Media Impacting Conflict Transformation: From Local Action to Cross-border and Global Outreach – New project!
MICT is a Joint program of The Adam Institute for Democracy and Peace (AI) and Israel Social Television (ISTV), and will be implemented over three years 2018-2020. The project is funded by the European Union.
The basic premise of MICT is that the Israeli media can and should play an active and positive role in the resolution of the Israeli – Palestinian conflict and the ultimate reconciliation between the parties.
The goal of the program is to train a large cadre of Israeli media persons (180) as peace journalists and opinion formers, committed to conflict transformation. The training will provide knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and effective conflict resolution strategies. Participants will get practical tools for working in the field. They will be required to produce articles in the various media platforms (video, radio, press and more), with the professional support of the ISTV staff.
Who is the program for? The program is designed for young Israeli men and women, Jews and Arabs, at the beginning of their careers in media, and students of humanity and social sciences, cinema, media and the arts, interested in the field.
What does the program include?
- Three Seminars of theoretical and practical learning. The seminars will include workshops and lectures.
- Practical experience – each participant will produce an article (video, text or audio) accompanied by ISTV professional team.
Program Syllabus
- What is Peace Journalism? A critical examination of “peace journalism” and its alternatives;
- Peace journalism and multiple narratives. The existing narratives about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how should they be presented in Peace Journalism;
- Peace journalism’s approach to the proposed solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – the existing solutions and how their presentation in the media
- The place of groups that are underrepresented in the media in negotiations and decision-making on peace and security issues. (Groups like women, Sephardim, ultra-Orthodox and others).
- Freedom of expression; institutional censorship and self-censorship in the media discourse on peace and security; documenting violent conflicts.
- Formulating the role of the “Peace Journalist”: Through the discussion of the above issues the participants will acquire the tools to develop their own perception of the role of Peace journalism.
- Practical experience – The participants will produce articles, using the tools and knowledge learned in the seminars. The ISTV will provide the participants with professional accompaniment, photographer and video editor in preparing and producing their articles.
Empowering Bedouin Women to Become Decision-Makers
Despite the improvement in Bedouin women’s education status and entrepreneurial ventures while living in a conservative, tribal community, they are consistently excluded from formal decision-making bodies, leaving their needs and interests unrepresented in local government.
The project aims to address the exclusion of Bedouin women from decision-making positions at the local levels, specifically in local councils in the Negev.
Adam Institute together with Amerat of the Desert, a local Bedouin Women NGO will strive to create a non-partisan cadre of qualified Bedouin women involved in local politics, assist this cadre in implementing activities in their communities aimed at increasing acceptance and support for women’s involvement in local politics and their inclusion on local lists.
The program will provide 60 Bedouin women with trainings and necessary tools and skills for effective and formal political participation. It will increase Bedouin women democratic literacy in local politics and support them to become leaders in local politics by the 2018 local council elections in Israel.
The program is funded by MEPI (U.S Middle East Partnership Initiative). The program team may not recommend joining or promoting a particular list in local council elections.
Building a Shared Future – Women as Catalysts for Peace and Security
A joint project of Itach (Maaki) – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, Women Wage Peace movement and the Adam Institute fore democracy & Peace. This project is funded by EU.
This two-year program “Building a Shared Future” goal is to empower Israeli women – Jewish and Arab, to become actively involved in decision-making on peace and security issues and to promote the implementation of United Nation Security Council Resolution 1325.
The UNSCR 1325 Resolution adopted in 2000, emphasizes the importance of women’s active participation in decision making and in conflict resolution processes. Studies and examples from around the world show that women’s participation in conflict resolution negotiations led to greater chances of achieving stable agreement.
As Israeli women, mothers, spouses, members of the workforce, we are affected daily by the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict, yet we are excluded from attempts towards finding solutions to the conflict. We are all absent from the public debate on peace regardless of religion, race, worldview, or political party affiliation.
Starting in 2016, the program has been implemented among five hundred and seven women (Jewish and Arab) of divers ages, cultures, and ethnic backgrounds in the Israeli society. The program’s implementation is two-fold: First, a cohort of 50-60 women participate in a training seminar, which introduces them to a gendered perspective on the conflict, in order to examine women’s unique role in this context. Next, each woman is required to plan and conduct three projects of their choosing, aimed at changing the public discourse. To this end, she receives guidance from the program’s staff.
The Adam Institute is responsible for holding ten training seminars over course, and reached a total of 507 women. The groups have all been diverse, including women of different religious, degrees of religious practice, ages, native-born Israelis, and women who immigrated from Ethiopia and the FSU. The seminars have taken place primarily on weekends at the Zipori Center (Jerusalem), Beit Yatziv (Beersheba), and the Beit Berl campus in the coastal region. The seminars comprise facilitated workshops, activities in plenary, and lectures on a variety of topics: female activism, the ongoing conflict from both the Palestinian and Israeli perspectives, media and gender, and the implementation of UN resolution 1325 around the world. Throughout the seminars, the Jewish participants were excited to encounter the Palestinian narrative and meet their Palestinian peers, in order to advance peace together.
The final event of the project, presenting the different initiatives and public acitivies will take place July, 24th 2018 in Tel-Aviv-Jaffa. Details will be published.
“The Return of the Public Sphere”: A civil society leadership development program
A program aimed at developing the infrastructure for democratic civic action as a tool for fostering positive societal changes, whether economic, social or political. The program’s training provides young Israeli and Palestinian activists with professional tools for developing and implementing joint cross-border and/or intra-community projects, based on the principles of democracy and peace and on creating an innovative civil society-oriented language for project management. The program has been implemented over 3 years 2011-2014. Learn more.
Entering the Arena: Women, Politics and Peace-building – WPP (2013-2015)
A program that trains and empowers women for political and social leadership. The program aims to generate a large cadre of young, peace-committed Palestinian and Israeli women leaders, who will become the next generation of influential political leaders in the region, effecting a meaningful and enduring change vis-à-vis women’s status in government and in relation to peace negotiations specifically. The program has been implemented over two years 2013-2015. Learn more.
Beyachad-Ma’an معا (Together) – Women Building Businesses and Community
A unique pilot program, initiated by a grduated of Adam Institute programs WPP (see above), with guidence of Adam staaf. The program aim was to train Jewish and Arab women who live within the jurisdiction of the Judea Regional Council (south-west of Jerusalem) to open new (and promote existing) small businesses. The project ran between November 2016 – June 2017, through encounters held in Ein Rafa that aimed to create connections, friendships, respectful intercultural dialogue, and galvanize motivation for joint action. Later meetings focused on the business side of things: mapping existing needs; sharing knowledge and gaining initial skills for operating a small business (e.g. business plans, marketing, managing, etc.). Participants also received professional assistance developing a joint plan. Most women were interested in continuing to develop such projects, even if on a voluntary basis. The pilot was funded by the Jewish Agency.
