NIF Awards Help Grow Grass-Roots Women Leaders

May 21, 2008

The second Lebanon War acted as a catalyst for Gila Petrov, transforming her into a social change leader fighting for the rights of women and new immigrants.

“After the war I watched social workers and psychologists providing workshops for new immigrants in the North who were traumatized by the Hezbollah missiles,” she recounts. “The lectures were in Hebrew and many of the participants clearly didn’t understand a thing. It was a ridiculous situation. The lecturers told me that the immigrants hadn’t complained. I laughed. They didn’t even realize that citizens from the former Soviet Union are used to sitting in silence and not complaining.”

Consequently Petrov, 42, a psychologist with AMCHA, which gives assistance to Holocaust survivors, set up the Forum for New Immigrant Families in the North. The Forum seeks to train Russian-speaking counselors and has been receiving ongoing consultation from SHATIL. It was SHATIL that recommended that Petrov, a Russian immigrant herself, apply for one of this year’s Yaffa London-Ya’ari Scholarships.  

Last week in Jerusalem Petrov was one of the two recipients of the 2008 Scholarships, the fifth annual award made by the NIF Endowment Fund in memory of Yaffa London-Ya'ari, who helped establish and lead social services in Israel's formative years. The Fund was set up by her three sons – Eliezer (NIF's Executive Director in Israel), Yossi and Arik -- together with NIF supporter Agnes Varis of New York City.

Gila Petrov (left) and Nurit Verbin (center)
receive their scholarships from Eliezer Ya'ari.

Petrov will use her scholarship to train Russian-speaking volunteer psychologists and social workers in the northern development town of Ma’alot. She then hopes to repeat the program for additional groups throughout the North.

“The importance of the program goes far beyond the counseling that the new immigrant Northern residents will receive,” she explains. “This is also about helping empower the women who will take the course as well as introducing a culture of volunteerism and social action to an Israeli population sector unfamiliar with the importance of these concepts.”

Also present at the scholarship ceremony in Jerusalem were some of the past recipients of the award. Amna Ka’anana told the audience that as a result of her scholarship, she had won the Knesset Speaker’s Prize for Quality of Life earlier this year. Ka’anana serves as director of NIF grantee Awareness For You, which gives empowerment courses for Arab women in the village of Kafr Kara.

In addition to rewarding grass roots activists, the Yaffa London-Ya'ari Fund also influences trends in the social change movement.  In its wake, many new funds supporting women's affairs have been established and yet more organizations are launching programs for women.

The second 2008 Yaffa London-Ya'ari Scholarship was awarded to Nurit Verbin, 62, who founded the School for Business Entrepreneurship for Small Businesses. Verbin also heard about the scholarships from SHATIL, which provides her with ongoing consultancy.

“When I was 43 I got divorced,” she recalls. “Suddenly I found myself needing to make a living to support my three small children. Eventually I built a career as a diamond trader and did quite well financially, but I never really enjoyed it and I retired as soon as I could afford to. I set up my school because I want to pass onto other women that sense of empowerment and self-esteem which comes from being able to earn your own living.”

Since its establishment in 2004, Verbin’s school has given economic empowerment courses to 350 disadvantaged women from the greater Tel Aviv area. Most are divorcees and single mothers, although some are married, and from the poorest socio-economic sectors.

“About 15 percent of our graduates have gone on to build successful businesses in such areas as catering, cosmetics, kindergarten management, real estate and much more,” says Verbin, “while a large percentage of others have gone on to good salaried management positions.”

Verbin said that many others had attempted to open businesses but failed because her school did not have a budget for mentors to accompany the business during its formative years. “With this scholarship we will pay for mentoring for ten women,” she said.