Support Palestinian& Jewish Youth Leaders in Jaffa

It is the beginning of another year of bi-national education and activism at Sadaka-Reut. Like every year, new members joined our team of coordinators and facilitators and began to work together in order to empower new groups of youth and young adults to pursue the change they wish to see in their communities and societies.

According to Sadaka-Reut's Theory of Change, the transformation of the individual begins when she or he becomes more aware of their own identity and surroundings. This theory applies not only to our participants, but also to our staff. We know that successful facilitators' training greatly contributes to the success of our different programs.

Therefore, in October, old and new members of our team met together for the first time for two busy days of staff development, where they got to know each other personally and politically while engaging in workshops surrounding the current political climate, media biases, gender, and groups in society. Other workshops were more practical, requiring the team to deal with challenging case studies that they might need to deal with throughout the year, based on the organisation's past experience.

In our Community in Action program, the new Jewish and Palestinian participants started meeting for their weekly learning days in September. The first few meetings focused on introductions: participants were introduced to their coordinators and to each other, but also to Sadaka-Reut, its staff, and the Jaffa surroundings. They received training in preparation for a year of volunteering at schools in Jaffa, including on interactions with young students and specific measures of child protection.

In November, participants embarked on their first self-led tour of Jaffa, with each pair conducting research on one geographical point, its history, and what can be learned from it, and then sharing the lessons they learned with the rest of the group as they passed through each stop. The tour was informative and enriching for everyone involved, and will be followed by a few more. As they began their volunteering at four different schools in Jaffa – and, for the first time, also at the South Tel Aviv Levinsky Garden library, volunteering with migrant youth – participants are already well on their way to becoming involved and active members of their communities.

Thank you all for making it happen!