Elham Palestine

An Inclusive Partnership for Systemic Change

Elham Palestine was the first country-level pilot developed by the Learning for Well-being Foundation and its national partners. “Elham” is the Arabic word for inspire, and the programme was designed to celebrate and support local changemakers working to transform educational systems through practical, inspiring initiatives.

Launched as a multi-sector partnership, Elham brought together actors from education, health, ICT, civil society, and children themselves. The collective goal: to co-create learning environments that fostered the holistic development and well-being of every Palestinian child.

The Challenge

At the time of Elham’s creation, Palestinian schools and institutions faced significant barriers to innovation—siloed systems, limited cross-sector collaboration, and a lack of support for grassroots educational reform.

The Elham initiative emerged as a collaborative response. It recognised that systemic change was possible when individuals and institutions joined forces to uplift inspiring, context-sensitive solutions already being piloted within communities.

Elham was built on the belief that bottom-up innovation, supported by top-down policy alignment, could transform systems sustainably. At its core were the Learning for Well-being principles, which guided:

  • The evaluation of local initiatives
  • The partnership model between ministries, NGOs, and communities
  • The capacity-building process for individuals and teams

Key partners included:

  • The Palestinian Ministry of Education
  • The Ministry of Health
  • UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency)

Notable programme elements:

  • Recognition and scaling of innovative education practices
  • Structured collaboration across public and civil sectors
  • National events and forums to showcase and learn from local successes

From 2008 to 2018, Elham served as a platform for systemic transformation by:

  • Promoting a shared national vision for holistic well-being
  • Strengthening the relationship between health and education
  • Recognising and replicating effective local solutions
  • Bridging the gap between policy and practice
  • Fostering intergenerational and cross-sector partnerships

Elham received international recognition, including:
Global Best Award for Innovative Partnership in Education (Helsinki, 2008)
Arab Achievement Award in Education (2012)

It inspired spin-off efforts and influenced system-level strategies in other countries and regions.

After ten years of active implementation, Elham entered a new phase. In 2020, efforts began to reorient the initiative in alignment with L4WB’s evolving principles and focus on cultivating capacities for decision-making at individual and collective levels.

In this transitional phase, new working groups explored:

  • Intergenerational partnerships
  • Youth-led advocacy
  • Collaborative research with universities
  • Engaging religious institutions and the media
  • Trainings on the Learning for Well-being approach
  • A pilot conference on intergenerational collaboration in Palestine

While Elham is no longer operational, it remains a foundational programme in the L4WB ecosystem—a model of how inclusive, cross-sector, and child-centred collaboration can drive sustainable systems change.

Resources

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