Beit Jala and Jena continue to work together on the geoinformation system (GIS)

Delegation from the Palestinian twin city visits Jena

2.5 years of screen tiles instead of face-to-face meetings with the partners. Dr. Markus Meinhardt (Geoinformation Team Leader, Jena City Council) and Daniel Cebulla (GIS Application Manager, Kommunale Immobilien Jena) as well as Adel Ledawi, Ibrahim Anastas and Amira Matar from the Geoinformation team of Jena's twin city Beit Jala/Palestine will finally be able to meet and exchange ideas in person again in Jena from 28 November to 1 December.

The current trip is about technical support and advice for the further development and optimization of the geoinformation system (GIS) that has been set up in Beit Jala over the last two years. Dr. Markus Meinhardt and Daniel Cebulla already travelled to the twin city in May 2022 for this purpose. This week, the project partners from Beit Jala can now be welcomed to Jena for the first time. The Palestinian guests will get to know various GIS users (geoinformation, road planning, urban development, environment and tourism) at Jena City Council. The focus will be on gaining practical technical experience in municipal GIS development and use in order to familiarize the Beit Jala team with the state of digital transformation in Jena.

The technical cooperation between Jena and Beit Jala in the field of GIS is a complete success. Thanks to the joint application for funding, the local GIS developer Ibrahim Anastas was able to start work in Beit Jala two years ago. The products developed are already being used effectively in everyday work.

The exchange between Beit Jala and Jena is 100% funded by the German Society for International Cooperation (GIZ) and the Service Agency Communities in One World (SKEW) of Engagement Global with funds from the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and will run until the end of 2024. The Jena project is one of 19 throughout Germany, the only one in cooperation with Palestine.

Overall, the current visit strengthens the city partnership and promotes the technical expertise of the GIS employees from Beit Jala through knowledge transfer. Through the project, the city of Jena is contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, in particular Goal 17 "Partnerships for the Goals".