Leadership and Community Development in Israels Arab Sector
Leadership and Community Development in Israels Arab Sector
This 3-year program, a partnership between Kesher, the Litai Foundation, the Tzad Iti Foundation and Baqa-Al-Gharbia’s Al-Qasemi College, aims to improve the lives of Arab-Israeli children with disabilities and their families by empowering parents and professionals to build communities of families of children with disabilities which will serve as sources of strength and comfort while also advocating for much needed social change. 10 parent-leaders from 10 northern Arab communities and 10 professionals are currently participating in a year-long leadership course in which they learn to work together to create communities who will in turn help to advance social and educational programming for families of children with disabilities. In the program’s second year, each pair will work to recruit parents for a leadership course which they will run in their hometown. These local courses will focus on providing parents with tools for effective leadership and to create communities of families of children with disabilities. In the third year, these groups will map local needs and then implement a project/program designed to improve the lives of families of children with disabilities in their town. Throughout the second and third years participants will continue to receive guidance from Kesher and its partners. The program works via a ripple effect in which the 20 community leaders from the leadership course – one parent and one professional from each location – return to run empowerment programs in their hometowns, reaching upwards of 200 families and 200 professionals in each location. These parents then influence their families and the professionals with whom their children interact, teaching a total over 6,000 individuals in Israel’s northern Arab communities.
The program is conducted in partnership with the Tzad Iti Foundation, the Litai Foundation and the Al-Qasemi College in Baqa-Al-Gharbia and is overseen by a steering committee made up of representatives from the Ministries of Education and Welfare, individuals with disabilities and parents of children with disabilities.