Working with Local Groups

Working with Local Groups

Kayan works with local women's groups in Arab villages and mixed cities throughout the North and Triangle regions of Israel. Each of these local women's groups has gone through intensive personal and group empowerment trainings, which have given them the skills, tools, and knowledge to act as transformative leaders in their communities. Kayan supports these groups in holding local needs assessments and designing needs responsive action plans that address key issues facing women in their communities. Common themes that these groups are working on include ending all forms of violence against women, women's economic rights, women's participation in local politics, land and housing rights, Nakba awareness-raising, health from a holisitic approach, etc. Common working methodologies in the women-led action plans include: awareness-raising, empowerment, campaigns for social change, partnership building with local institutions and decision-makers, community organizing, and social advocacy. Each of the local groups is represented in the Jusur Forum of Arab Women Leaders, a national group of Arab women activists that work on a national level on Arab women's rights.