Every year, the New Israel Fund awards the Yaffa London-Yaari Prize to extraordinary women who have established innovative projects working to advance women’s rights in Israel. This year’s three inspiring winners are:
Dr. Rania Abdullah founded the Wahabat Association to respond to the plight of underprivileged populations. Wahabat provides free complete medical care to those without health insurance who are mainly refugees and asylum seekers, foreign workers, women trapped in prostitution, victims of women trafficking, or Palestinians denied Israeli citizenship through the Citizenship Law.
The clinic is run and operated by professionals – all voluntary, and has medical equipment bought by the founders from donations that they have raised. Wahabat has partnerships with associations that help patients with their social rights, pay home visits and assist with everyday needs. 60% of the recipients of aid in the clinic are women.
Na’ama Zach founded Almaya which provides services to pregnant girls. There are more than 4,000 reported pregnant girls in Israel every year and the aim Zach’s organization is to provide information to these girls and their families, make medical and other services accessible, and to assist in removing barriers to access. The project is run through digital channels, based on an app, website and social networks. This makes it easy for the girls to find Almaya through a simple search and use the organization’s services discreetly and safely.
A law graduate, Zach works as a legal intern for the public defenders’ office and has previously been active and volunteering with youth at risk, asylum seekers and other disadvantaged groups. She will spend the prize money on developing Alamiya’s app, on advertising and increasing exposure of the organization to girls in need.
Bar Star is a social entrepreneur with the Hope Center for Women. She grew up in a violent household and after her childhood experiences, she decided to become a strength for other women and children who are victims of domestic violence. She will invest her prize money in the development of the Hope Center, which provides assistance in building the foundations for a stable, independent, and healthy life for those who are suffering violence at home.
The Center will help women obtain the social rights to which they are entitled from state institutions, including the health funds and National Insurance, and which can assist them in receiving the tools to achieve economic independence.
Bar is not satisfied with just assistance from bureaucratic institutions, she also provides emotional support for the women that the Center helps and is working on developing an economic model for the NGO.
In 2003, the Yaari Family established the fund in the name of their late mother, Yaffa London-Yaari, one of the founders and leaders of the social services system in the early days of the state. During her life, she embodied a culture of giving back to the community, social solidarity, and the advancement of women’s rights.
Over the years, the women who have won the Yaffa London-Yaari Prize have come from diverse backgrounds – Jews, Arabs and Bedouin, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, veteran Israelis, new immigrants, secular, traditional, religious, and ultra-Orthodox – all from the social and geographic periphery of Israel. The prize has allowed the winners to develop innovative projects for women.