February 16, 2011

Israel: Partnering in Global Development, by Israel's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, M.K. Danny Ayalon


When Israel was reestablished almost 63 years ago, it adopted the ancient Jewish precept of Tikkun Olam as part of its national philosophy. This term, literally meaning "repairing the world" is an ancient Jewish value of reaching out to those in need and a social instruction to better our surroundings and society.

During its formative years, Israel faced enormous development challenges, including difficult climactic challenges, including water scarcity and the absorption of massive waves of immigrants. Israel in 2010 joined the OECD as a sign of successfully meeting those challenges and moving from a developing to a developed nation.

Israel's seminal ethos was "making the desert bloom" and its first leaders understood that their experience could be replicated in other regions dealing with the challenges of desertification, agriculture in arid conditions and water management.

The Jewish State was one of the first in the world to establish a development agency, MASHAV, Israel's Center for International Development Cooperation. MASHAV was created at the initiative of Golda Meir, Israel's first woman prime minister, after returning from her historic visit in 1958 to the newly created countries in Africa.

Meir felt that Israel had a moral obligation to share its experience in nation-building with others. She felt that Israel could be a role model because, in her words, only a few years after the founding of our state, it "had shaken off foreign rule, and had been forced to find solutions to the kinds of problems that large, wealthy, powerful states had never encountered."

For the next decade Israel was invited to support development programs in African nation-building, in the fields of agriculture, health and community development. This ended in 1967 when African nations were forced to sever relations with Israel by the Arab and Muslim bloc which held an automatic majority in the developing world.

Over the subsequent decades MASHAV did not stand idle and built a reputation in other regions like Latin America, Asia and in Arab nations that signed peace agreements with Israel, like Egypt and Jordan. MASHAV has also assisted our Palestinian neighbors with a focus on human capacity building and institution building.

However, according to the targets set by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in the year 2000, Africa remains a continent in need of partnership.

The MDGs represent our common humanity, a global partnership for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger, to ensure universal primary education, access to health services, gender equality and provide more to millions across the world.

Since its inception, MASHAV's work in the developing world has been guided by the basic approach that development work is organic in nature. Israel is committed to do its utmost to achieve the MDG's for the benefit of the billions who desperately need our sustained collective effort.

To this end, the State of Israel has signed agreements regarding cooperation in aiding developing nations, with emphasis on matters of water, agriculture and health, with many nations.

Israel is partnering with the United States in Ethiopia, with Germany in Ethiopia and Ghana, with Italy in Senegal, Japan and Denmark in the Middle East and we are hoping to sign an agreement with Canada in the near future to assist development in Asia.

Only last week, Israel and Germany signed a Declaration of Intent to plan a joint program in the vital Lake Victoria region of Kenya to improve the ecosystem there for the benefit of the entire area, including Uganda and Tanzania.

Israel, having joined the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) late last year, has a moral commitment to assist the developing world. The Jewish State is hoping to sign many more bilateral development agreements with partner nations in the developed world.

These agreements represent the Jewish State's willingness to extend a hand and cooperate around the world for the benefit of developing countries. This sends a clear and moral message to the people of the world that Israel remains faithful to both its Jewish and universal value system.

January 25, 2011

Haiti: one year after... by Yoel Barnea, former Israeli Ambassador to Uruguay


H A I T I :


O N E Y E A R A F T E R


One year ago, the earth under the Haitian people convulsed and the international community understood that we were all confronted with a major tragedy, that struck a country whose inhabitants have unfortunately a long story of suffering and struggle against poverty and underdevelopment.
The State of Israel, representing the values of the Jewish people and loyal to the principles of solidarity and " Tikun Olam" that guided us during more than three millenaries of our existence, dispatched urgently medical and other aid to the Haitian people and we committed ourselves to continue our assistance and support, together with our brothers in the Diaspora, together with all states and institutions of goodwill, until we can be sure that Haiti and its people are on the right path to heal their wounds and restart their lives, to attain a better future of development, progress and happiness for them , their children and the future generations.
Israel is establishing a Trauma and Emergency Room Unit in the Central Hospital of Cap Haitien (the second largest city, after the capital Port au Prince, situated in the north of Haiti); we are developing projects of assistance in the agricultural field, in coordination with the local Ministry of Agriculture and we are partners in the creation of a clinic for primary medical assistance in Leogane, together with the Sheeba Hospital and other associates. Also we are cooperating with various Israeli NGOs, which are providing assistance and support to the Haitian people in education, health, trauma treatment and primary necessities.
Israel, its people and the Jewish world- we are all very happy and grateful that we could take part in this endeavor, which is also our moral duty to do so- but more than that – it is a special privilege that destiny and the circumstances demand and expect from us. We hope very much that we accomplished our mission satisfactorily and engage ourselves to continue to do so with the same enthusiasm also in the future.
The challenges are still huge, difficult and numerous!!!!!!!!!!!!!

November 2, 2010

A post by Ambassador Behar in Dakar, Nov. 2010


A cool breeze at the end of the day blows down the sandy slope of the village of Mbisau in Senegal. A few dozen women, who are carrying their infants tied to their backs and wearing headscarves, are working bent down in their small plots of land where they are growing organic potatoes and onions. There are 126 women in this TIPA project, which uses advanced Israeli drip irrigation and agricultural techniques. Their project is a part of a broader program of MASHAV (Israel's Agency for International Development Cooperation) and the Embassy of Israel in Senegal to combat poverty. The women are pleased. The new engagement in agriculture enables them to earn much needed money and also to deal with their other tasks such as raising their children and cooking. When the sun set and shines its last golden rays for the day on the green fields, the women return home happy and with smiles on their faces.


Gideon Behar,

Ambassador

Embassy of Israel,

Dakar

July 25, 2010

Millenium cities initiatives- Israeli Partnership opens doors for early learners- Kumasi, Ghana

Mount Carmel Training Center designed a three- year program to integrate early childhood education into the classrooms. This involved close consultation with the Kumasi Metropolitan Department of Education, as well as working closely with a core group of teachers, who are soon to become teacher trainers themselves.


http://mci.ei.columbia.edu/?id=locations_kumasi

Israeli medical delegation in Congo takes heat while trying to soothe burns

Published in Ha'aretz a few days ago.
About 10 days ago Israel sent five medical specialists from Sheba Medical Center for 10 days to treat the wounded. They were the first plastic surgeons to arrive in Congo after the accident, with proper know-how and equipment to treat the victims. Approximately 50 victims were burned when an oil tanker caught fire two weeks ago, killing more than 230 people in avillage near the Democratic Republic of Congo's border with Burundi.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/israeli-medical-delegation-in-congo-takes-heat-while-trying-to-soothe-burns-1.302693

July 22, 2010


On July 19, MASHAV and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United nations signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in Eastern Africa, to promote strong technical collaboration as well as the development of capacity building strategies that will benefit government services, the civil society and the private sector in Eastern Africa.
The MOU was signed following an overall agreement on cooperation signed on November 2008 in Roma, FAO headquarters with the aim to assist developing countries to achieve the Millenium development goals (UN MDGs).

July 13, 2010

Congo: secours d’urgence aux grands brules

Israël a envoyé une équipe médicale d’urgence et du matériel de pointe pour soigner les rescapés, souvent très grièvement brûlés, de l’explosion d’un camion-citerne, qui a fait plus de 200 morts dans l’est de la République démocratique du Congo. une dizaine de docteurs, de chirurgiens et de spécialistes ont quitté en urgence Jérusalem, Haifa, et Tel-Aviv pour le Congo. MASHAV a pris la responsabilite de cette situation d’urgence. L'operation a etait mise en place suite à la demande du ministre des Affaires Etrangeres israelien Avigdor Lieberman.
http://jssnews.com/2010/07/12/israel-au-congo-aide-economique-et-secours-durgence/

July 4, 2010

In historic move, UN creates single entity to promote women’s empowerment

UN News Center, July 2nd, 2010. A very welcome initiative!

In a bid to accelerate the empowerment of women, the General Assembly today voted unanimously to create a dynamic new entity merging four United Nations offices focusing on gender equality, a move hailed by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other senior officials.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=35224&Cr=gender&Cr1

June 29, 2010

Israeli eye camp in Georgia, June 2010


Nice pictures from the last eye surgery camp who recently (June 2010) took place in Georgia. A delegation of Israeli ophtalmologists sent by Israel's Agency for International Cooperation Development- MASHAV- in cooperation with the Israeli organization "Eyes from Zion"- gave a new hope for dozens of Georgian citizens suffering from eyes deseases.

June 23, 2010

Ministres israéliens et allemands à Jérusalem pour réparer le monde

Yesterday, MASHAV and the German INWENT debated on aid effectiveness in a framework of 1-day seminar in Shefayim, CINADCO-MASHAV's agricultural training Center.
I already found an article, for our french-speaking friends, on the JSS blog.

Le vice-ministre des Affaires étrangères Danny Ayalon a rencontré aujourd’hui Dirk Niebel, ministre fédéral allemand de la Coopération économique et du développement, qui est en visite en Israël à la tête d’une importante délégation.
Cette visite fait suite à la signature de l’accord pour l’aide aux pays en développement par Ayalon et le ministre Niebel et Janvier dernier. Israël attache une grande importance à la coopération avec l’Allemagne sur les questions de l’aide, qui ont augmenté énormément ces derniers mois. Cette coopération représente une composante unique et importante dans le développement des bonnes relations entre les deux pays.

http://jssnews.com/2010/06/22/ministres-israeliens-et-allemands-a-jerusalem-pour-reparer-le-monde/

June 7, 2010

previous to previous...DevCom seminar, Haifa, 31/5 - 1/6/2010

Doing a lot with little
I have just received this great post published by Julia Chandler from the British Aid Agency (DFID) on the Haifa seminar last week. Julia was one of the speakers at the conference. She gave a very interesting presentation on the British case study.
Thank you!
http://juliac2.wordpress.com/2010/06/06/doing-a-lot-with-little/

By the way, you are invited to watch these videos about the conference and what means doing a lot with little...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqgq2-ZFSqo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I54R0vz32nk

May 25, 2010

Further to our previous post...

Vey good material I just found on the website of Web2forDev! exactly fits the issues we will deal with next week.
"Talking with the audience: Development organisations and social media": http://web2fordev.net/component/content/article/1-latest-news/111-talking-with-the-audience

Haifa workshop 31/5 - 1/6


Next week Mashav is hosting a two-day workshop on "Maximizing Outcomes with Minimum Resources for Development Communication". The workshop will be held in Haifa, Mount Carmel Training Center (the very first branch of MASHAV, this years turning 50!). Jointly organized by MASHAV and DevCom, OECD Development Centre, the seminair will deal with communication issues regarding development and the role of the new media in dispatching development messages.