Our community outreach programs include:
1. Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention in the Beduin Society of the Negev – The Bedouin population in the Negev is the most acute example of high-risk social and geographic periphery especially evident in lower standards of health and life expectancy compared to all other communities in Israel.
Since 2010 BETEREM has been operating a comprehensive community outreach program which now includes the 9 major municipalities in the area with the support of the Beduin Authority within the ministry of agriculture and the support of corporate responsibility departments Migdal Insurance and ICL group.
The program includes training local council personnel and professional caregivers. Training Adolescent leadership groups receiving safety promotion knowledge and volunteering themselves within their local community. Educational safety activities for young children in day care centers. Safety instruction of mothers in children’s clinics. Home visits conducted by local women safety trainers (thus empowering local women) in families with young children teaching them to identify and avoid safety hazards within the home environment. Information based safety campaigns. Community religious leadership involvement culminating in the construction of safe play rooms within local mosques thus avoiding dangers in the public arena, which is greatly lacking in safety infrastructure within the villages.
2.Generation to generation – grandmothers as safety promoters and agents of change within the Arab community in the Galilee – Active groups of older women within a determined community trained to become safety experts and become agents of change within their hometown. The group activities include communal activity for women such as safety instruction of mothers to newborn babies, home visits to identify and teach how to avoid safety hazards within the home, safety classes to children in elementary school. Some of the groups after further training become civil advocates for safety working with the local council to improve safety activities and infrastructure in their respective hometowns. This program empowers women, promotes transfer of knowledge from generation to generation and promotes safety through volunteer work. The initial group was founded with the support of Healing Across the Divides foundation and further groups have been founded with the support of other generous donors.
3. Safety Volunteer Groups – active in over 12 Arab communities in the north of Israel and currently spreading further to Arab and Jewish communities of all over the country. These groups promote safety within their respective communities by conveying weekly “lifesaving safety tips”, information and other educational volunteer activity through social media activity, in schools, day care and community centers.
4. “My Safe City” – a novel safety promotion and injury prevention model for local councils in cities all over the country culturally adapted for specific populations (secular, Arab and ultra-orthodox). The model aims to create a physical and behavioral municipal environment for children of all ages. A tailor-made suite of programs for each municipality joining the model to choose from including the formation of a municipal infrastructure for safety promotion, public awareness raising activities in educational and community centers including group and individual family activities for the benefit of the local residents. Implementation of the Model is conducted by BETEREM safety experts and in close cooperation of various municipal departments.
5. Safety Promotion and Injury Prevention for at Risk Populations Living in Public Housing – Safe Home – house visits focused on parental empowerment and counselling on children’s safety in the home accompanies by a home survey and vital repairs concerning safety hazards. Conducted in low income at risk populations living in public housing.
