NGO #14812

TAMER Institute for Community Education is an educational non-governmental non for profit organization established in 1989 as a natural and necessary response to the urgent needs of the Palestinian community during the first intifada (uprising). The most important of these is the need to acquire means to help people learn and become productive. Focusing principally on the rights to education, identity, freedom of expression, and access to information, Tamer works across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, primarily targeting children and young adults to encourage and deepen opportunities of learning among them. Our program aims to contribute to enhancing reading, writing and all forms of Expression among children and young adults. It also aims at contributing to a Palestinian environment that is supportive to learning processes, and at supporting the literary and scholar production on child culture in Palestine. Our Name The name of the Institute is derived from the date fruit, which has an important standing in the Arab and Palestinian culture and heritage. Dates come from the Palm tree and were historically considered a primary source of nutrition, helping people to survive when other food was not available. Dates are seen as a symbol of spiritual food, which helps nourishing, understanding and encouraging sharing and spiritual growth. The Tamer (pronounced ta-amer) is the person who transports the date seeds from the male palm tree to the female palm tree, which produces the fruit. This process fertilizes the seed and improves the female tree’s production. This process reflects the Institute’s role in society, where it transfers knowledge and experiences from one person to another in order to develop capacity and skills for its beneficiaries at community level. In disseminating knowledge across the community, we help the community grow and learn from its experiences and potentials. Our Logo Our logo is a poppy breaking through rocky soil, reflecting the hope in the potential for change within society, which sometimes contains restrictive social structures and thought patterns that hinder development and waste potential. For the Tamer Institute, this hope is embodied in children and young people, who are like the poppy, breaking through these obstacles and contributing to the process of changing and developing society.