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Nisan Young Women Leaders
is the only organization dedicated to the advancement of young women in
Israel. Nisan's innovative programs develop the leadership potential of
Jewish and Arab Israeli young women, support their initiatives, and foster
communication and cooperative partnerships among them. Connections
initiated during the organization's "Leadership Development
Programs" for high-schoolers are cultivated on a long-term basis
through participation in alumnae activities and utilization of the Young
Women's Resource Center.
Nisan's Leadership Development Programs empower young women with
knowledge, tools, and experience fundamental for effective leadership and
increase their familiarity with peers from the diverse ethnic and cultural
populations in Israel. Participants, in the tenth and eleventh grades (age
15-17), meet on a weekly basis for formal and informal instruction and
intensive group building work during the first semester of the year-long
curriculum. In the second semester, participants create, plan and conduct
independent projects. During this time, participants meet twice monthly to
share independent project reports, evaluate activities, and design action
plans for cooperation. The Leadership Development Program curriculum model
is replicated, adapted, and implemented by Nisan in cooperation with
partners in locations throughout Israel reaching young women across the
country, while maintaining the program's high quality standard.
Programs specifically targeting alumnae and other young women ages
18 to 25, such as continuing training seminars and networking activities,
guarantee Nisan's long-term impact on its members and, in turn, their
long-term impact on Israeli society. Additionally, LDP graduates remain
active in Nisan by participating directly in the decision making processes
of the organization. The Young Women's Resource Center, open to Nisan
members and the public, is an information bank which addresses a range of
topical issues from a youth perspective. The "Career Mentor
Index" connects women from all professions interested in mentoring
with young women exploring related vocations. Working in cooperation with
organizations in Israel and abroad, Nisan also coordinates a variety of
programs to facilitate leadership exchange opportunities and lobbies to
increase and enhance opportunities for young women to take-on positions of
leadership in all spheres of society. In 1998, the Center will be linked
to the Internet and establish a "Home Page" to facilitate
inter-active networking between Israeli young women and their
contemporaries in the region and the world.
The month of "Nisan" both in Hebrew and
Arabic, inaugurates Spring, the season of new beginnings. Nisan Young
Women Leaders taps new sources of Israeli leadership among the State's
diverse young women. Trained and supported through Nisan, Arab and Jewish
young women are prepared to participate effectively and resourcefully in
the decision making processes of their communities, advance their
convictions with sensitivity and respect for themselves and others, and
achieve results.
I. NOW is the time for NISAN YOUNG WOMEN
LEADERS
Forty-eight percent of Israel's population is under twenty-five;
just over half of these young people are female (Israel National
Statistics Bureau, 1996). The voice of youth, particularly young women and
girls, is seldom heard in the decision-making processes that effect their
lives. The potential of young women to contribute is underestimated and
their legitimacy as agents of change is not recognized.
Diverse opportunities and arenas exist for young Israeli men to
develop the skills and support networks needed to become leaders, but
similar options for young women are limited, incomplete, and less
accessible. The effects of such disparities are apparent in all spheres of
Israeli society; they are evidenced by the striking under-representations
of women in decision-making positions at every level.
Moreover, in Israel today, leaders are often unable to transcend
barriers of ethnicity, religion, class, and differences born out of
experiential gaps between the State's Jewish and Arab1 citizens. A new
generation of leaders must be trained to effectively and resourcefully
advance their convictions, while maintaining sensitivity and respect for
others. This new leadership must create and build on foundations of mutual
understanding and peace among the populations within Israel as well as
those in neighboring states. Leadership from the "grassroots" to
the "halls of power," must include women with power and
authority in similar numbers to their male counterparts.
If progress and achievements are to have a lasting and meaningful
impact, Israel's young women, whose eclectic voice is the voice of the
future, must be prepared and encouraged to actively participate in and
lead movements that will strengthen the State's democracy. The achievement
of Nisan's goals will transform Israeli leadership in all spheres and
ensure that it includes women and men, young and old, and Arab and Jew.
Through their Nisan connection, Jewish and Arab Israeli young women have a
unique opportunity to give and receive support and encouragement as they
strive toward both common and individual leadership goals.
II. Goals and Objectives
Nisan's goals are:
 | to establish a core of Jewish and Arab Israeli
young women trained as leaders, encouraged to act as agents of change,
and working to impact Israeli society through action and advocacy;
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| to enhance partnerships and friendships forged
among Arab and Jewish Israeli young women on local and national
levels, and then connect them with regional and international young
women's networks;
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| to ensure that young women have the skills,
support structures, and encouragement necessary to strive for and
achieve positions of leadership; and,
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| to increase and improve opportunities for
young women in decision-making spheres of social, political, economic,
technological, cultural and all other aspects of Israeli society. |
The objectives of Nisan's Leadership Development Programs are:
| to conduct year-long after-school leadership
development courses for young women in high school specifically
adapted to the needs of each group and location;
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| to increase participants' knowledge regarding
the status of and opportunities for women, from both Jewish and Arab
perspectives, in Israel and the world; and, to augment participants'
skills and competence with the tools necessary to facilitate change
both in established structures and newly initiated ones;
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| to advise and support participants in the
development and execution of independent projects in their communities
utilizing the knowledge and tools gained in the training program;
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| to build a cadre of active and aware citizens
who know how to work together as a team and support one another as
individuals; and,
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| to evaluate the curriculum model, adapt it as
necessary, and conduct it annually in an increasing number of cities,
towns, and villages in Israel. |
The objectives of Alumnae Activities and Young Women's Resource Center
are:
| to coordinate continuing training programs,
social events and joint projects for Leadership Development Program
graduates, specifically targeting those young women between the ages
of 18 and 25, which will encourage continued, long-term connections
among them;
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| to involve graduates in the decision making
processes of the organization; |
| to provide resource information, support
structures, and connections with mentors and mentoring organizations
to ensure that young women have a source of guidance for action
initiative, university, and career decisions; and,
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| to conduct exchange programs with young women
in the United States, Middle East, and Europe. |
III. Organizational Development
Calanit Dovere conceived of the original goals and methods of Nisan
Young Women Leaders during research for her Master degree in International
Law and Human Rights at the Columbia University School of International
Affairs. Concerned by the vacuum of effective training and support avenues
for young women that existed in Israel, motivated by a vision of the
impact paving such avenues would have, and inspired by a deep commitment
to the strengthening of Israel's democracy, Ms. Dovere launched the
organization upon her immigration to Israel in December 1993.
In 1994, the initial organizational structure and program design
were established and seed money secured. In January 1995, Nisan was
recognized as a not-for-profit organization in Israel and the Board of
Directors was established. The first (1994-1995) and second (1995-1996)
Leadership Development Programs were conducted in Haifa. In 1996-1997,
Nisan opened Leadership Development Programs in three new locations. In
1997, alumnae activities and the Young Women's Resource Center were
instituted.
Nisan Young Women Leaders' unique and constantly evolving
methodology is developed by working with, learning from, and building-on
the expertise of other organizations in Israel and abroad, combined with
our own innovative approach and experience. Nisan is the only leadership
development organization and network for Jewish and Arab young women in
Israel. Nisan is recognized as a national authority on young women's
leadership development by the Government of Israel, the Ministry of
Education, important "think-tanks," and the media.
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