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TABLE OF CONTENTS
NISPED-AJEEC’s unique projects in economic empowerment for Arab-Bedouin women and men, which tap the population’s needs and talents, continue to be of major importance for their communities in the Negev and for the reduction of unemployment and poverty.
Fashion design, a sheep breeder’s cooperative and more…
“We are doing our best to change Bedouin society, from a society of consumers to a society of producers.”
In these words, Aatef abu Ajaj, the Coordinator of Economic Development Projects, sums up NISPED-AJEEC’s vision of economic empowerment for the 170,000 Arab-Bedouin residents of the Negev.
The projects and courses of the last few months reflect this vision and have been filled with heightened activities and “firsts.”
Two courses – one in traditional Bedouin fashion design and one for women sports trainers – comprise our newest additions to the courses offered by NISPED-AJEEC this year. These courses are designed specifically for the Arab-Bedouin sector, and reach 50 women participants, between the ages of 18 – 35. The courses focus not only on teaching the women these professions that are in demand in their villages and towns, but also on personal and community empowerment and on the development of sound business plans.
Combining jewelry with embrodiery - for new enterprises for Arab-Bedouin women.
After graduation, NISPED will work toward helping the women obtain small business loans so that they will be able to provide needed services and to also have income for their families.
Arab-Bedouin sheep breeders from the Negev, graduates of NISPED-AJEEC’s economic and empowerment course on this topic, established the first Arab-Bedouin cooperative ever to be created, Shvil Ha’ezim (“The Goat Path”) in January of this year. The cooperative aims:
1) To represent the breeders in governmental institutions
2) To encourage intensive breeding in order to make sheep breeding an economically sound endeavor
3) To obtain higher water and milk quotas for the breeders
4) To establish an authentic dairy, a feed center and a business that will market their meat to supermarket chains
NISPED-AJEEC will continue to provide support and consultation for the 25 member cooperative over the next few years, as it embarks on its many plans.
In addition to the enterprise, Arab-Bedouins have also come together to create the first businessmen’s forum. To date, 25 men have joined this organization, whose goals are to establish a legal entity that will represent the men, and that will facilitate joint partnerships with Jewish businessmen in the Negev region. In early March, the men will participate in a two-day seminar, at the Dead Sea, on “Building a Vision and a Business Plan.”
Together with NISPED-AJEEC, the entrepreneurs, who come from the businesses of construction, manpower, garages, food, clothing, and more, are currently planning the establishment of a non-profit that will be able to provide Arab-Bedouin students with scholarships for the study of economics and management, and to create a framework for new business initiatives.
The businessmen meet at their forum.
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Building Ties for the Future
November 25 - 28th, 2007 were special days for women entrepreneurs from rural and peripheral regions in Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Italy who came together in Jerusalem to meet with one another, form support systems and plan for possible future joint work. The women, who all specialize in design, production and marketing of crafts - ceramics, jewelry, puppets, painting and more – participated in a networking conference that concluded two years of a joint NISPED – YEP, DIESES and LEGACOOP project that had been funded by the EURO-MEDITERRANEAN REGIONAL PROGRAMME
Opening remarks made by Dr. Yehudah Paz, Chairperson of NISPED; Hazem Kawasmi, Vice-President of YEP – Young Entrepreneurs of Palestine – and Stefania Marcone, Chief, International Relations Office LEGACOOP in Italy, stressed the importance of joining European, Palestinian and Israelis together in peaceful, economic endeavors and in partnerships for peace and development.
The participants presented their personal stories of how their dreams of establishing businesses, based on their crafts and art, came to fruition, the challenges they faced and the support they receive from family and their social networks. Over the three days, the women exhibited their products, visited women’s enterprises in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Lakiya, and met together in social and informal interactions.
The strong feeling, expressed repeatedly throughout the conference, was the desire to forge additional opportunities that would support the women in carrying out joint endeavors. The entrepreneurs noted that the unique opportunity they had been given to begin to get to know one another on the interpersonal, social and professional levels, through their common languages of crafts and economic empowerment is the way to create peace, in the full meaning of the word.
Eshter Lazarov and one of her puppets at the networking conference.
As a result of the first conference, we embarked on two new endeavors. On the 11th of February, we held a one-day training program for the Palestinian women that focused on improving the quality and finish of their products. In the near future, the participants will meet with a buyer and two designers in order to create a plan for marketing their products to a wide audience. As a follow-up, in mid March, we will be holding a two-day meeting in Nazareth for the Palestinian and Israeli women who took part in the first conference. At that encounter we will explore the possibility of joint creation and production of the women’s products.
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Over the last few months, NISPED has offered courses and study missions for people from African and the United States. In our work in the cooperative realm, NISPED-ICECOS ran two courses: “Change Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership in the Era of Globalization” and “Empowerment and Sustainable Human Development in Rural Africa.” The 44 participants in these two courses join our growing list of individuals and organizations that are integrating cooperative values into their economic and development endeavors.
Peace, Empowerment and Social Change Study Mission
“This has been a life changing experience, one that I will never forget. I came here with a very heavy heart, afraid that what I would see and learn about on this trip might be the final straw that would break my ties to Judaism and to Israel. But I come away with such a deep admiration for all of you who are doing such important work here, and it gives me the new found motivation to do all I can to work toward peace when I return home to Denver…” A Jewish participant on the last day of the trip
Together with Seeking Common Ground (SCG) - a Denver- based NGO that works toward empowering individuals to work for world change, by creating peaceful communities – NISPED ran a 10-day trip that focused on the difficult challenges facing Israeli society and on grassroots efforts to make Israel a more just and equitable society. Our travels took us to Bedouin communities and the Sderot region in the Negev, to Haifa and Nazareth in the North, and Jerusalem and Hebron.
This trip, the first such study mission conducted by NISPED and SCG, not only focused on the problems Israel faces, but also on the many creative peoples and grassroots organizations working to change our often harsh reality. The twenty-four women, and one man, who participated in the journey, saw an Israel that few international visitors see, indeed one that few Israelis see. The trip was an emotional one, an experience that challenged stereotypes and dichotomies, that brought the complexities of life in Israel to the forefront.
Hanna Barag from MachsomWatch, talks to the group about experiences at the Bethlehem checkpoint.
Among our many site visits, we met with residents of Um Batim – a Bedouin village recently ‘recognized’ by the Israeli government in the Negev that is engaged in community empowerment through one of our Parents as Partners Projects. We learned how women are helping other women through Economic Empowerment for Women – a grassroots organization that helps raise the socio-economic status of women in Israel by assisting them in achieving economic independence through the creation of small businesses. In Jerusalem, we sat with Robi Damelin and Ali abu Awwad – from the Parents Circle- Families Forum – and learned how Israelis and Palestinians who have lost children to the bloody conflict come together to teach peace and work for a world that will not know the pain that they know.
Melodye Feldman, founder and executive director of SCG, is already planning the next study mission that will be undertaken in conjunction with NISPED. “We have already heard from a number of people that want to know when the next trip will take place. We are preparing to have many more participants, perhaps even two groups…”
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NISPED, the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, is a nonprofit association promoting peace and development. Focused on the centrality of the civil society, NISPED serves as a center for education, training and project development for societies in transition, at the international, regional and local levels.
NISPED includes 3 major divisions:
AJEEC: Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation focuses on the Arab citizens of Israel in general, and the Arab-Bedouin population of the Negev in particular.
INCEP-SME: The International Center for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, conducts programs and projects advancing small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship.
ICECOS: The International Center For Cooperative Studies, focuses on the promotion and development of cooperatives and people-centered enterprises.
SPOTLIGHT ON:
Aatef abu Ajaj - Director of Economic Economic Department, AJEEC
“If I had more than 24 hours in a day, I could do more…”
Aatef abu Ajaj, NISPED-AJEEC’s Coordinator of Economic Empowerment Projects, has a vision: In order for the Arab-Bedouin community of the Negev to obtain equality and be full partners in Israeli society, the Bedouin need to have financial security. By working to close the gap between the Israeli “haves” and “have-nots,” Aatef is instigating numerous opportunities for men and women in his community, in a myriad of enterprises.
Aatef’s achievements in economic empowerment of the Arab-Bedouin of the Negev are inspiring. He has planned and managed courses for women on becoming DJs, hairdressers, photographers, jewelry making and more. He has overseen the construction and renovation of a building that has turned into a state-of-the-art kitchen that will provide all the hot lunches for Hura school children – a catering business that will be run by single mothers. He helped create the first Arab Bedouin cooperative and businessmen’s forum and women’s business club. And he has already embarked on plans for 2009 that include training Arab-Bedouin to become web and graphic designers, dental technicians, to study alternative medicine, and financial advising.
At 28, Aatef, who hails from the Bedouin town Kseifa, is married and the father of two. He holds an undergraduate degree in industrial and managerial engineering and a diploma in software engineering. He brings to NISPED-AJEEC a wealth of knowledge and high energy, and accomplishes his work in a soft-spoken manner that invites cooperation.
As Aatef notes: “There is no difference between Achmed from Kseifa and Yossi from Dimona. Both of them live in the ‘backyard’ of the State of Israel. They need to collaborate with one another in order to stand together in their meetings with decision makers in Jerusalem, demanding full economic opportunities available to other citizens of the country. By working together, Arabs and Jews in the periphery will develop their communities and obtain equality.”
Vivian Silver, Executive Director of NISPED, adds: "Aatef's vision and the work of his department should be an integral part of the government's agenda for developing the Negev."
NISPED Partners and Sponsors
NISPED works in cooperation with, and receives funding from, various bodies in Israel and abroad. In Israel this includes governmental organizations such as MASHAV – the Center for International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Insurance Institute, the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labor and the Ministries of Social Welfare, Education and Health. Support from abroad for our activities comes from UN agencies such as the ILO – International Labor Organization; foreign governmental agencies such as the U.S. State Department- MEPI (Middle East Peace Initiative); the European Commission, – Europe Aid – MEDA, the Foreign Ministries of Japan, Britain and the Netherlands, and NGOs such as JDC – the Joint Distribution Committee, B'nai Brith International, the American Jewish Committee and ICA – the International Cooperative Alliance.
In addition, NISPED receives extensive support from private foundations and individuals. For a detailed list please click here.
SUPPORT NISPED
NISPED is an independent nonprofit association. We count on like-minded people and organizations to support our work.
To make a tax-exempt contribution, click here.
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