Israel/Palestine: Programme Evaluation of Forum ZFD Palestine and Israel Regional Programme

Oct 14, 2025 (Deadline: 2025-11-16) | Pro Peace (Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V.)
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Organizational Overview

Forum Ziviler Friedensdienst e.V. (forumZFD) is a non-profit peacebuilding organization with its Head Office in Cologne, Germany, which supports people involved in violent conflicts on the path to peace and strives to help overcome war and violence. forumZFD is currently working with peace consultants in Germany, as well as 12 other countries in Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Through dialogue events, educational work and campaigns, forumZFD actively advocates civil peace policy. The organization finances its work through public and private grants, donations and membership fees.

forumZFD is a member of the Civil Peace Service (CPS) – a German government-funded programme that promotes nonviolent conflict transformation by sending trained peace experts to regions affected by crisis and violence. We promote nonviolent transformation of conflicts, especially in war and crisis zones by supporting local partners in areas such as dealing with the past, peace education or environmental peacebuilding. Through our training programmes and fieldwork, forumZFD helps build long-term structures for peaceful conflict transformation. In the Middle East, there are forumZFD programmes in Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Palestine and Israel.

The Palestine and Israel Regional Programme

forumZFD’s Palestine and Israel regional programme started more than 25 years ago. From the beginning, forumZFD has cooperated in this regional programme with the Willy-Brandt-Center (WBC). Both organizations are implementing this CPS-programme together, with forumZFD as the lead organisation. The two offices in Jerusalem have together 14 national and international employees.

In the past years, the overall context has changed drastically in Palestine and Israel. The war in Gaza following the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023, as well as the escalation of violence in the West Bank, have severely restricted the space for civil society actors. The situation in the West Bank continues to deteriorate due to military operations and increased violence from Israeli settlers. Freedom of movement for Palestinians is heavily restricted, with far-reaching implications for daily life and civic engagement. These developments have deepened polarization within and between Israeli and Palestinian societies and further limited civic discourse. In addition, repression from both Israeli and Palestinian authorities makes it increasingly difficult for individuals and organizations to voice critical opinions.

Despite these challenges, the forumZFD programme has continued its work under conditions of high political pressure and growing security risks, while new civil society initiatives in Palestine and Israel have emerged that are committed to developing and strengthening nonviolent narratives. The rapidly changing environment requires strategic adaptation of the programme.