AJEEC-NISPED - Arab Jewish Center for Equality Empowerment and Cooperation – Nagev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (AJEEC-NISPED)

Founded in 2000, AJEEC-NISPED works to create equal, inclusive and flourishing societies, promoting equality, empowerment and cooperation for the Negev Bedouin community, other populations living across Israel, and around the world. Programs benefit more than 70,000 people. The 200 full-time employees, 80% from the Negev Bedouin community, and over 1,300 youth volunteers, work on a variety of programs to promote socio-economic development in the Negev and beyond. The organization is divided into six departments. Four are dedicated to specific thematic areas and primarily but not exclusively work with the Negev: health and environment; the Arab Volunteer Center ("the Tent"), early childhood and economic development. The other have broader thematic focuses: a Middle Eastern department that implements and coordinators cooperation with Palestinian and other regional partners; and an International Department that organizes agricultural collective training courses, mostly for participants from Africa and China. The departments operate a wide array of programs, including gap years for students, peer-training courses and development of social businesses. The aim is to create sustainable programs that can be adopted and continued by local and national governments.