Mahapch

Mahapach-Taghir (which means change) is a grassroots Jewish-Arab organization for social change, which was founded in 1998. Our overall goal is to promote a shared society in Israel with equal opportunities for all, by: (a) Building leadership in Arab and Jewish communities in the periphery through empowerment and formal/informal education; (b) Promoting solidarity between social groups, as well as equality and (c) Facilitating participatory democracy, civil leadership and a more effective local governance. Our organization has been working with Arab and Jewish communities for over 20 years. We have gained extensive experience in becoming part of the local communities, listening to their needs, building leadership and an Arab-Jewish partnership based on political values of democracy, equality and human rights. The “Learning Communities” - is an intergenerational and comprehensive initiative. The Learning Community facilitates the active engagement of residents in Arab and Jewish communities, and encourages them to organize themselves and generate solutions to common problems. In parallel, Arab and Jewish university students provide children and youth with pedagogical and social tutoring. Our informal education model fosters a strong democratic civil society. Since we started, we have engaged some 3,000 college student volunteers, 500 women and 6,000 children. Currently we work in six Arab and Jewish Learning Communities in Israel that we established in: Yad Eliyahu (Tel Aviv), Acre, Maghar, Yafia, Nof Hagalil and Talpiot and Katamonim (Jerusalem). The National Women's Council - The Council brings together Arab and Jewish women from disadvantaged communities in the social and geographic periphery of Israel, to promote a vision of a shared society and gender equality. The Council was launched in 2019 and includes 25 representatives from seven disadvantaged communities in which Mahapach-Taghir works. The communities share common challenges and the Council members work together on solutions and activities against racism and discrimination. In 2021 the Council decided to work on a joint campaign against economic violence towards women. In addition, the Council serves as a platform for leadership development for Arab and Jewish local women leaders. “Second Opportunity” – Higher Education for Disadvantaged Women - This innovative model makes higher education accessible to women of disadvantaged communities, as means to facilitate their social and vocational mobility, as well as their ability to become leaders in their communities. Participants are women over the age of 35 who were unable to attend higher education due to social, economic and gender-related barriers. The first cohort of the program featured 30 Jewish women in Jerusalem in partnership with the David Yellin College and the Yuvalim community center. 29 women were able to successfully graduate with a B.Ed. The second cohort is operated in Tamra in partnership with the municipality and the Open University, with 22 women recently graduating with a B.A. degree. A group of 26 women from Baqa al-Gharbiyye is in their third year of studies, a group of 28 women in Yafia are in the second year of studies and 30 women from Jaffa have started the program in the summer of 2021. We were awarded the prestigious Genesis Prize for this program in 2018. https://mahapach-taghir.org