Ahali Center for Community Development is an independent not-for-profit organization established to strengthen grassroots activism among Palestinian citizens through community organizing, as a means to struggle for full citizenship and minority rights, and to ensure the equal distribution of national resources.

Goals

• Organizing and assisting Palestinian grassroots groups, to develop issue-specific associations that promote community rights and the special needs and interests of each constituency;
• Providing civic forum frameworks that bring people in community together to deliberate, exchange ideas and experiences, and find common ground for action on issues that concern them deeply;
• Implementing training programs in community development and community organizing to create a cadre of professionals capable of working with grassroots groups to promote social change;
• Encouraging the participation of Palestinian citizens in public affairs and democratic processes in order to achieve equal citizenship and minority rights.

Main Activities

• The Training of Trainers Project: To expand a local cadre of professional grassroots activists and community organizers who can mobilize the community to act on their needs and interests, and to contribute to the strengthening of civil society;
• The Arab Farmers Project: To address the impoverishment caused by the economic deterioration of Arab rural agricultural communities, and to provide a framework for Arab farmers to organize themselves and acquire necessary information, skills and tools they need to defend their rights and interests;
• The Oral History Project: To create an archive of information relating the oral history of Palestinians to be used by students, researchers, and others;
• Committee of Families of Palestinian Martyrs in Israel: To provide a support network for the bereaved families, and to assist them in acting together for their cause.