Learning by Doing:
The Experience of Popular Achievement in Palestine

Suzanne Hammad
School of Sociology, Social Policy and Social Work
Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Tareq Bakri
Graduate School of Education
Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

Citation: Hammad, Suzanne and Tareq Bakri (2007). "Learning by Doing: The Experience of Popular Achievement in Palestine." Children, Youth and Environments 17 (3): 24-48. Retrieved [date] from http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/

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Abstract

This article presents a model of youth civic engagement practice that has been implemented in the West Bank and Gaza since 2002. This is the story of Popular Achievement (PA). The paper discusses Popular Achievement’s experiential “learning by doing” approach to youth civic engagement, suggesting the transformative value and learning potential of this model for young people. Drawing upon testimonies of its young “coaches,” we try to tease out some of the reported outcomes that young people have attributed to their participation in this “project,” and analyze them in light of the constraining social and political context under which these youth live. As practitioners, we also share some practical lessons learned from our experience in implementing this practice in Palestine that could inform this as well as similar youth civic participation programs elsewhere.

Keywords: civic engagement, experiential learning, youth, Palestine