Givat Haviva's Programs
Click on the program names for more information
Givat Haviva is a nonprofit organization that works towards building a shared society for Jewish and Arab citizens of Israel. Our programs aim to promote mutual understanding, coexistence, and social equality between the two communities. We offer a variety of initiatives, including youth leadership and education programs, dialogue and conflict resolution programs, and community action programs. Our programs are designed to foster intercultural communication and build bridges between Jewish and Arab Israelis. Learn more about our programs and how you can get involved in promoting a more inclusive and just society in Israel.
Creating connection through education
The Cross-Sector Teachers Exchange program aims to integrate Jewish and Arab teachers and students by bringing Jewish teachers of spoken Hebrew into Arab schools and vice versa. The program pairs Jewish and Arab schools to facilitate connections beyond the individual exchange teachers.
The program provides significant, targeted training for teachers in the exchange, teachers in the host schools, school leadership, and leading faculty members. The program's goal is to increase integration within school faculties, reduce suspicion and bring Jewish and Arab communities closer together.
Placing Jewish Teachers in Arab Schools
This program aims to improve the Hebrew language skills of Arab citizens of Israel, as the level of Hebrew proficiency among Arab graduates of Israeli public schools is inadequate. The program is a three-year series for 7th, 8th, and 9th graders taught by Jewish teachers in Arab classrooms. The program seeks to achieve several goals, including creating a growing number of Arab youth proficient in spoken Hebrew and enhancing familiarity and understanding between Jewish and Arab educators.
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The program has received support from the Ministry of Education and is now included in the basket of options for the ministry's Gefen projects.
Creating Shared Society through art
The Jewish and Arab Artists-in-Residence Program aims to support recent graduates of art institutes in Israel, especially those from Arab society, who face systemic discrimination and financial barriers in pursuing their artistic careers.
The 3-month residency program offers practical skills not typically taught in higher art institutions, equipping young artists with the tools and skills necessary to succeed in the industry. Upon completing the program, residents will showcase their individual and group work in the GH Art Gallery.
Bringing Jewish and Arab youth together through photography
Through Others' Eyes is a program that addresses the growing social divide between Israel's Jewish and Arab communities by bringing together nine Arab and nine Jewish teenagers to learn photography skills and explore questions of identity, nationality, religion, and community. The program uses photography as a tool for better cultural understanding and respect through lessons, dialogue sessions, study tours, and overnight seminars.
The course culminates with a group photography exhibit and empowers and encourages participants, as individuals and group members, to work together to define and achieve common goals.
Giving Arab High School Students a Head Start in Hi-Tech
Arabs make up 21% of Israel’s population, but account for less than 3% of the country's hi-tech workforce. Bara'em Hi-Tech is Givat Haviva's initiative to help level the playing field. We give promising Arab high school students, many from disadvantaged backgrounds, the opportunity to study college-level, computer science courses, while earning credits toward a Bachelor's Degree.
This program gives students the tools to thrive in Israel's competitive and lucrative Hi-Tech industry. Bara'em not only provides professional knowledge and skills (including Hebrew instruction), but also shows these teenagers that a higher education and a well-paying career in Israel are available to them, too!
Reducing violence in Arab comminities through Mediation
The Mediation and Dialogue Centers aim to address the increase in violence and crime in Arab society in Israel. These centers are staffed by trained community mediators who monitor and resolve conflicts through mediation and foster a culture of mediation and nonviolence in their communities.
The program will operate for three years, during which mediators are recruited and trained and centers are established. The local authority is included in the operation of the centers, and the mediation training is taught by experts who have extensive academic knowledge and field experience in mediation.
Peace education through encounters
Children Teaching Children is a two-year program that combines civics study with personal encounters among Arab and Jewish middle school students. The program fosters mutual understanding and respect between Arab and Jewish communities whose relations have been marked by mutual distrust, lack of communication, and racism.
Students gain the intellectual and pragmatic skills to be thoughtful members of a shared society, form friendships, and engage in experiences that will forever change their lives. Participants develop critical thinking skills, understand and internalize principles of tolerance, mutual respect, democracy, and peace, and participate in positive and personal interactions with one another. The program runs in the schools as part of the formal curriculum.
Educational encounters for high schoolers
Face to Face is a national program facilitating encounters between groups of Israeli Jewish and Arab high school youth through a series of workshops designed to create greater understanding of one another, reduce feelings of fear and hatred, and forge a preliminary basis for the formation of a joint future based on mutual respect.
The program is designed for older, more sophisticated students, and the encounters include intensive and substantive dialogue sessions that don't shy away from the controversial topics at the heart of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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Facilitating connection between Jewish and Arab youth
The program utilizes informal peace education approaches, focusing on experiential education, Jewish-Arab encounters, dialogue, culture, arts, and joint activity. The program aims to reach students throughout the education lifecycle, starting in elementary school and continuing through high school.
The need for educational intervention in Israel is rooted in the deep division between the Jewish majority and the Arab minority. Young people are the most vulnerable to powerful influences and subject to incitement. Givat Haviva's educational program aims to transform conflict trends among young people into a shared, democratic future for Israeli society.
Givng educators tools to create a shared future
The project aims to reduce hostility by creating an across-the-board program of teacher trainings to instil values of shared society and build capacity to change the prevalent discourse in schools and classrooms. Teachers, as role models and pace setters for the next generation who can spearhead change in society, are the key actors in this project.
To reach as diverse a population as possible, Givat Haviva employs a strategy of creating and implementing these trainings over the full range of teaching arenas – new teacher trainees, veteran teachers, teachers in informal education, and cross-sector teachers.
Educational encounters for middle schoolers
The Partnership and Belonging program introduces the children in a familiar, safe environment in five sessions to the diversity of Israeli society, the different narratives, and the issue of (in) equality and discrimination. Within the uni-national session, they explore their identity, feelings, and stereotypes towards the other side, laying the foundation for the following bi-national interpersonal encounter at Givat Haviva.
The next two sessions will deepen the encounter by visiting each other’s schools and being exposed to each other’s realities of life. The last meeting at Givat Haviva will help the children to process their experience and learnings of getting to know peers from the other side of society and their role in fighting the creation of harmful stereotypes.
Creating the leaders of tomorrow, today
Heart to Heart is a youth leadership program for Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel dedicated to empowering youth with the tools and skills they need to create a more inclusive and peaceful society.
Heart to Heart was created to counter the culture of division and fear between these communities, the reality of structural racism and inequality in Israeli society, and to create an empowered generation ready to fight this system and demand better. It may not be fair that young people inherit problems from previous generations, but we believe that they can find the creative solutions needed to chart a new path with the right tools. We believe that youth have a valuable role in creating change, not only as future leaders but as meaningful actors right now.
Increasing Arabic-speaking communities' access to services
The program aims to improve the linguistic accessibility of public services in Israel for Arab citizens by training service professionals in spoken Arabic. The enactment of the Nation-State Law in 2018 revoked Arabic's official language status in Israel, making it difficult for Arab citizens to access public services. The project targets policymakers and professionals who interface with the Arab-speaking population, primarily social workers, medical professionals, and clerks in government offices. The short-term goals include establishing contacts with policymakers and implementing ten professional Arabic courses for service providers at various public institutions. The long-term goals include creating systemic change and mandating language and cultural awareness instruction for all critical service providers. Givat Haviva manages the program, and its Institute for Arabic Studies provides the necessary training.
Creating resilient changemakers in times of crisis
The core of our civil society efforts lies in a dedicated team of educators and facilitators who serve as agents of change, bridging gaps between Jewish and Arab communities. Recognizing the need to adapt to unforeseen challenges, we're prioritizing the retraining of our staff and facilitators to navigate evolving situations in the field. Our project involves a multifaceted approach, offering training and support to educators in formal and informal education systems, as well as expanding the pool of certified facilitators through professional development. This includes implementing a Professional Facilitators Training Course for 20 participants, providing ongoing support to our core group of 20 facilitators, and empowering our Jewish and Arab educational team through monthly meetings. Through these initiatives, we aim to reshape public discourse, fostering unity and solidarity between Jews and Arabs in Israel.
