IVN Fellows

IVN Social Entrepreneurs Fellowships Program(2004-to date)

Since 2004, this program has been helping promising, dedicated social entrepreneurs create viable social initiatives.

Established in 2004, together with the New Israel Fund, IVN's Social Entrepreneurship (SE) Fellowship Program supports and incubates highly entrepreneurial individuals dedicated to developing and implementing innovative and sustainable solutions to social problems and challenges. These individuals stand at the cutting edge of social change, developing and pursuing their vision in Israel and beyond, and empowering people and communities to create positive, sustained change.
IVN nurtures and supports its Fellows with a stipend, a tailored professional management training program, mentorship, enrichment and support. By providing our entrepreneurs with real-world strategies, especially in the area of income generation and growth, we help them develop a stable foundation and infrastructure for financial stability and sustainability.
Since its inception, the program has been responsible for helping literally thousands of Israelis find jobs. Out of our 18 social entrepreneurships, IVN has supported a large number either dedicated to generating employment opportunities, or focusing on education and the environment. Until now, our Fellows have been founders of social initiatives. In the future, we plan to extend this type of support to social businesses as well.

IVN's current Fellow are:

Yony Choona and Georg Roessler's SOS Center for Violence Studies
Inspired by a highly successful innovative European model, this program is committed to prevention of violence in schools and also promotes the topic as an academic discipline.  The Center takes a holistic approach that includes teacher training and work with parents, students, youth movements and local police authorities.

Ada Safanov's "Source of Growth" (2008-2010)
The goal of this initiative is to reduce the school drop-out rate of immigrant children in general and children from the Caucuses region in particular and to strengthen their social integration. This is done by promoting multi-cultural teaching methods in order to raise student academic achievements and by working with teachers, parents and the education system.

Lior Lapid's Big Brother
Lior has taken upon himself the promotion of education & volunteerism in Israel. Through the Big Brother program, academically and/or socially challenged 6^th graders are identified and paired with a volunteer from the community. The volunteer provides both social and academic support as part of this youth mentoring program. These quality relationships are built on friendship and trust, and have proven to be a significant positive influence in the life of the child, and the volunteer.

Natan Rubin's Eitanim - Enlisting Together
Responding to the national challenge of advancing development towns and bridging social gaps, Eitanim is a solution based on instilling Jewish and Zionist values in development town’s youth in an appealing and practical way. Designed as an intensive weekly program for 11^th and 12^th graders, the program uses military preparation skills and training as a method to convey a wider scope of educational agendas, and engages the youth in real-life decision making and leadership situations. Eitanim’s staff members are all former and present officers and commanders in the IDF, and are residents of the development town of Netivot.

Yossi Coten and Smadar Nehab's Tsofen
These entrepreneurs have a vision for the general Northern Israeli population and the Arab job-seeking population in particular, to enable unemployed engineers to join the mainstream high-tech success story of Israel by centralizing and establishing an innovative high-tech employment and training nucleus, first of all, in Nazareth.

Linda Mosek's Retirement - the Window of Opportunity
Baby boomers the world over still have a huge amount to contribute to society, and Israel is no exception.  This innovative initiative creates valued occupational opportunities for the elderly in Hod Hasharon through a community-based vocational center.  In addition, the project embraces a wide range of elements such as community involvement, business development, volunteering, inter-generational interaction and Israel-Diaspora partnerships.

Margalit Moshe's Women Embroidering Andanet (Together)
Margalit Moshe's project was established in 2003 with the intention of integrating unemployed Jewish Ethiopian women into the Israeli society and economy. What started as social gathering, "Women Embroidering Andanet" now consists of 30 Ethiopian women living in Be'er Sheva who do their embroidering during the week at home and once a week meet with consultants who help them with design, manufacturing, marketing & sales, etc.. The products consist of items such as chala and matza covers, table cloths, mezuzah cases, place mats and much more.

Nasmat Zaytoon & Nadia Ismael's Center for the Development and Empowering of Bedouin Women
Located in the North, Arab Alcamana is one of the most conservative communities within the Israeli Arab Bedouin community. The traditional and patriarchal framework of the community has served to restrain women’s progress politically, economically and socially. The initiative intends to establish an active social centre in Arab Alcamana that will also act as a model for women in other Bedouin villages.The center's mission is to provide a place to empower and assist local women in building programs that respond to their specific needs as Arab Bedouin women. The center will be dedicated to strengthening Arab Bedouin women; creating social and economic opportunities; and developing the women’s self esteem and self-confidence -- in an environment free of fear.

Yael Cohen-Paran's  Israel Energy Forum
The global energy problem is being tackled head on in Israel by this project.  The forum aims to develop the first sustainable energy plan for Israel, advocate its adoption and enable its implementation. The forum will build a framework for planning the future of Israel's energy supply and consumption, and will initiate public discussion, urging policy-makers to push forward sustainable solutions for Israel's energy needs.

Dana Weinberg's Women and Their Bodies
Women and Their Bodies, founded in 2005, is a unique organization of Israeli women, Jewish and Arab, who seek to provide accessible, pragmatic, research-based information about women's health and sexuality in order to raise awareness amongst women, regardless of age, socio-economic status and ethnicity, throughout Israel. Women and Their Bodies is fortunate to have generous an unbelievable network of over 300 devoted women volunteers giving of their time and their skills. Their main activities include (i) The massive and vital task of creating local and culturally adapted Hebrew and Arabic editions of 'Our Bodies, Ourselves', an unparalleled women’s health guide, to serve the entire female population of Israel; (ii) An online information center in Hebrew and Arabic and (iii) Community outreach workshops on women's health rights and sexuality