SUMMARY:
The Creating Change Advocates program started in September 2007 and is planned to end in September 2009. The $440,449, USAID-funded program specifically targets Israelis and Palestinians working in the areas of law (lawyers), mental health professionals (psychologists and social workers), and civil planning (urban planners, architects, civil engineers, etc.). Identified as influential leaders and key decision makers, these individuals are engaged in a bi-national dialogue and training programs that provide participants with significant opportunities to address the root causes of the conflict together and to build a foundation for reconciliation and for social change.
The Creating Change Advocates program is run jointly and equally by two organizations enlisted by the American Friends of Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam: School for Peace (SFP) at Neve-Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and Hewar Center for Development and Peace.
Neve Shalom/Wahat Al Salam is a unique planned community in Israel whose residents are both Jews and Palestinians of Israeli citizenship who chose to live and work together in equality. It is globally recognized as a haven for peaceful dialogue, innovative programs aimed at grassroots change in attitudes, and the breaking down of negative stereotypes. The SFP was created in 1979 as an ideological institution of the community. Through encounter workshops and training programs (45,000 participants to date) the SFP develops participants' awareness of the conflict and their role in it and enables them to challenge oppressive mechanisms that keep the conflict going on. Hundreds of graduates of the SFP's facilitators training courses and university courses are now key leaders in human rights and peace NGOs.
The Hewar (“dialogue” in Arabic) Center is an educational institute located in the Jayyous/Qalqilya district in the northwest West Bank. Hewar has focused its efforts on community-building programs and on strengthening Palestinian non-governmental organizations through dialogue, empowerment, outreach, and development. Hewar works in peripheral areas in the West Bank, reaching thousands of
Palestinians who have fewer opportunities for such training than their counterparts. The School for Peace at Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam and the Hewar Center for Development and Peace in the West Bank provide the highly trained and experienced facilitators, lecturers, and translators to implement this innovative program.
The program’s objectives are:
• To enhance awareness among Israeli and Palestinian citizens regarding conflict issues.
• To increase the number of change agents working with grassroots Israeli and Palestinian communities to reduce conflict, combat racism, and actively support the end of the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Participants in this program:
• Acquire an understanding of the asymmetrical reality in which institutions function.
• Develop a mutual understanding of each other’s histories and of the impact that national identities and these histories have on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
• Break down inhumane deep images and break through the fears that divide the Israelis and Palestinians.
• Work together to create positive solutions for the professional and personal challenges they face as a result of the conflict.
• Share institutional successes and challenges and analyze what does and does not work.
Key Program Highlights include:
• A total of 120 cross-border participants, 40 for each professional group, have participated or are participating in the 2-year training program. The groups from Israel include both Jewish & Palestinian citizens of Israel.
• A genuine, honest and meaningful dialogue has been initiated in spite of difficult times and has created the basis for the continuation of the courses. |
