We at NISPED, the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development, are delighted to join with Ameinu in a strategic partnership which we hope will be of mutual benefit and interest. After having worked with Ameinu in the past by hosting both Ameinu Missions to Israel, we know that we both share the same goals of fighting for social justice, peace and progressive values.
NISPED was established in 1998 with a view to promoting peace and development in the Middle-East and in developing countries around the world. Our concern with sustainable human development, societal transformation and the reduction and resolution of conflict inevitably drew our attention to the situation within Israel itself, and in 2001, led us to establish AJEEC – the Arab Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation.
AJEEC is headed by Ms. Amal Elsana Alh’jooj, a longtime Arab Bedouin community activist and leader in the Arab community. AJEEC focuses on issues facing the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel, including cooperation based on equality and empowerment of the Arab minority within a society and country shaped by its Jewish majority. Equality in all aspects of life includes economics and education, health and housing as well as inclusion in the centers of political, bureaucratic and institutional power. AJEEC’s key focus is thus on community empowerment and social change, and towards this end, it initiates and operates a wide range of programs and projects in three primary spheres of activity: Jewish-Arab partnerships, community development and economic empowerment.
NISPED intends to provide Ameinu with Action Alerts and updates regularly. Here are some of our latest successes:
Early Childhood Education
Our early childhood education program for unrecognized Bedouin villages, Parents as Partners, has been around since 2002. We are now establishing nine day care centers for children aged one and a half to three, each with fifteen children under the care of two mothers or caretakers. Since we began the project, one of our great concerns was ensuring that it was sustainable. Now, in a historic first, Parents as Partners has received the official “Seal of Approval” from the ministry responsible for childcare, the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Labor. This means that for every child registered with our centers Parents as Partners will receive government subsidies. In other words, considerable government financial support for early childhood education for the Bedouin – an impressive accomplishment!
Joint Palestinian-Israeli Economic Development Program
NISPED has just received a major grant from the European Union for our tri-lateral project with the Young Entrepreneurs of Palestine, based in Ramallah, and the Italian Legal Co-op: Enhancing Opportunities for Women in Economic Life. The project has two overriding objectives: the economic and social empowerment of rural Palestinian women and the promotion and enhancement of peaceful co-existence, based on mutual interest between Palestinians and Israelis, through the sharing of practical knowledge and experience and the fostering of direct economic cooperation between Palestinian, Israeli and Italian women.
International Course with Participants from Sixteen Developing Countries
Presently studying in our 25-day international course: Comprehensive and Integrative Public Support Systems for SMEs – A Central Factor of Development Policy, are 24 participants from 16 developing countries, including 4 officials from the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Jordan. The course is being conducted by NISPED’s International Center for the Promotion of Small and Medium Enterprises, headed by Shmuel Bahat, the founder and first chair of Israel’s Small and Medium Authority.
To learn more about NISPED, or to find out more about any of the programs mentioned here, please visit www.nisped.org.il. Also, please check back regularly on the Ameinu website, www.ameinu.net, for alerts on NISPED social programs that need your help.
