civil society organizations in the relevant fields in 2021. In this respect, 6 projects in several thematic areas such as art exhibition, training and capacity building, renovation, research, producing audio-visual-written promotional materials have been implementing by the organizations.
The Program will include additional projects in 2022.
SUPPORTED PROJECTS
2020
- Analyzing the Tourism Infrastructure and Developing a Tourism Destination Road Map for Al-Quds
- Supporting Institutional Capacity of Al-Quds Tourism and Heritage Council
2021
- The Artists’ Identity Path: Tracing Heritage in Jerusalem
- Jerusalemites” Because We Are the Place and Time
- Enjoy the Hidden Jewels of Al Quds Promotion Program
- Old City Bakeries: Food Tourism and Heritage
- Al-Quds: Secrets and Narratives to Unfold
- Promoting Palestinian Heritage
