Abbas Abbas – Advocating for Blind and Vision-Impaired Arabs

Abbas Abbas is a blind Arab man who grew up in northern Israel. Throughout his youth and university years, he felt frustrated with the way the blind are treated in Arab society and with the inadequate services that the State provides to this minority. Determined to change this reality, Abbas founded Al-Manara, an organization that caters to the needs and rights of the blind and vision-impaired in the Arab community.

Things were initially slow, and it was difficult for Abbas to get activities off the ground. But then he approached Shatil and began to benefit from intensive organizational management and resource development consulting. With newfound knowledge and skills in recruitment and management of volunteers, fundraising, and forming partnerships with State institutions, Al-Manara has grown significantly. Today, it is an established organization that runs educational programs in high schools and universities and advocates for more appropriate policies for a hitherto neglected population.

Strengthening Social Change Organizations

Shatil reaches out to a range of organizations located throughout the country representing diverse communities and issues. We provide capacity building services to groups promoting women’s rights; the human rights of refugees from African countries; Jewish-Arab shared living efforts; initiatives to change consciousness about the needs and rights of people with disabilities; and many other groups working on a variety of social change issues. In whatever issue area or organizational phase, Shatil offers an integrated package of capacity building services suited to the respective needs of each organization or group of activists.

Capacity building is advanced through the use of one-on-one consulting by experienced professionals in the fields of:

• Organizational development and management
• Resource development
• Financial Management
• Advocacy and media relations
• Conflict transformation
• Technology and online social marketing

Community Organizing

Shatil recognizes that local civic engagement is key to a vibrant democracy.  To that end, Shatil guides existing and potential community activists in organizing their neighborhoods and communities through theoretical training and field work.  We place a special emphasis on peripheral areas in the Negev region and the north of the country.

Training Programs

Long-term consulting is complemented by more than 100 tailor-made training programs annually that enhance knowledge and strengthen skills in specific areas such as project development, proposal writing, and organizing public campaigns. These training courses also give representatives of different organizations an opportunity to network, learn from one another, and discover common agendas and possible future areas and methods of collaboration.

Meet the Experts

Click here to download (in PDF form) a handbook of a list of experts from social change organizations that Shatil has collaborated with.