Credit: Gilad Kavalerchik

This week Shatil will launch its part of a new, innovative project aimed at promoting gender equity in Israel’s Arab community. Titled Takdum, meaning “women in progress” in Arabic, the project addresses how the Israeli government’s large-scale financial plans to bridge socio-economic divides between Israeli Jews and Arabs can and should take gender into consideration. 

In partnership with Itach-Ma’aki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice and the Adva Center and with funding from the European Union, Shatil is responsible for training policy staff at NGOs how to monitor and advocate for gender-sensitive policymaking. Shatil’s role in Takdum leverages its expertise in capacity building and its vast network. 17 participants from a variety of social change organizations signed up for the first training, which will take place today, June 6.

Raghda Awad, Shatil’s Takdum coordinator, said “it’s encouraging to see how many NGOs registered for the trainings; the widespread interest shows how much potential the project holds for generating the desired change.”

Last summer, the Israeli government approved its second iteration of Government Plan 550, a five-year economic program worth nearly $10 billion. The plan aims to narrow gaps in basic services, education, welfare, and infrastructure between Israel’s Jewish majority and its Arab minority. Despite the allocation of massive budgets to promote socio-economic development within the Arab community, Arab women remain one of the most disadvantaged groups in Israeli society.

Raghda says that Takdum comes at a pivotal time. “There is no doubt we need to promote gender-sensitive programming,” she said. “Especially when it comes to women on the margins of society, including Arab women. And now, during wartime, Israel’s Arab citizens suffer from even greater persecution and significant mental, social, and economic ramifications. What’s more, Palestinian women face double discrimination as both Palestinian citizens of Israel and women.”  A large proportion of Arab women are unemployed, she says, because of inadequate public transportation between where they live—often in what is called Israel’s “periphery”—and cities or other economic centers. On top of this challenging situation? These are also areas that experience a major dearth of childcare. According to She Knows: Israel’s Gender Knowledge Center, in 2021, just 30% of Arab women over the age of 15 were employed, compared to 53% of Arab men.

To address these disparities and ensure Arab women receive adequate resources and support, Shatil aims to teach between 10 and 15 NGOs how to monitor the implementation of the second Government Plan 550 from a gender equality perspective. This includes teaching them how to collect data, network, and publicly advocate for women. The ultimate goal is to help these NGOs properly monitor government decisions so that they can be better positioned to advocate for the needs of Palestinian women at the local and national levels.

Shatil’s trainings are just the first step. The Takdum partners’ goal is that over the next three years, participating NGOs will publish policy papers on the implementation of Government Plan 550, develop strong partnerships with Arab local authorities and partner NGOs, and encourage their governments to adopt gender-sensitive policies.

Raghda, a lawyer by training, previously served as a parliamentary advisor to Member of Knesset Aida Touma-Suleiman and worked at several NGOs focusing on human and women’s rights.