Taking a Step Together

Changemaker: Jad Kheir

In the city of Haifa, where Arab and Jewish communities live together, one would assume that intercultural interaction would develop naturally. Yet, the complex reality shows that this does not necessarily happen. Therefore, the initiators of this project want to create an arena where young Arab and Jewish activists can meet and get to know each other through social activism.

The aim of this project is to change the way Israeli teenagers (Arabs and Jews) feel and think about each other, whilst promoting health and environmental issues in their surrounding communities. To put it simple, the projects wants to plant seeds of tolerance that will grow and spread into more community projects in the future.

It is planned to recruit students from one Arab and one Jewish high school in order to create a heterogeneous group of activists. This group will work on raising awareness towards environmental and public health issues, such as smoking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, recycling or sanitation. Raising awareness is especially important for this age group, as these issues are more likely to have an impact on the kids’ present and the future.