Social and Economic Justice
With 1 in 3 children in Israel living below the poverty line, it is critically important to address the root causes of poverty - giving a voice to the powerless by building and strengthening their grass-roots organizations.
Example: NIFC has supported a project for Women Renewing Management organized with Kol Haisha and SHATIL giving women with management roles in welfare the tools to improve the socioeconomic status of the disadvantaged. A variety of skills-training programs like this have been offered to various groups through SHATIL.
Religious Pluralism
In a Jewish democratic state, individuals practice their pluralistic religion according to their own conscience. No one denomination ought to dictate to others; matters of personal choice like marriage should be free of coercion.
Example: NIFC supported a workshop series that included many pluralism NGOs on how to effectively work with the media and inform the Israeli public of various Jewish religious and Secular identity options in the state.
Environment
The Israeli environment is threatened by water shortage, unfettered development of remaining green spaces, and severe industrial pollution.
Example: NIFC supported award winning environmental group, Shomera for a Better Environment, in their teaching courses and environmental education program for religious schools using both Halachic sources and contemporary research.
Women's Empowerment
Social institutions, traditions, and religious laws have kept women at a disadvantage in education, the workplace, divorce, and as victims of violence. Israeli women in minority and disadvantaged groups have disproportionately high rates of unemployment, poverty, health problems, and abuse of basic rights.
Example: NIFC has supported a project for Women Legal Leaders organized with Itach-Maaki: Women Lawyers for Social Justice and Haifa University providing leadership training to women from marginalized communities including Arab-Israeli women and immigrant women by educating them about models of community leadership and their legal rights.
Ethnic Minority Empowerment
With over a million recent immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and elsewhere and a 20% Arab minority, Israel must live up to the ideal of its founders by committing to equal rights and opportunities for all minorities.
Example: NIFC supported SHATIL efforts to create and strengthen a coalition of organizations educating society about violence within the Ethiopian family. The Knesset used information provided by the coalition to launch a full public education initiative and appointed a special committee to address the issue.
Civil and Human Rights
Israel’s founders envisioned a state that ensures complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants without regard to religion, race, or gender. Israel's Basic Law on Human Dignity and Liberty notes "Fundamental human rights in Israel are founded upon recognition of the value of the human being, the sanctity of human life, and hte principle that all persons are free."
Example: NIFC supported an Integrated Course for Social Change transforming the pattern of how society sees individuals with disabilities from an image of patronage and indifference to one of equal rights and opportunity.
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