Ahali Center for Community Development

For Ahali, the term "community development" implies encouraging members of society to analyse their situation as individuals and as a collective and to identify the community needs accordingly. Ahali works through community organising, used as a means of struggle to obtain full citizenship and minority rights and thus ensuring equal distribution of national resources. Cooperation and coordination with local organisations is central to Ahali's quest for efficiency and sustainability.

Ahali depends on various strategies to meet its goals:

• Organising different sectors of the Palestinian Society in Israel, in part by running projects that combine social and economic aspects in order to mainstream democratic values and diversity;
• Empowering and building capacities of local professional and community-based organisations through training and skills development, and accompanying them in lobbying and advocacy for their rights before state institutions; and
  
• Strengthening connections between Palestinians in Israel and Palestinians in the Palestinian Occupied Territories through common projects that support human rights and professional development, enhanced by networking and experience sharing.

Drawing on these strategies, Ahali runs 4 programmes:

1. Women's Development - Based on the belief that, in order to achieve a meaningful equality, women have to participate actively in the workforce and gain respectable income, Ahali established this programme in 2003 in an effort to empower Arab rural women. Central components include: personal and social awareness, training to establish and manage their own small enterprises, guidance in designing and marketing their own products, training in business management, execution of social and cultural events, advertisement and preparation of fairs, and individual and collective counselling at all stages of the process. As of this writing, more than 21 groups, each one implemented in a different Arab village, with more than 400 women participants have finished the training programme and are sowing the seed for economic and social activities in their localities.
2. Parents as Partners in Education - According to Ahali, the Arab educational system in Israel is below all standards, especially compared to the Jewish community education system. The organisation has, thus, embarked on an effort to convert this system into a developmental tool which is open, democratic, and attentive. The primary tool is parental engagement - based on the right of parents, as enshrined in Israeli law and humanitarian international law, to intervene and act as a lobbying entity to change the current situation. This national programme sets up parents' groups, raises their awareness about this issue, trains them, prepares a plan for action, and will then propose to the Ministry of Education an alternative curriculum to be used in Arab schools.
3. Arab Farmers: Equality and Development - Ahali claims that, since the state of Israel has expropriated most of the Arabs from their lands, they currently own only 3% of the land in Israel. Arab farmers reportedly suffer from a lack of resources such as land and water, lack of markets, and lack of technologies that could help them invest widely in this sector. Thus, Ahali has initiated a nationwide project aimed at promoting Arab agriculture, rural development, and farmers' rights (with a specific focus on women in the Arab farming sector in Israel) in order to build a stronger, more productive community of self-reliant farmers and citizens who can actively work to attain equal rights. The project uses a grassroots approach based on the principles of community mobilisation, organisation, and development. The project methodology includes education, research, development, and advocacy. For instance, Ahali organises professional workshops, lectures, and field tours for the farmers and establishes local committees and farmers' organisations that can increase the farmers' profits. Ahali also publishes "Almuzarea' Magazine", a bimonthly agricultural, environmental, and rural development magazine; in addition, Ahali has published numerous bulletins, newsletters, and brochures addressing subjects such as seasonal agricultural issues, social and behavioural manuals, and reports on the latest social and organisational news. This project is expected to culminate in the establishment of a national organisation of Arab Farmers. The Union will be a representative body to serve the interests of Arab farmers, raise their issues in front of the Ministry of Agriculture, and ensure their representation in Israeli farmers' organisations.
4. Organising and Empowering Small Enterprises - Ahali claims that more and more small enterprises and businesses in the Arab community are closing down each year, because they lack basic support from the government as well as internal organisation and trading partners. In response, this programme organises small enterprises, trains them in alternative markets and in ways of trading, and establishes economic incubators and plans of action.

Rights, Women, Agriculture, Education, Economic Development.

Ahali recognises itself as part of the indigenous Palestinian community with strong historical linkages to the Palestinian people and the Arab culture, as well as citizens of the Israeli State. Thus, as a minority group, Ahali strives towards achieving collective rights and equal citizenship, in addition to eliminating what it describes as historical injustices due to the Israeli government policy. Specifically, Ahali contends that, "[a]lthough the Declaration of the Independence of the State of Israel promised complete equality for all its citizens, it refers specifically to Israel as a 'Jewish state'...[with] laws [that] emphasize the ethnicity of the State as a Jewish State; give benefits or privileges solely to the Jewish population; or impose restrictions on the civil and political rights of Palestinian citizens because of their national belonging or because they do not belong to the majority ethnic group."

Ahali believes in organising and development as a tool for society empowerment and as a means for societies to overcome existing obstacles and achieving their goals. Ahali aspires for a society that is driven by the values of freedom and justice and lives in a culture of democracy, diversity, pluralism, and dialogue.