14 Anis Kardosh St
P.O.B. 313
Nazareth 16000
Israel
- Gender
- Human rights
- Research
- Youth and education
The Association works in the spheres of violence prevention, the promotion of employment opportunities for women and the advancement of women in public life. The Association approaches these issues by working in parallel to (a) improve legal, institutional and political safeguards and opportunities for women in these areas, (b) provide needed services that will allow them to access protection from violence or find employment, and (c) change the social attitudes within the Palestinian community that perpetuate inequality and the current status of women. The Association thus divides its time between (1) advocacy, policy research and engagement of decision-makers, (2) service development and provision (e.g. its violence prevention services and job-placement service www.wavojobs.org, as well as pilot programs and services which the Association regularly develops, such as its ‘witness accompaniment program’ through the court system for victims of violence, its Arabic information services within the Family Court system, and others) and (3) media campaigning and community outreach (including public events, education workshops for women and young women as well as capacity-building, TOT and journalist-training initiatives). In addition, the Association regularly engages in (4) research on cross-cutting issues that are necessary for its work – from attitude-surveys to assessments/evaluations of existing services.
Today, in addition to its work in the spheres of community mobilizing, raising awareness and service development programs to increase protections for women from gender-based violence, the Association now runs two flagship initiatives: a comprehensive program to promote Palestinian women’s participation in the workforce (with an emphasis on women with academic degrees) and a series of campaigns to promote and support women in the public sphere through concentrated work opposite local Arab councils and the political leadership of the country. Our current strategic plan for 2016-17 is attached below.
The Association is a well-connected organization at the nexus of both the Palestinian women’s NGO movement (which represents some 10-15 national women’s rights organizations in Israel, alongside some 30-40 local and grassroots groups), the human and civil rights movement in general (with links to many leading organizations, currently partners including the Association for Civil Rights in Israel), numerous coalitions (including its working group on personal status law in Israel, its forum for equitable government budgeting as well as the NGO platform it convenes for CEDAW reporting), the decision-making community in Israel (parliamentarians, official agencies with whom it is in regular contact) and Arab women’s associations regionally– most notably the SALMA Network, a regional consortium of women’s rights NGOs across the MENA region (including Egypt, Jordan, Libya, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen) in the area of violence prevention, for which the Association served as official ‘host organization’ between 2010 and 2014. The Association is thus well-placed to both advise and create connections and networks between strategically placed partners. Its expertise in violence-prevention service development, government-level advocacy, policy-change, grassroots organizing and field-research within the Palestinian minority make it well-placed to assist organizations seeking to engage these areas, train, consult and/or assist organizations build their capacities in these areas.
WAV is always looking to develop partnerships with organizations both locally and overseas. In addition to strategically boosting the reach and scope of its projects, these partnerships are also important ways for the organization to expand its activities without overextending its budget. Partnerships such as ALF are also very good links to additional funding agencies, international instruments and other partners with whom we would want to be in contact.