HEALING ACROSS THE DIVIDES INC

Healing Across the Divides aims to measurably improve the health of marginalized Israelis and Palestinians utilizing community based interventions. We do this through funding and provision of technical expertise to already existing community groups.

In funding established groups, we aim to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of these community groups. We work with the groups to make the funded initiatives sustainable, as much as possible. We bring the Israeli and Palestinian groups together to learn from each other twice a year, as desired.

Our long term aim is to increase the standing of these groups within their own societies. Using a peace building through health framework, we hope that these community groups can engage with each other, search for common ground, and create building blocks leading to healing across the divides. In its first 15 years of existence, Healing Across the Divides has measurably improved the health of more than 100,000 Israelis and Palestinians.

A principal strategy to measurably improving the health of marginalized Israelis and Palestinians is to work with already existing community groups. We want to improve their effectiveness and efficiency and their consequent social status by working with them to improve the health of the populations they serve. We provide technical expertise to the groups to increase their self-evaluation and managerial capacity using a minimum data set. In so doing the community group gains efficiency can to improve the effectiveness of their efforts to measurably improve the health of the populations they are serving

As an additional strategy, we seek partnerships with other organizations, foundations (such as Jewish Federations) and/or agencies (such as the UN High Commission for Refugees) that are also interested in health improvement of marginalized Israelis and/or Palestinians. In this manner we pass on what we have learned and vice versa as we are ourselves committed to continuous organizational improvement.

We accomplish our mission of measurably improving the health of marginalized Israelis and Palestinians using:
a. World-wide expertise in both measurement and evaluation of all health care interventions. This comes from individuals either on Healing Across The Divide’s staff, t board of directors, international technical advisory committee, or colleagues of the aforementioned;
b. Excellent on the ground organizational management expertise from our representatives based in Israel and the West Bank. As needed, additional, organizational management expertise can be called upon;
c. Financial commitment to work with the community groups to implement their initiatives in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner.

We have:
a. Measurably and demonstrably improved the health of over 100,000 marginalized Israelis and Palestinians;
b. Improved the capacity of almost 50 community groups over 15 years of operation as these groups learn to self-evaluate the work that they are doing in the manner of continuous quality improvement. Improving capacity includes increasing the effectiveness and national/international visibility of the leadership of these groups;
c. Fostered long term sustainability of a number of the initiatives, a perennial challenge for any non-profit;
d. Brought Israeli and Palestinian groups together, an accomplishment that cannot be overstated in this highly politicized environment. Bringing groups together is an essential component of peace-building through health;
e. Continued to focus on our core mission which has remained the same since its inception.