AJEEC-NISPED (Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment a...

NISPED's mission is the promotion of peace and development, with a special focus on the civil society: the voluntary, people-centered, non-governmental groups and organizations concerned with conflict-resolution and with the advancement of sustainable human development. NISPED's particular concern is with societies in transition:

• from conflict to conflict resolution
• from dictatorships to democracies
• from poverty and dependence to social and economic advance
• from marginalized and passive minorities to active and included ones.

NISPED serves as a center for education, training and project development, which conducts international, regional (Middle East) and local (Israel) programs. Everyone concerned with democracy, human rights and social justice understands that Israel must be an equitable democratic society in which the Arab minority can fully develop its potential and achieve full equality and recognition. In order to work towards this end, NISPED established AJEEC ' the Arab-Jewish Center for Equality, Empowerment and Cooperation. AJEEC's concern is with the issues confronting 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 the 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 primary focus is on the needs and concerns of the Negev Arab Bedouin, a community of 160,000 which constitutes the most disadvantaged sector of Israeli society in all areas of life: economic, social and educational. Negev Arab Bedouin society has undergone a radical and wrenching transition over the last 50 years, from a semi-nomadic and pastoral to a modern way of life ' a transition which became in effect a process of disempowerment, as traditional leadership was attenuated, social networks disrupted and family life destabilized, with self-reliance often replaced by a sense of inadequacy, passivity and dependency. At AJEEC, we are convinced that the revitalization and mobilization of traditional community values of self-reliance and mutual aid and their mobilization in response to the community's needs can provide a powerful impetus for transforming the community's inner resources into a leading force for change - into a force for self-empowerment. This belief led us to focus on the promotion of community empowerment and development, and towards the design and operation of a wide range of programs and projects in three primary spheres of activity:

• Community empowerment and development
• Economic empowerment
• Jewish-Arab partnerships