Arous Elbahar strives to improve the status and inclusion of Arab women from Jaffa in society and the job market. Through action and positive thinking, the nonprofit offers the women of Jaffa the tools and skills to change their lives at the personal, economic and community levels. We believe that all women deserve equality of rights and opportunity, regardless of religion, race, nationality or socioeconomic status.
Arous Elbahar offers a wide range of courses, lectures and workshops, designed to help the women of Jaffa develop skills and gain valuable knowledge to enable them to successfully integrate in the labor market, develop awareness of financial independence, and achieve greater autonomy over their lives. We do this through projects, lectures and workshops about the business and employment, all while strengthening self-image. Our activities include training in fields such as languages, marketing and communications, gender equality, leadership, self-confidence, and more.
Through individual guidance and support, courses and training that will open new opportunities to you!
Join our women’s club and become a part of a community of the women of Jaffa that will support you and allow you to support others in return, take part in our community activities and make new friends for life!
Around 60 women participate every year, most of whom are Palestinian women from the West Bank and Gaza. These women are in the unique position of lacking the basic rights afforded to other citizens, and this makes their entrance in the job market particularly difficult for two main reasons; employer’s refusal to hire them and their lack of ability to communicate in Hebrew. In this way, we are happy to see the remarkable development these women undergo following the course.
Each year around 30 women participate in the course, which is divided into two levels, beginner and advanced.
At the beginner level, the participants are women who are motivated to gain English language skills and improve their command of the language in order to help their children with their school work.
At the advanced level, the women are working in the labor market and wish to develop their language skills in order to progress in their jobs.
What makes the English course unique is that the women do not only learn the language; they are also exposed to feminist content. The participants discuss women leaders in the Arab and Western worlds (such as Rosa Parks, Oprah Winfrey, Umm Kulthum, Malala Yousafzai and more). These leaders represent a source of inspiration to the women, motivating them to progress both individually and socially.
This course started during the outbreak of the pandemic, when around 60% of the women of the organization had to leave their jobs, leading to deterioration in their personal, family, and financial situations. The idea was to allow the women to obtain an additional source of income and to focus on learning sewing skills to enable the possibility to earn additional money from home. There is a high demand for this course, with 40 participants since March 2020 and an additional 80 women waiting for the opportunity to join.
During sessions we raise awareness about fair trade, the importance of reusing old clothes, and the damage caused by the continued consumption of new clothes to the environment.
The teacher of the sewing course is Dalal Daoud.
In this course, women gain social skills in order to boost their confidence and strengthen their connections with family and others. In addition, the course focuses on practical skills including CV writing, calls to action and entrepreneurship, how to start a private project, how to increase sales, customer service, and more.
The course began following multiple requests from women struggling with debts and mortgages that led to unbearable financial situations. The course provides women with skills such as:
In this course we develop the participants’ technical capabilities that help women in the workplace, with an emphasis on online job searching, using computers in office work, Excel, etc.
The course also helps with acquiring fundamental skills such as creating a personal email address, and developing skills for everyday management of governmental and official websites (HMOs, the Ministry of Labor, social security, and more).
Every year we hold 4 lectures on various topics, and between 40 and 60 women participate.
The lectures raise awareness about topics including health (breast cancer, diabetes etc.), how to take care of newborns, accessing rights, entrepreneurship, household finances and coping with daily stresses.
