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SIPP 2023 Mini-Grant Recipients

Your Dollars At Work: SIPP awards over $16,000 to 6 projects

SIPP launched a 2nd round of our mini-grant program for grants of up to $3000. After reviewing a number of exciting proposals relating to a wide variety of environmental and civil society projects, we have chosen to fund the following projects/organizations:

Reviving Biara - Middle East InitiativesMini-Grant Recipient - 2023
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The El Biara project intends to revive the farming heritage of the city of Jaffa. Inspired by the Sinsila Center, El Biara will be located in the entrance to historical Jaffa, in the garden of a local cultural center. It will be dedicated to educate, inspire, create with, and empower the local community in reconnecting with its farming heritage and reviving the local urban farming. Its goal will be to reconnect the urban modernity into the agricultural history of the city of Jaffa.

Community Garden in the Heart of Jaffa - The Orchard of Abraham's Children Mini-Grant Recipient - 2023
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The program includes monthly workshops for Jewish and Arab families from Jaffa which focus on experiencing and learning about the human, cultural and ecological fabric of Jaffa, with activities such as urban nature tours, pot, and seedling preparation activities, picking tours, DIY urban agriculture training sessions and more. Each meeting will include a joint social activity of a conversation circle, where the participants will get to know each other's culture through personal stories, spending time together, and partaking in meals together. The activities are run by a group of community members, most of them are parents in the Orchard bi-language kindergartens. It will take place in the community garden and community center of The Orchard of Abraham's Children and will be open to the residents of the Lev Jaffa neighborhood.

Tend the Land and Care for it - Center for Freedom and JusticeMini-Grant Recipient - 2023
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This is a cooperation between Hava & Adam sustainable education farm, Modien, Israel and the Center for Freedom and Justice (CFJ) -Beit Ummar, Palestine organization. The project aims to implement a composting program at Beit Ummar by instructing a group of "Master Composters" in the community, to divert organic waste and use it as a resource for the production of at least three marketable products - thermophilic compost, vermicompost and BSF larvae. Pending the successful implementation of the first stage, a second stage of this project would will involve the implementation of sustainable agriculture practices, bamboo forestry, and the creation of a local currency in order to establish a truly sustainable, economically viable, responsible and self-perpetuating

Rooftop Farming in Al-Ama’ri Refugee Camp - The Association for Urban Farming)Mini-Grant Recipient - 2023
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As part of a holistic effort to stimulate the economic engagement and social empowerment of the most vulnerable members of Palestinian society, this project is piloting a rooftop food production area in the Al-Am’ari refugee camp in the West Bank. By providing the tools for members of the community to learn to build their own hydroponic systems with available resources in the camp (in addition to priorly acquired materials) strengthening capacity building. The initiative aims to empower women and youth to participate in the creation of an environmentally sustainable project contributing to food security, upskilling towards the creation of green jobs opportunities, and improvement of microclimate and personal resiliency..

Ayoun el Sahar (Desert Eyes) - Ramat HaNegev Regional CouncilMini-Grant Recipient - 2022 & 2023
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The project’s goal is to promote women’s education in the unrecognized Bedouin Village of Abde, the sourthernmost Bedouin village in Israel. Two teachers will teach language courses in Hebrew, Arabic and English for two groups of six women. Lessons will take place in a class at a local school, the village’s only public facility. Basic language studies will help the women become an example to their children and families, and ultimately boost their chances of successfully attaining gainful employment and mobility in positions that require Hebrew, English and Arabic speakers.

Speak Up - Beit System AliMini-Grant Recipient - 2023
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Beit System Ali’s bi-national youth project Speak Up, is a music, leadership and civic engagement program during which Israeli and Palestinian young people participate in musical and creative writing workshops that empower them, promote respect for one another’s narratives, encourage the embracing of differences and provide inspiration for artistic creation. The workshops are based on the history of hip-hop and rap music which grew from the Black culture in the USA as tools for cultural expression and socio-political change. Throughout Speak Up the young people acquire artistic tools from music, rap and hip hop with which they explore their own voices, lead a collaborative creative process, and articulate their vision for the change they want to promote in their communities. Since hip-hop and rap have been historically male-dominated and fraught with sexist language, Speak Up focuses heavily on the empowerment of young women in music and the promotion of respectful, non-violent discourse. The program culminates in the co-creation of a multi-lingual artistic product like these original songs and music videos created in past programs.