Today, USAID West Bank and Gaza Mission and U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv announced 15 new grants to the Conflict Management and Mitigation Program [three managed by U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv and 12 managed by USAID West Bank and Gaza Mission].  The new grants bring together Israelis and Palestinians and provide opportunities to address issues, reconcile differences, and promote greater understanding and mutual trust by working on common goals such as economic development, environment, health, education, sports, music, and information technology. 

USAID West Bank and Gaza Mission Director Dave Harden noted “These grants represent our investment in support of partners who strive for peace and a better, more hopeful Middle East”

The CMM Program is part of a worldwide effort to bring together individuals of different backgrounds from areas of conflicts in people to people reconciliation activities.  Since the program’s start, USAID WBG and U.S. Embassy Tel Aviv have invested in 99 CMM grants. 

Information on the new grants is listed below:

Citizen Accord Forum (9/2015-9/2016:  $100,000):  The “Ultra-Orthodox and Arabs Work Together to Create a Shared Civic Agenda” project brings together 45 leaders to work on a shared civic agenda and implement activities related to social issues of common concern in their communities.

The Israel Women’s Network (9/2015-9/2016:  $99,779):  The "Moms @Work" project brings together 100 women of different religious backgrounds to work on strengthening women’s inclusion in Israeli society.  The project promotes mutual understanding as well as enhancing women rights and gender equality to promote their economic advancement.

SHIN:  The Israeli Movement for the Equal Representation of Women (9/2015-9/2017:  $99,994):  The "Young Women’s Parliament" project brings together 150 high school female students of different religious background from ten communities to work on issues of common concern, build bridges, learn advocacy skills, and improve leadership skills enabling the participants to work on conflict resolution issues.

Morashtenu (9/2015-1/2017:  $100,000):  The “Utilizing Media for Change” project brings together Russian-speaking Israeli media and the Palestinian media, including Russian-speaking Palestinians, to develop joint working groups on areas of common interest.  This project reaches out primarily, but not exclusively, to Russian-speaking Israelis.

Search for Common Ground (SFCG) (9/2015-3/2017:  $899,909):  The “Regional Cooperative Health Initiative” project increases cooperation among public health officials and technicians on common health concerns for Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian societies on biosafety and biosecurity that places all three populations at risk from an accidental or intentional hazardous biological outbreak.

Creativity For Peace (9/2015-5/2017:  $99,850):  The “Women Building a Politics of Peace” project encourages more equitable participation of women in both Palestinian and Israeli political life, in particular women who focus on cooperation as it relates to humanitarian needs.

Kids4Peace (9/2015-5/2017:  $100,000):  The “Peace Builders Forum” project connects Palestinian and Israeli youth via common projects in media, tourism, community outreach, and training youth to effectively communicate historical and contemporary narratives.

Palestinian Peace Coalition (PPC) (9/2015-9/2017:  $700,000):  The “Enriching the Dialogue for Peace” project brings together key Palestinian and Israeli opinion leaders to build trust.  This project’s activities include leadership training for young key opinion leaders, specifically women.     

Peace Players International (9/2015-9/2017:  $1,000,000):  The “Peace Players Basketball Club” project utilizes sports to bridge divides between Palestinians and Israelis.  This project trains youth with leadership and social entrepreneurship skills.

Ein Dor Museum (9/2015-9/2017:  $700,000):  The “How Do You Spell VIOLENCE in Hebrew and Arabic” project fosters leadership and joint work among 150 Israeli-Jewish and Israeli-Arab youth from six schools in the Galilee that will in turn, reach over 2,000 young students in their schools, in a joint campaign to combat violence, intolerance, and incitement in schools and communities throughout the Galilee.

Middle East Entrepreneurs for Tomorrow (MEET) (9/2015-9/2017:  $850,454):  The “Training Entrepreneurs for Excellence at MEET” project engages 70-80 excelling Israeli and Palestinian youth between the ages 15-18 in an advanced technology, entrepreneurship, and leadership training.  This project also works on establishing networks of mutual trust, understanding, respect, and teamwork.

Peres Center for Peace (9/2015-3/2018:  $1,100,000):  The “B2B” project works with 40 companies to encourage cross-border business cooperation, increase the trade capacities of the Palestinian food industry, and promote a more trade-enabling environment based on mutual benefit, awareness, and trust.

Catholic Relief Services (9/2015-3/2018:  $1,000,000):  The “Together for Pediatric Palliative Care” project brings together medical professionals from the West Bank, Israel, and Jordan to work together on the shared goal of establishing pediatric palliative care programs to support the dignity and wellbeing of terminally ill children and their families.   This project seeks to build bridges and assist children suffering from cancer by supporting a home based care program linked with the Beit Jala Hospital.

Hand in Hand Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel (9/2015-9/2018:  $1,197,226):  The “Widening the Circle:  From Bilingual Arab-Jewish Schools to Civic Inclusion” project establishes the seventh Hand in Hand bilingual school and implements community activities in all seven schools to increase social bonds and address social issues in Jewish-Arab relations in Israel.

Arava Institute for Environmental Studies (9/2015-9/2018:  $952,788):  The “Off-Grid Food Energy and Water Solutions (OFEW-Solutions)” project implements off-grid food, energy, and water solutions (grey-water recycling and biogas systems) for mitigating environmental conflicts between Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza.