Holy Land Trust is in the process of developing a new program: a handicrafts project that employs women to do embroidery in order to provide opportunities to improve the livelihood of their families. There are many organizations that are currently employing women to do embroidery within the Bethlehem area and Holy Land Trust needed research about what successes these organizations have had and what has not worked as well. Furthermore, Holy Land Trust wants to expand the handicrafts market by offering a wider variety of embroidered products that will appeal to international tourists. 

For the past two months I have been digging into the handicrafts sector here in Bethlehem to compile information for Holy Land Trust. I met with and interviewd locals who work with women to manufacture handicrafts, visited exhibits that showcase embroidery and Palestinian history, developed and conducted a survey for the target customer and drew up new product designs. This internship gave me the opportunity to interact with locals, learn more about Palestinian heritage, utilize my creativity, and gain experience with writing a report on market research. This internship was also a wonderful window into working for a non-profit organization and I now understand more about the inner-workings of non-profits.