The programs of Ahali Center have made a quantum step in the quality
and nature of its activities and the geographical spread of its
activities. Its staff has developed professionally, expanded and
strengthened the ties between the different programs and projects. Two
of these programs, The Arab Farmers and the Equal Opportunities for
Women in Agriculture, have gained a great reputation within the
community, local institutes and the press as well. Today more
individuals and groups are approaching Ahali to join our activities and
we are expanding our work in two new programs, "Parents as
Partners in Education" and "Organizing and Empowering Small
Enterprises".
2. Equal Opportunities for Women in Agriculture
Achievements
New women's groups have been created (each
group includes between 18-25 participants): 3 in the southern
Triangle, 3 in the Northern Triangle and 3 in the north (Upper and
Lower Galilee). These groups are being trained through the main
three stages of the program: · Personal and social awareness and
empowerment · Entrepreneurial training through acquiring
professional knowledge · Business management and marketing skills
9 groups are in the follow up stage; they
are receiving counseling in initiating their businesses and planning
them, designing, packaging and marketing their products, executing
social and cultural activities at the local level, advertising and
preparing fairs.
6 fairs took place in the last year, in
which women had the opportunity to advertise, market and get to know
the local public. Some of the products are: Z'atar (a spice mixture,
named after its main component, an indigenous herb) and spices, body
care, cosmetics and therapeutic herbals, candles, soaps, jewelry and
artisanal creations, food, honey and embroidery. All are hand made
and/or natural products.
7 Women's cooperative business initiatives
have been developed in several of the groups.
In September 2005, the first part of the
course of economic and business trainers ended. The new trainers,
with the ability to offer guidance in establishment of new
businesses and their management, joined the program training staff.
It is notable that these are the only qualified women facilitators
in the Arab community in this field. The second part of the course
began in June 2006 with two additional participants so the total
number reached 12.
A new marketing approach has been tested,
in order to promote exporting for women and small enterprise
products, through connections with sellers in Europe. Samples and
products were sent to be marketed among several Arab communities in
Europe and among other ethnical markets.
"Exposure to the north" is a new
marketing project initiated by Shatel and the NIF. Ahali has been
chosen to be one of 7 partners in this project which aims at
supporting small businesses in the north after the war; the project
has launched a new web site that includes a catalog of women and
small business products. This web site will be widely published
among Jewish communities in the USA, and will systematically operate
as a long term marketing tool. Alongside this catalog the producers
are going to receive a range of counseling and advisory services in
order to prepare orders. 0ver 20 women participants of Al Ahali
groups are taking part in this project.
Campaign to collect donations for children
in the West Bank: this campaign is becoming an annual activity
during holidays and feasts. This year over 2000 suits for children
have been donated and delivered to women's centers in the villages
of Ramalla and Bethlehem. The campaign was operated totally by
women's groups in the Galilee and Triangle villages.
Two agricultural experiments were conducted
in the summer by the women's group of Al-Makeer who are growing
Za'tar: · Second year experiment in trellised cucumbers, which aims
at improving the growing conditions of the cucumber and to provide
an alternative growing method to the traditional one which was
particularly physically hard on women farmers and had caused a mass
abandonment of this sector. The alternative method of growing is
innovative to the farming sector in Israel; it will be examined for
another year with respect to yields, quality, its alleviation of
health conditions of the farmers and picking speed.
Improvement of the traditional kind of
watermelon: this experiment is also innovative and aims at
overcoming the growing difficulties in the traditional watermelon
which is very widespread in the North.
6 field trips have been organized to give
women's participants the opportunity to meet each other in their own
villages and work places and get to know each other's products and
organize common activities. In addition, two field trips to the
occupied Golan Heights have been organized to meet with women who
initiated various projects in this area, and to learn about
agricultural services provided by the Golan Development Organization.
A study day was held particularly for the
Maker group, in order to examine and evaluate work tools, marketing
problems, and to summarize their experience after the first year of
their cooperative agriculture plot.
This program has been approved to continue in the coming three years
due to its uniqueness in the Arab community. It is the first project of
micro-credit for women, which takes into consideration the social
obstacles and the importance of women's empowerment in order to develop.
The next three years will carry the title of "Equal Opportunities
for Rural women" which means that the program will not only
concentrate on agricultural issues and products but also on other
commercial and economic fields that will help women improve their
income and find their route in the market with professions that they
wish to acquire. Another three years means a huge geographical
expansion and exposure of the program to the community at large and
active involvement of women in social and economic spheres.
3. Arab Farmers - Equality and Development Program
3.1 Rehabilitating the Palestinian Agricultural Lands Located to
the West of the Wall
The project is concentrated in six Palestinian villages close to the
separation wall; the rehabilitation project included: Weed control and
tree rehabilitation of 10,000 dunams of olives. The project began in
December 2005.
Chemical weed control on 7000 dunams of
olive trees
Rehabilitation of burned trees by sharp
pruning of 2500 dunams
1500 meter water pipeline was extended for
irrigation of the lands
Building 2,200 meters of terraces that
serve 1500 dunams of agricultural lands
Constructing an agricultural road that is
surrounded by settlements and serves 300 dunams of agricultural
land.
30 agricultural guidance workshops have
been organized in these 6 villages, which are: Jayyous, Ateel, Der
al-Ghsoun, Qufein, Falamia, Kufr Jmal and Kufr Sour. More than 600
farmers attended them.
Demonstration day organized to show the
farmers how to use the hand-machines in olive picking that can
increase the olive harvesting of workers by 6 times for the farmers
benefit. 60 farmers participated.
Excavating of 6 new cisterns to collect
rain water
Kibbutz Metzer together with Qufein
Agricultural Cooperative (Palestinian farmers from the West Bank)
initiated a new project for growing organic spices and marketing
them abroad.
3.2 Rehabilitating the Naqab
This project is implemented through a coalition of 5 organizations.
Ahali is responsible for the agricultural part:
Constructing of 60 dams to prevent the
flood waters from reaching the agricultural lands. These dams
provide water for 240 dunams owned by 60 farmers.
240 dunams were cultivated and planted with
olive trees.
5 workshops were organized in this year,
where 100 farmers participated.
2 agricultural tours with 30 farmers
participating in each
We have backed and supported the municipality of Rahat in their
appeal to the Ministry of Agriculture in order to allocate an
agricultural park for sheep growers, to allow them to withdraw their
sheep sheds out of the residential sections of the town. Ahali
succeeded to get a space for 45 new sheds. The Ministry of Agriculture
will be responsible for the development of the infrastructure in the
park and partially finance the expense of moving the herd away from the
residential sections of town.
3.3 Treated Water for Agriculture Development
5 meetings and conferences took place in
order to explain for the farmers the benefit of using the treated
water in the A'rou'ar village - Naqab.
10 field tours for the farmers in the north
to show them the ways of using the treated water; 60-70 farmers
participated in these days.
5 cooperative associations were established
in the Upper and Lower Galilee, in order to promote the issue of
treated water and be responsible for their distribution.
3.4 Arab Fishermen
The problem of Arab fishermen has been introduced to the Ministry of
Agriculture and Shebah committee. A special report has been prepared
after meeting the Arab fishermen (in Akko, Jaffa, Furadis and Jisr-al
Zarka) and learning about their difficulties and problems. This report
was submitted to Shebah committee (a committee nominated by the
Minister of Agriculture to plan the fishery industry in Israel)
A meeting was carried out with the
management of the Ministry of Agriculture to present the obstacles
that Arab farmers face, and propose solutions in matters related to:
agricultural buildings, marketing of products and the need for
grants and loans. This matter is still pending.
Several guidance meetings for women working
in agriculture took place in cooperation between the Arab Farmers
Program and the Equal Opportunities for Women in Agriculture Program.
10 field and professional trips took place
for more than 200 farmers to introduce them to the new types of
crops and vegetables and new techniques in farming
After the flooding that occurred in the
Western Galilee and Ara Valley last April and the damage it caused,
Ahali had supported several farmers asking for compensation from the
Ministry of Agriculture, and succeeded in some cases.
Lack of the Palestinian workers coming from
the occupied territories had left the agricultural sector with
severe damage and with no skilled workers, which obliged Ahali to
interfere and lobby with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of
Agriculture and the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Employment.
After submitting the required applications and paying the
registration fees, 70 foreign workers were allowed entrance to
Israel to work in Arab farms.
4. Parents as Partners in Education Program
Field survey about the function and the
intervention of the Parents in the educational system. This survey
was conducted through gathering information from 6 schools and
meetings with 8 members from different parents' committees from
various villages, including also the head of the National Union for
Arab Parents Committees.
Meeting with 2 educational supervisors and
professionals and two head-masters of schools in order to evaluate
and gather information about the expectations of the educational
system (teachers, controllers, head-masters) from the parents active
intervention in this system and how they view their role in it.
13 members joined the steering committee
which will be the guiding force of the project. It includes
personnel active and involved in the educational system in various
ways. They include: school teachers, head-masters and former
head-masters, educational advisors and inspectors, parents, the
president and members of the National Union for Arab Parents
Committees.
defining the needs - inquiry survey- of the
educational system in the Arab community according to the
geographical location and the population needs: this was done
through visits and meetings with professionals from the Naqb, mixed
cities, unrecognized villages, northern Israel and the Triangle.
constructing the implementation plan for
the first half-year of the program that will include 8 workshops for
the parents and 3 joint workshops for the parents and the
head-masters of the schools.
the coordinator of the program participated
in a learning trip to Lithuania, where a delegation was sent to
learn about the educational system and the reform done to it taking
into account the minorities' needs in this country.
This program was exposed to public opinion
and interested individuals and organizations by media coverage.
5. Organizing and Empowering Small Enterprises Program
filed analyses of poverty and unemployment
reports published lately by the social security institution and its
impact on the Arab community and Israeli society.
6 members joined the steering committee of
the project. They are economists, employees in the Ministry of
Industry, Trade and Employment, business men and traders.
2 field trips to verify the conditions of
the industrial zones in Kfar-Kana and Schnien, and report about the
infrastructure and the organization.
6. Ahali in the Media
Ahali Center for Community Development in cooperation with I'lam
Center had organized a tour for journalists, ambassadors and relevant
organizations to highlight the effects of the wall on the daily life of
Palestinian farmers in the area of Qualquilya and Tulkarem and to
illustrate the work done by Ahali to help the farmers rehabilitate
their lands. The tour took place last April in 6 different villages
with more than 50 participants. The tour and the rehabilitation project
of Ahali to the west of the wall have been covered widely by the local
and international press, more than 10 newspapers, websites and radio
stations had valued highly this project and allocated for it special
attention and reporting.
The activities carried out in all the programs of Ahali have been
broadly exposed. Articles on the participants, their initiatives and
Ahali staff appeared in variety of newspapers, websites, radio stations
and TV channels: Kul-Alarab, Fasl-almaqal, Al-Ethad, Panorama, Panet,
Al-Ahali, Sout-albald, Hadith-alnas, al-Naqab, Haaretz, Radio Alshams,
and Israel Radio in Arabic, Al-Jazeera TV and others.
7. Coalitions, networks and policy change
Ahali had joined different coalitions and networks that are working
among the Arab community and world wide, in order to combine our local
actions with our general social and political vision.
Ahali is part of a coalition of 10 women
organizations that has been established to insure women membership
and representation in the High Follow-Up Committee of Arabs in
Israel. This coalition aims also at lobbying to include a Gender
perspective and women's issues on the agenda of the committee.
Ahali had joined lately the Women's Budget
Forum which includes more than 20 Israeli Organizations which aims
at creating public and parliamentary awareness of the gender
implications of economic policies.
Atta - Coalition for organizing and
instructing the community in emergency cases: Ahali Center together
with other 6 organizations initiated emergency services for the Arab
community during the latest war, and coordinated a coalition named
Atta (giving - in Arabic). This coalition offered an emergency line
that provides psychological consultancy and legal instructions in
case of material and physical damages and how to retrieve the
appropriate compensations. Also a special website for Atta was
constructed that provides the legal, health and psychological
guidance. After the war has come to an end, activity day was
organized for 400 children's from the most damaged places to assist
them muddle through their fears and desperations. This was done
through activities sessions of music, stories, self expression and
open entertainment.
8. Publications
5 editions of the bi-monthly magazine
"the farmer - Almozar'a" saw the light this year. This
magazine is concerned with the environment, rural development,
agriculture and related themes that interests our community.
Instruction bulletin on cultivation of
medicinal herbs for women groups.
Instruction bulletin on bee keeping for the
women's groups and the interested public.
Professional bulletin on rehabilitation of
the affected agricultural lands to the west of the wall, directed to
the farmers in Kefin and Jaious villages.
Field survey of the Palestinian
agricultural lands remained to the west of the wall, this was
published in the three languages: English, Hebrew and Arabic and was
disseminated widely.
Publishing an information booklet (windows
on the sun), that is designed for parents wish to help their
children's cooping with the traumatic feeling during the latest war
and avoid any dangerous places. The booklet was distributed in Arab
villages attacked. The booklet was written by psychologists in
cooperation with Ahali Center that designed and edited the
information.
Professional instruction bulletin on
pruning olive trees was published recently to help farmers improve
the products of olive oil this season in the year.
9. Ahali Supporting
Generous financial support from foundations, organizations, and individuals enables Ahali to undertake its wide variety of activities promoting grassroots activism and social equality within the Palestinian community in Israel.
Ahali gratefully acknowledges the support of our partners including:
Ford Foundation
C.C.F.D – French Catholic Committee Against Hunger And For Development
E.E.D – Church Development Service (Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst)
2003
