Page 4 - WePower ANNUAL REPORT 2020

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WOMEN FOR FUTURE LEADERSHIP trains activist women to become local leaders, promote change and take on
public roles. In early November 2019, the program opened in Beit She'an, a city in northern Israel. Beit She'an
has 13 council members, only one of whom is a woman (7.6%), making our work there particularly important.
The program opened with 23 participants under the guidance of Yael Abada, formerly a counselor in Haifa. There
were 10 sessions that took place between November 2019- February 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and the
ensuing shutdown forced us to postpone our final two sessions to June, when we could once again meet in
person for the final graduation ceremony.

Congratulations to the graduates of the 'Women for Future Leadership' group from Beit She’an!

Shani Elden-Hakim, our Training and Development Manager, conducted an online meeting with graduates of the
program in Beit She’an and with alumni of a similar program that was held a number of years ago with the
intention of creating a local cadre of Beit She’an women who will advance a gender-sensitive perspective in their
community and will support each other through cooperative ventures.
An additional Women’s Leadership program was offered in Kfar Yona, which met twice in 2020 before the
outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, and conducted a number of ZOOM meetings during the weeks of

shutdowns. Of the 18 women who began the program, 10
continued once pandemic-related restrictions were eased, and
took part in three inspirational meetings with WePower’s CEO,
Dr. Mazal Shaul, and in two sessions that are part of the original
programming: a meeting with Yael Hasson from Adva about
Gender and Budget, and with Hilla Hassan, a religious orthodox
activist from the Kfar Yona region. The final meeting was
attended by Ms. Shosh Kahlon, Mayor of Kfar Yona, as
participants shared their personal leadership manifests.
“I see a group that is representative of the diversity of Kfar Yona. You are a tremendous force in your ability to
lead change that recognizes diversity and gives it a voice in the city” said Shani Elden-Hakim.
During 2020 we also conducted two large training and networking conferences for elected council members in
Beer Sheva and Carmiel that focused on citizen engagement, and hosted professionals in the field.

This year we focused on our Gender-Index in the Local Councils, and published updated data on the
women’s representation in the political arena in early March, showing women to be only 17.6% in local
councils, 5.4% among heads of local councils, 21% of directors in senior statutory positions, and 38% in local
corporation directorates.