The first phase focused on a field survey to map the area and determine women’s needs, and the creation of a project steering committee.
1. Mapping of the needs of the area was carried out with the help of focus groups comprised of women from different regions, with the following goals in mind:
* Mapping of villages and focal points for future project intervention
* Exploring of the needs of rural women
* Locating of potential groups for project participation
* recruitment of local partners
In the course of this phase five meetings were held and tours conducted according to a representative distribution of the agricultural population in rural Arab agricultural society as detailed below:
* The south – 25 participants from Rahat town in the Negev
* The triangle – 6 participants who comprise the women’s committee of the village of Qalansuwa
* The Galilee – 12 participants from the Al Batuf Regional Council and 4 from the town of Tamra. A visit was paid to the agricultural women of the village of Daburiya
* The Western Galilee – 20 participants from the village of Macher
A summary of the issues discussed in the course of the deliberations:
* Most of the women who participated in the meetings were born into farming families but their present involvement in the agriculture is minor.
* A majority of those present admitted to a basic knowledge of agriculture, formed from the family background and their involvement in the family’s agricultural activities.
* In the majority of cases the women employ their knowledge of agriculture solely for domestic purposes such as creating a garden around the house or tending a family vegetable garden for home consumption.
* Agriculture no longer serves as a sole source of income, especially because of the small plots which remain at the families’ disposal as a result of expropriation by the authorities and subdivision under the traditions of inheritance.
*As a consequence of lack of knowledge, coupled with insufficient resources, women are loathe to attempt to overcome their situation.
* The market is well supplied with traditional, basic agricultural products. This makes it difficult for women cultivating small plots or operating small domestic production units to compete with large, well-established producers.
* Arab women are highly disillusioned because of their exploitation within the extended family. In the past they served as the main source of agricultural labor but did not share in the profits or participate in the decision making process and, especially, the land resources served the males of the family and they were dispossessed from any inheritance rights.
* In light of such problems, women prefer to take advantage of non-farm employment opportunities if they become available, and to enter into clerical or other professional employment that is not as physically demanding.
Definition of the needs that derive from the above leads to three main directions for corrective action:
- Political, connected with the discrimination of the Arab population
- Social, related to the status of women within Arab society
- Financial, both because of the high risk of loss in business, and because of society’s preference for consumerism over production
On the basis of the conclusions drawn from the focus groups, a set of necessary conditions was set out as a requirement for any program or development activity for women in the project, whether social, agricultural or business oriented.
- The programs will include aspects of personal capacitation and empowerment, social cognitivity, reduction of women’s feelings of helplessness and fostering of self confidence among them as integral factors in any business or agricultural programs.
- A guiding principle in programs fostering the economic development of women is the financial viability and profitability of the project. This is based on the concept that economic independence leads to social empowerment.
- Projects will foster professionalism and enhancement of professional knowledge as a means of capacity building among women.
- Emphasis will be placed on domestic production as a realistic option for most women. Project activities will be directed towards concepts that can exploit the domestic domain for agricultural production in such areas as honey production, agriculture in detached beds and others.
- The program provides support for development of agri businesses through creation of ties with sources of small business credit and connections to effective marketing channels.
- A critical aspect of the approach is the harnessing of local partners such as community organizations, welfare services, local authorities and others who can share in the planning and the implementation of the projects.
- The program will organize women’s groups for training and development of activities. It will enlist a local coordinator for each group to assist in recruiting women for projects, perform local technical tasks and serve and maintain the newly formed groups.
2. Creation of a steering committee and formulation of an annual program.
Members of the steering committee were appointed In the course of the months of April and May. Its first meeting was held on May 14, 2004. Membership in the steering committee includes:
1. Arin Hawari – Associate Principal, Community School for Women’s Leadership
2. Iman Kasis - M. A. Economics. Moderator of women’s economic empowerment groups
3. Samar Khamis – Attorney, feminist activist
4. Haya Sarsor - Social worker, director of unit for treatment of young children. Member, Ahali Board of Directors.
5. Itaf Awad – Advisor on women’s affairs, Daburiya Local Council; feminist activist, formerly coordinator of the women’s forum in Ahali.
6. Yusra Dakash – Inhabitant of the municipality of Rahat in the Negev; school teacher and active in general community and feminist affairs
7. Sowaad Diab – Social worker and advisor to organizations; Regional Inspector of Community Services in the Ministry of Labor and Welfare
Preliminary material was prepared as groundwork for the steering committee’s activities. It included a draft annual program, a list of proposed program goals and objectives, selection criteria for communities the program would work with, success indices and anticipated program results.
Second Phase
Community selection phase:
Initially, the project focused on three communities in order to study the situation through practical work in the field. Those chosen were Arabeh in the Central Galilee, the municipalities of Batuf Regional Council in the Bet Netofa Valley and the municipality of Tamra in the Western Galilee. In all three communities agriculture is considered to be significant in the village economies.
The Arabeh Group
General description: Population – 17,000 a relatively large village. Unemployment exceeds 20 percent, reaching 80 percent among women. The agricultural potential of the village is impressive but only partially exploited. The community has a country-wide reputation as a focal point of economic and social distress.
On the basis of the community’s socio-economic profile and consultation with
both the community services and the program candidates, it was decided to focus the program on economic empowerment for women of a low socio-economic status.
The local partner in the program is the community center, belonging to the Arabeh Local Council.
General Objectives
* Amplification of the participants’ ability to break out of the poverty cycle
* Support for and empowerment of the village women through preparing them to plan, establish and manage a business and increasing their socio-economic involvement in the community
Program structure
1. Provision of an intensive course for the economic capacitation of women: 29 meetings totaling 120 hours. The course incorporates the following components:
o Individual empowerment, development of self-assertion and enhancement of awareness within the community
o Legal aspects and economic and financial management of small businesses; taxation, incentives etc.
o Marketing and market segmentation
o Preparation of a personal business plan
2. One year of individual accompaniment of participants who decide to establish a personal business following completion of the course. They would receive individual and group economic and financial guidance, from the “Economic Empowerment for Women Association” with the supervision and orientation of Ahali – Center for Community Development.
3. Provision of an option to obtain a loan of up to $3,000 per participant as initial seed money for the enterprise. The source of the loans would be the women’s loan fund of the Economic Empowerment for Women Association.
Progress to the end of June, 2004 and future activities
- In May and June, 2004 the project organized a group of twenty women with elementary to secondary education, housewives, mainly unemployed and supported by various financial grants. A few work part time.
- The program for the group is prepared and implemented in cooperation with the Economic Empowerment for Women Association.
- Training actually began on June 7, 2004. The group experienced three economic and social empowerment sessions by the end of the month.
- The program will extend from May, 2004 through December, 2005, 18 months.
- Evaluation of stage 1 of the program will take place in December, 2004, on completion of the section on empowerment.
- Final evaluation and determination of the follow-up in the community is scheduled for December, 2005.
Arabeh
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Program
stages
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2
3
4
5
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2
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Recruit
local partner
Recruit
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Build
program
Conduct
course
Wrap up &
evaluation
Business
guidance
Final evaluation
Arabeh group (workshop)
The Tamrah Group
General description: Population 25,000. Unemployment in the community is 23 percent, the third highest rate in the country. Tamra is located next to a large agricultural area that had served as a main source of employment until the last few years. The farmers’ economic difficulties have caused them to seek alternative sources of livelihood and the demand for agricultural labor has declined accordingly. Most of the women, many of whom had previously worked in agriculture, are unemployed.
The local partner in the program is the municipality of Tamra, where it was decided to focus on agricultural development for women. This should involve
exploitation of the women’s existing agricultural potential
improvement of their ability to manage agricultural production independently
reduction of poverty and improvement of living conditions
enhancement of women’s influence within the family and society by offering them agricultural skills and expertise in new and highly profitable fields of endeavor.
Program structure
Fifty hours of training (21 sessions) in various fields of agriculture, presenting and teaching the newest and most profitable crops and production methods in both cottage level and commercial scale operations.
Identification of crops and activities in which women may have a competitive economic advantage and can enter into their production.
Development of an agricultural program for small farms to be run and managed by the participants.
Guidance and provision of financial resources through small loans designed for women intending to establish small businesses.
Establishment of small farm enterprises for partnerships of women. The types of production will be determined with the help of economic profitability analysis and allocated among the participants according to their choice and under the close guidance of agricultural specialists.
Close individual and group accompaniment and economic guidance for the first year of the farms’ activities.
Technical and professional guidance during the first three years of operation, according to the areas of production, supported by experts of the Ministry of Agriculture and directed and coordinated by the project.
Progress to the end of June, 2004
Based on the conclusions from the focus group, it was decided to develop the women’s program around the central theme of agricultural development.
In May of 2004 the project made contact with the Tamra municipality and met with the mayor.
Also in May, a group of ten agricultural specialists of the Ministry of Agriculture met in the offices of Ahali – Center for Community Development and prepared a training program and list of topics to be developed for women of the Arab municipalities.
In the course of May-June, 2004 the program recruited a group of 25 unemployed housewives aged 30 – 45 who had previous agricultural experience.
Early in June the program structure and the content of the course were determined.
The program of weekly meetings was inaugurated on June 4, 2004.
On June 22, 2004 the group participated in an agricultural tour of the medicinal plant center at Kafr Kanna and visited a large cattle farm on the Golan Heights.
The participants received technical literature on raising fresh herbs. It included photographs and cultivation instructions.
Planned future activities
By the end of July, the group will have experienced ten training sessions, totaling 25 hours during which a specialist of the Ministry of Agriculture will have lectured on cultivation of vegetables and strawberries, fresh herbs and organic agriculture.
During August the program will prepare a business plan for the group to grow strawberries, fresh herbs, flowers and honey.
Early in September preparations will begin to create the group’s first plot of strawberries to be raised in detached beds, as well as plots for fresh herbs and flowers.
The program’s second phase involves managing the plot during the year extending from October 2004 to October 2005.
Production costs are to be the responsibility of the group. The project will finance special expenditures and offer technical and managerial support during the training and learning phase.
Some of the equipment will be obtained as donations from commercial firms.
Operational outlays and any remaining investment costs will be the responsibility of the participating women and covered by a loan on concessionary terms from funds earmarked for encouragement of women’s business initiatives.
Women who choose to raise honey bees will receive a year of in-depth training and will be directed to similar credit sources.
During the first production year the women will have close economic and managerial guidance in addition to marketing assistance.
From October 2005, the women will maintain contact with the agricultural extension specialists of Ahali and the Ministry of Agriculture only for professional and technical guidance and support. Production management will be the sole responsibility of the group members.
Evaluation of the program will take place following the end of the agricultural training in October, 2004, after which program management will determine the nature of any continued activities and the follow-up.
November, 2006 – final evaluation and windup of the program
Report I 
