Advocacy at PAL
PAL facilitates and delivers lectures, organizes events, initiates movements, and supports initiatives that aim to inspire compassion and empower people to change their attitudes toward animals.
PAL's initiatives consistently aim to be people-oriented and we believe that community engagement and support are the key to the sustainability of our programs. Our approach is focused on education and engaging in effective dialogue that cultivates joint problem-solving.
Throughout the 10 years of PAL’s work, a great shift in people’s attitudes and behaviors toward animals has been achieved. The mission of PAL will continue for the years to come.
PAL’s main Advocacy Focus Areas:
- Utilizing social media to promote CNVR as the most suitable population control method
- Organizing CNVR events to introduce the project and address any perceived concerns by the public
- Producing and publishing booklets and leaflets introducing the project and its benefits
- Cooperating with volunteers who would spread knowledge about the project in their areas of residence
Create Awareness and Positive Attitudes Towards CNVR in Society
This campaign aims to create awareness around the different approaches to managing a country’s stray animal population, while explaining why CNVR is the most sustainable and humane approach. Our belief is that when society members are convinced of CNVR as the most appropriate alternative then they will become effective partners in this endeavor, by
- 1- Helping excerpt pressure on their local municipalities
- 2- Committing to complementary initiatives such as solid waste management
- 3- Providing direct help and support by dropping dogs off at CNVR stations
- 4- Caring for the neutered dogs in their respective communities
- 5- Completely stopping the use of other population control methods such as culling
- PAL will be launching a Baladi Ambassador Program in which a Baladi dog will be trained and act as the ambassador for Baladi dogs
- Holding workshops and events at different venues such as schools with the ambassador dog
- Social media campaigns to spread more awareness about the admirable qualities of Baladi dogs
Change Attitudes Towards Palestinian Baladi Dogs
This campaign aims to generate positive attitudes towards Palestinian Baladi dogs, and to encourage people to adopt stray Baladi dogs instead of buying foreign breed dogs. People’s current attitudes towards Baladi dogs are generally negative, and when getting a dog people tend to buy German Shepherds or Huskies, rather than adopting a Baladi dog from a shelter or from the streets. Thus we wish to educate people about the abilities and benefits of adopting Baladi dogs. This campaign will generally aim to:
- Change the widespread negative perception of Baladi dogs
- Encourage adoptions of Baladi dogs instead of imported dog breeds
- Reduce cases of violence against Baladi dogs
- Incorporate Baladi dogs into the community by training them to perform different tasks
- Producing a library for pet owners through PAL’s website
- Training sessions available at reduced costs at PAL
- Providing health care resources through our website and on-demand
- Utilizing social media to spread awareness of responsible pet ownership principles
- Producing and distributing relevant content to pet shops and other touch points
Responsible Pet Ownership
The aim of this campaign is to provide pet owners with the knowledge, resources, and tools that they need in order to raise their pets responsibly. Starting from getting a pet (adopt dont shop, how to know which pet is most suitable for your lifestyle and capabilities), moving towards dog training (PAL will provide training resources for free or at reduced costs), moving to health care tips. By providing such resources for pet owners, PAL aims to:
- Enable pet owners to make more responsible decisions towards their pets
- Encourage adoption instead of purchase of pets
- Reducing pet abandonment
- Encouraging pet owners towards neuter their pets to contribute to CNVR efforts
- Organizing animal welfare events in schools and universities
- Encouraging the establishment of animal rights clubs at neighborhoods, schools, and universities
- Developing alliances and building programs with youth centers
- Host summer camps to deeply engage youth in animal welfare issues
- Offering capacity building, office space, and technical support to creative animal welfare youth initiatives
Youth & Education
The aim of this campaign is to empower young ambassadors to drive positive change in Palestinian society by developing projects and initiatives that create shifts in thinking about human-animal relationships. Through empowering youth by providing them with basic tools and training we hope to be able to facilitate their transformation of society’s attitudes and behaviors towards animals. Through creating strategic partnerships with schools, universities, youth and cultural centers we hope to able to impact a large base of Palestinian youth. The aim of this initiative will be to:
- Spark Palestinian youths’ interest in animal welfare topics
- Transform the new generations’ thinking about the human-animal relationship
- Make use of new blood’s ability to generate new creative solutions for old problems
- Empower young entrepreneurs who come up with initiatives that would improve animal welfare
- Organizing events and social media campagins that would Increasing awareness of farmed animal sentience
- Exposing inhumane and sometimes illegal practices in the Palestinian industrial farmed animal complex
- Increasing awarness of health benefits of being vegan and promoting vegan alternatives from our the traditional Palestinian menu
- Organizng vegan events and providing resources and support to vegans through our channels
Veganism
The aim of the campaign is to create awareness around the cruelty of the food system and raise awareness about alternatives from within our food heritage, with the goal of reducing the consumption of animal products. Through highlighting animal sentience we hope to be able to create awareness about the harms that animals experience in slaughterhouses and create pressure against the government and against the meat trade industry to follow guidelines and regulations that ensure minimal harm to animals in slaughterhouses (transportation, living conditions). The goals of this initiative will be to:
- Increase awareness of farmed animal sentience
- Increase awareness of the suffering animals go through in the meat and other animal products industries
- Provide support and capacity building to vegan groups in Palestine
- Reducing consumption of meat and other animal products in Palestine
- Increasing attention given to practices in animal farms and slaughterhouses