MASHAV 2001 Annual Report

Foreword

Over the past few years, the development community has been undergoing a major paradigm shift. Topics such as poverty reduction, food security, sustainable development, community-driven development and micro-level assistance have moved into the forefront of the development community's efforts.

Interestingly enough, these topics have been the focus of the Center for International Cooperation - MASHAV's activities throughout our 44-year history. Since MASHAV's early years, we have concentrated on "bottom-up" development, working at a grassroots and community level in order to facilitate economic development, provide basic health care and promote food security.

This basic orientation is rooted in Israel's own development experience. MASHAV was first established ten years after Israel's independence, in order to enable Israel to share with other emerging nations of the time Israel's efforts to promote rapid development and to transfer successful methodologies, strategies and technologies. Central to this was Israel's own domestic focus on community-based development and its own response to challenges ranging from desert agriculture to refugee absorption and encouraging economic growth in a resource-poor, nonindustrialized society. It is this same focus which has informed our development program ever since and which serves as the basis for an increasing number of partnerships with development organizations worldwide.

In 2001, such cooperative relationships were introduced or expanded with USAID, the World Bank, the FAO, the Vatican's Pope John Paul II Foundation and many other organizations, in fields ranging from food security to basic health and from micro-finance to the environment.

In addition, we are proud of the fact that MASHAV's bilateral assistance programs also continued apace, despite the difficult circumstances of Israeli life in the past year.

In 2001, we were pleased to welcome to Israel 3,053 trainees from over 120 countries, as well as training over 5,228 participants in 114 on-the-spot courses held in 43 partner countries, and managing agricultural projects.

MASHAV also continued in its endeavors to provide a forum for dialogue between top officials and leaders in our own priority areas. In June, MASHAV held an International Symposium for Women Leaders. The symposium, whose theme was "The Impact of Training on Socio-Economic Development," was attended by 38 women leaders from throughout the developing world, including Angela King, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Gender and the Advancement of Women, and numerous Cabinet Ministers, parliamentarians, Directors General and other senior government officials. Similarly, MASHAV's conference for Ministers and Directors General of Education Ministries was a great success.

During 2001, MASHAV also continued to enlarge the scope of its medical assistance and humanitarian aid program, including the operation of two-week "eye-camps" in five partner countries, in which Israeli ophthamologists treated hundreds of patients for preventable blindness and ocular disease. MASHAV also conducted many short-term consultancies in various areas of medicine and public health and presided over the rapid emergency dispatch of Israeli doctors and medical supplies in response to natural disasters worldwide. In light of Israel's expertise in the field of disaster response and emergency medicine, we intend on further expanding our activities in this field in the coming years, both by dispatching crisis response teams where needed and providing training in trauma medicine and disaster response to interested partner countries.

Finally, we could not fairly survey MASHAV's year without reference to the political situation in the Middle East. MASHAV has always accorded top priority to our cooperation and assistance programs in the Middle East, reflecting our belief in the importance of cooperation in order to build trust, develop strong ties between peoples and overcome conflict. Since the signing of the Peace Treaty with Egypt and the subsequent conclusion of agreements with the Palestinians and with Jordan, we have trained thousands of participants (often in Arabic-language courses) from the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Jordan and other Arab states. We are proud to note that, in the year 1999, MASHAV trained more Palestinians than any other national group, with Egypt in third place. Similarly, Jordan was our top recipient of program budgets in 2001. Sadly, however, the outbreak of the present violence in September 2000 has resulted in a significant reduction of our activities in the Middle East due to greater difficulty in finding Arab partners interested in dialogue and cooperation with Israel. MASHAV strongly regrets this trend. Specifically in these troubled times, when dialogue seems difficult even between the most ardent supporters of peace, we believe that the search for common ground through technical and development cooperation is of utmost importance. By engendering economic growth and promoting social stability, MASHAV's partnerships in the region help light the way to a better future, a future that can only be possible through choosing cooperation over conflict. We remain committed to this principle and continue to seek partners who share this vision for our region.

As the year 2001 closes and we look to 2002, the promotion of peace, social welfare and prosperity through cooperation and the sharing of knowledge remains MASHAV's mission. We take pride in our contribution to the world's development efforts and we remain committed to finding more effective means for such cooperation in the future.

Arie Arazi
Deputy Director General
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Head of MASHAV

CONTENTS

Guiding Principles

MASHAV Organizational Chart

MASHAV at a Glance: