“Women Weaving a Dream” is a unique program that prepares Arab-Bedouin women for entering the world of employment and opening their own small businesses. The program recruits women from neighborhoods with low socio-economic status, where no other intervention program exists for integration into employment, and from within families where women’s employment is not necessarily supported.
The program, developed and operated by AJEEC since 2011, offers participants aged 25-45 to take part in group processes that lead to personal development and an improvement in the economic situation of participants’ families. In order to ensure the full cooperation of the women and their families, the activity regularly takes place at the home of one of the participants. The women meet in their own neighborhood, in a familiar and comfortable environment that allows for participation, openness, and an opportunity for the women and their families to change negative life patterns.
The women meet twice a week for group coaching activities, personal enrichment, interest development, and getting to know the world of employment. At the end of the program, the participants receive guidance in integrating into another training program or into employment processes through relevant organizations.
Participants of the program are integrated into the labor market in one of two ways: placement as an employee in existing businesses and companies operating in the Negev after required professional training, or the establishment of a small business for the participant’s self-employment.
To date, hundreds of women have participated in the program and testify that the program has changed their lives and the lives of their families. About half of them have started small and successful businesses in the fields of cosmetics and cooking, and others were integrated as employees in various places.
The project is being carried out in collaboration with local government welfare departments and the Rayan local employment center
