Capacity-building training to develop short story writing skills, social values, and gender fairness at the IUG, Palestine: a case study

ABSTRACT

This study reflects on an intensive fiction-writing training course conducted at the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) in Palestine. The trainees were divided into two language-specific groups. The immediate outcome of this training course was 87 short stories. The study assessed the participants' satisfaction levels regarding the quality and content of training, besides it conducted thematic analyses of the short stories produced by the trainees. The Feedback collected indicate that the participants voluntarily shared and fictionalized intimate moments from their lives, as well as experiences learned during the training.

(IUG) تسلط هذه الدراسة الضوء على برنامج تدريبي مكثف في كتابة القصة القصيرة، و الذي تم تنفيذه في الجامعة الإسلامية بغزة في فلسطين. تم تقسيم المتدربين إلى مجموعتين تتميزان باللغة (عربي-أنجليزي). وكانت المخرجات الملموسة المباشرة لهذا البرنامج التدريبي عبارة عن 87 قصة قصيرة. قامت الدراسة بتقييم مستويات رضا المتدربين بشأن جودة ومحتوى التدريب، بالإضافة إلى إجراء تحليلات ثيماتية للقصص القصيرة التي أنتجها المتدربون. وتشير التغذية الراجعة التي تم الحصول عليها بعد انتهاء التدريب إلى أن المشاركين شاركوا بشكل طوعي وخيالي لحظات حميمة من حياتهم، فضلاً عن التجارب التي تعلموها خلال التدريب.

KEYWORDS:

• Capacity-building training
• short story
• fiction-writing
• palestine
• gaza
• gender

الكلمات الرئيسية:

• تدريب بناء القدرات؛ قصة قصيرة؛ الكتابة الإبداعية؛ فلسطين؛ غزة؛ النوع الاجتماعي

Acknowledgments

Special appreciation goes to the Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace (CUSP) project community, as this paper is dedicated to disseminating peace in Palestine through raising the awareness within the Palestinian community of some issues of conflict, such as gender-based violence and women’s rights. Special thanks are due to the two trainers, Dr Refaat Alareer and Ms Jehan Abu Lasheen, who conducted the fiction-writing courses arranged to improve the university students’ abilities when writing books for children. Additional gratitude is extended to Ms Azza Al Sahhar, the project coordinator, for her efforts during the different stages of the training course. We also thank the trainees themselves for their commitment and contribution.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been corrected with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Culture For Sustainable AND Inclusive Peace (CUSP) Network Plus under the AHRC award number AH/T007931/1.

Notes on contributors

Mahmoud O. Jalambo

Mahmoud O. Jalambo is assistant professor in the Department of Education at the College of Applied Sciences and Arts (CAAS), Dhofar University. +20 years of experience in English language teaching and training. He is a research Associate for the University of Glasgow through the international project of Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace (CUSP). He is a certified English for Freelancers ToT with the British Council. He won the prize of DigiEduHack for Palestine event in 2020. He has published several articles in Scopus-indexed journals, as his key research interests include e-learning, English for freelancers, gender, and Effective Planning for better learning.

Nazmi A. Al-Masri

Nazmi Al-Masri is associate professor in the English Language Department at the Islamic University of Gaza, Palestine. He was a member of the Palestinian National Team for the development of the first English language curriculum and textbooks. He has been a co-investigator and consultant on +20 British and EU-funded research and capacity building projects. He co-edited a book, co-published five articles in three edited books and several articles in international journals and co-presented in international conferences. Some of his related contributions is working for the British Council - English for the Future.

Refaat R. Alareer

Refaat R. Alareer is a professor of world literature and creative writing in the English language Department at the Islamic University of Gaza and the editor of Gaza Writes Back: Short Stories from Young Writers in Gaza, Palestine (JWB, 2013). He earned his Ph.D. from UPM-Malaysia, and his M.A. in Literature from University College, London. He is a prominent Palestinian writer, poet, professor, and peace activist, through Arts, from the Gaza Strip. He contributed to the development of various Arts-based training programmes, he published many of scientific research articles in scientific and specialized journals and participated in several conferences.