Effective Activism

MiniActive Makes 106 Tutorial Video

We’ve described here about how MiniActive is helping the Palestinian populations improve their surroundings in Jerusalem. Since its founding in 2012 MiniActive has registered tens of thousands of complaints, bringing about a revolutionary change in the way the municipality provides services to the Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.

Downloading the 106 app

Downloading the 106 app

The Jerusalem Municipality recently launched a new mobile app that enables residents to register complaints with the 106 hotline, supplementing the work of the telephone-based hotline. However, while it is possible to write requests and complaints in Arabic, the whole app platform  – downloading, signing up, entering some information for tracking – is in Hebrew.

Even types of complaints are listed only in Hebrew

Even types of complaints are listed only in Hebrew

Enter MiniActive. They’ve created a video on how to use the new 106 mobile app. The video shows how to download the app, how to sign up and insert all the necessary information, how to use its system that also plots the complaints on a map, and how to file a complaint using the app.  You can view the entire video here.

Details can be described in Arabic

Details can be described in Arabic

Using this app will make MiniActive’s work – and its ripple effect of inspiring the rest of the Palestinian community in East Jerusalem – even more accessible. Can’s wait to see how it’ll upgrade their work!

Many thanks to the Leichtag Foundation‘s Jerusalem Model for their support of this summertime initiative for youth. And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

 

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2021-02-06T11:03:41+00:00February 1st, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

Little Prince – Making Jerusalem Clean through Public-Private Partnership

The Little Prince began almost four years ago (in the spring of 2017) with a goal: engage all of Jerusalem residents in one goal – making Jerusalem a clean city. Part of that goal – engaging the Jerusalem Municipality as a full partner in the process.

Not just any Zoom meeting

Not just any Zoom meeting

Yes, indeed that has happened. This picture is ‘just’ a screen shot of a Zoom meeting waiting to begin. But it means the world  – a recurring meeting, together with the Director of the Operations Division of the Jerusalem Municipality, demonstrating the true partnership that has developed, together with residents from all parts of the city. Here’s what our Tal Kligman, Director of the Little Prince initiative, had to say:

There is nothing like seeing the name of “The Little Prince” on the Zoom of the Jerusalem Municipality’s Director of Operations, to open the morning! This means that the partnership of the senior staff from the Operations Division (department managers, district managers and Itzik Nidam at the head) and the members of the Little Prince are significant and contribute to advancing processes.

This means that both sides understand the necessity of our partnership, and it means we are already deep into a work routine.

In general, residents can’t meet in the morning. But, see – yes we can! And senior municipal officials dedicate the morning hours to important issues and lo and behold! Residents are important.

This again shows the investment of of the Operations Division in public engagement, and its many successes:

  1. Satisfied residents. Very satisfied!
  2. Many compliments to the Operations Division, all its departments.
  3. A much cleaner city.
  4. Quick and efficient response to public inquiries and complaints.
  5. A system that functions professionally and with seriousness.
  6. Services and efficient functioning of the Operations Division.

These are significant accomplishments that took place as a result of the public participation. This has translated to:

  • Significant increase in the provision of reports by the municipal inspectors on cleanliness issues (littering, not picking up after dogs, leaving garbage bags outside of trash receptacles, and more).
  • Cleaning of many Public Private Spaces throughout the city as part of the Sanitation Department’s work plan. (The Municipality is not required to keep these places clean, but has agreed to do so. You can read about it here.)
  • Supervision of the work of cleaning subcontractors.
  • Adding compactors and cartons receptacles in shopping centers.
  • Cleaning of bus stops
  • Construction of rooms to hid trash bins in building complexes (in coordination with residents)
  • Regular days for clearing pruning and scrap

This is a small list of changes. We have no words to thank you, Operations Division, there’s no one like you.

Here’s Tal’s Facebook post in Hebrew:

 

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

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MiniActive 2020 in Pictures

MiniActive has been transforming Palestinian society in East Jerusalem through its 1,000-strong network of women since 2012. You can read about the amazing MiniActive network in this blog category.

Reminding patients of home

MiniActive helping in the fight against Covid-19: Reminding patients of home

But 2020 has been such a busy year, with so many activities and involvement with so many processes, sometimes seeing in pictures is best.

Here is MiniActive’s year in pictures. The writing is in Arabic, but the pictures say it all. Enjoy!

 

And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundationthe US Embassy in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Model, and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

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2021-02-06T11:03:38+00:00January 6th, 2021|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

MinActive on a Virtual Tour of 106 Municipal Hotline

Part of MiniActive‘s work to improve the surroundings of East Jerusalemites is knowing how municipal processes work. In order to facilitate this, MiniActive organized a virtual tour of the 106 Municipal Hotline in November.

Example of filing a complaint

Example of questions asked

More than 70 members participated in the meeting, which included touring the Hotline Command Center, together with an Arabic-speaking employee, as well as a question-and-answer period about the best uses for the 106 hotline –  environmental problems and what are the best ways to register complaints – and for what kinds of problems  – through the hotline. MiniActive volunteers also learned how to file complaints on the phone and on the app.

Here’s the link to the Facebook post in Arabic:

And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundationthe US Embassy in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Model, and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

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2021-02-06T10:25:01+00:00December 8th, 2020|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

MiniActive Continuing to Help Meet Emergency Needs

We wrote here, here, here, and here about how MiniActive has helped Palestinian families in East Jerusalem meet urgent needs, including addressing food security.

Helping East Jerusalem families improve food security

Helping East Jerusalem families improve food security

Thanks to a donation from the Jerusalem Model, they continued to do so.

From raw materials

From raw materials

They distributed 50 food packages to families in Jebel Mukaber, Kufr Aqeb, Beit Hanina, Wadi Joz, Sheikh Jarrach, A-Tur, Anata, Abu Tor, Silwan, the Old City, Ras el-Amud, Issawiya.

Ready to go to families

Ready to go to families

The Covid crisis has hit East Jerusalem especially hard, and these food baskets provide important lifelines to families affected.

And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation, the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, the Jerusalem Model, and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

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2021-01-19T07:57:24+00:00December 3rd, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|

The Little Prince brings about an Increase in Enforcement of Clean Streets

We’d never thought we’d be so happy to talk about tickets, especially tickets and fines to enforce clean streets in Jerusalem. This past week, we’ve seen real change on the ground, thanks to the continued efforts of the Little Prince activists, hand in hand with municipal professionals. These activists come from all parts of the city – Arabs, religious, secular and Haredi Jews, and through our mentoring have been able to forge intercultural connections with each other and with Municipal professionals and officials on numerous levels. We have empowered them to create change on the ground, starting with one of the most basic services – garbage and clean streets. (You can read about the Little Prince’s work over the past 3 years in the blog category here.)

Beginning to enforce littering and polluting laws

Beginning to enforce littering and polluting laws in Ramot

There have been countless changes in Jerusalem in advancing clean streets over the past two years. Much of this is in the operations division, but one thing is clear: all the efforts of the sanitation department and the beautification department to clean up the city and make it more aesthetically pleasing will come to naught if residents’ behavior is not changed. Residents will continue to throw garbage in the streets and gardens as long as the municipal authorities do not give tickets to every person who breaks the law, so that it is clear: Littering = ticket.

Changing habits in Ramot

Changing habits in Ramot

Take, for example, the Ramot neighborhood on Jerusalem’s northern end.

Neighborhood activists, led by Haim Paniri, joined together with the local enforcement personnel to increase enforcement to stop bodies and residents who pollute the neighborhood. The ramped-up enforcement efforts include opening garbage bags to identify the polluters, placing cameras on streets, tracking dog owners, inspectors in gardens and commercial areas and more.

The enthusiastic reactions from neighborhood residents came quickly. It started with a happy message announcing: “A ticket was written for dumping garbage!”

And continued with an endless trail of messages and letters. Here are a few:

“No words!!!!”

“Thanks so much to the municipal teams. You’re creating a makeover in the neighborhood! Now, there’s someone to turn to, people who take care of things. Ramot residents feel the change, we appreciate the work and are committed to keeping the neighborhood clean. ”

“Listen … I’ve lived in the neighborhood for more than 20 years, and this is the first time I can say that I appreciate the municipal enforcement department. My hat off to you! Please keep it going!”

Thank you and wish us all a clean and pleasant neighborhood to live in, while increasing enforcement in order to preserve the desired result. ”

“I have family and friends all over town. And they are jealous of us. Today’s Ramot is becoming much more cleaner and old Ramot…Every day the situation is improving…We have an excellent connection [with the municipal teams] and their willingness to work to help and improve. The Ramot team – each and every one are champions and they give everything for the residents and for a clean neighborhood.”

It was difficult to pick from the dozens of messages, recognizing and appreciating the work of the municipal teams.

We hope that municipal enforcement teams will take the work in Ramot as an example, and start giving tickets to litterers and polluters in neighborhoods throughout the city. Thank you too to Ilan Sasson, Director of the Enforcement Department, to Sasson Numa who connected between residents and municipal workers and made the magic happen, the regional coordinators, and to Itzik Nidam and Shai Moshe Moshe for the constant supervision.

Here’s the Facebook post in Hebrew:

 

And another post, from Haim Paniri, re-posting Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion’s post about the new enforcement efforts:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

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MiniActive Women and Children Boosting Morale of Coronavirus Patients

Over the past several months MiniActive has helped in the efforts fight the coronavirus. You can read about it here, here, here and here. This past week, we were fortunate to be a part of a new initiative.

Raising spirits of Arab COVID-19 patients at Hadassah

Raising spirits of Arab COVID-19 patients at Hadassah

We received a call from the coronavirus unit at Hadassah Ein Kerem for help. Many of their older coronavirus patients are Arab. And as a coronavirus unit, all are in quarantine, away from their friends and family. There have been numerous drives to decorate the walls and public areas of the coronavirus unit to make in more home-like, but all of the drawings are by Jewish children. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not theirs, they don’t reflect their cultural mores, they have Jewish themes. It doesn’t ‘speak’ to them, and that misses the point of having the drawings.

So MiniActive women came to help. Children of the MiniActive women, together with their mothers, had a special – Zoom-based, of course – activity, drawing and preparing art to be put up in the coronavirus unit.

Reminding patients of home

Reminding patients of home

It means so much for the patients; it meant even more for the families.

Here’s the Facebook post from the MiniActive Facebook page:

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

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2020-11-18T09:24:13+00:00November 13th, 2020|Blog, Effective Activism, MiniActive|

MiniActive – Online Classes During COVID-19

A large part of MiniActive’s activities are to build community – often through language classes (Hebrew, English) or various other types of enrichment. This has proven especially important during the COVID-19 crisis. When it isn’t possible to meet in person, MiniActive has been excellent at moving its enrichment activities online.

Building online community

Members of the 1,000 strong MiniActive network for Palestinian women in  East Jerusalem have been learning Hebrew for the past several years. This year, many of the lessons – at least for now – have moved online. Here’s a post from their Facebook page (in Arabic) about that:

They’ve been learning how to cook and bake:

and

And how to make planters and wall-hangings as well:

Thank you, MiniActive, for maintaining and building community safely, even in these difficult times. And many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

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2020-11-06T06:56:43+00:00November 6th, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|

Little Prince – Continuing to Forge Public-Private Partnerships in Jerusalem

We’ve written here, here, here and here, about how the Little Prince initiative, through the JICC’s mentoring of activists from all parts of the city – Arabs, religious,  secular and Haredi Jews – are helping to make Jerusalem a clean city, even during corona times. Over the past 3 years, by helping grassroots leaders to forge intercultural connections with each other and with Municipal professionals and officials on numerous levels we have empowered them to create change on the ground, starting with one of the most basic services – garbage and clean streets. Part of this work is facilitating partnerships with the Jerusalem Municipality and its professional leadership as a way to make work more effective. On October 14, we took one more step to strengthen this partnership.

This was the quarterly meeting with the Director of the Operations Department. The meeting included a number of division directors: Eitan Levy, Director of the Beautification Department;  Ilan Sasson, Director of the Municipal Supervision and Policing Division, and Gili Gorni, Director of the Sanitation Division; ), a number of quarter supervisors and unit directors, together with the residents and activists. In the meeting, all participants were treated with respect and all claims and arguments were taken seriously. This meeting was another example of the importance of working together, where each of the partners brings their own piece to the puzzle, creating a beautiful, varied picture.

Much of what we do is putting the puzzle pieces together – together

This feeling was strengthened when Itzik Nidam gave his presentation, which showed the significant progress that was done as part of the Jerusalem Municipality’s cleaning reform:

  • Street sweeping reform: 600 new cleaning personnel were hired.
  • Sanitation Division responds to residents’ queries until 22:00 at night!
  • 50 new and sophisticated street cleaning vehicles have been introduced, enabling a high degree of street cleaning.
  • Regular collection days for old cars and scrap metal, as well as pruned branches and leaves in each neighborhood.
  • Cleaning of 1,250 acres of open private spaces. These spaces are technically the residents’ responsibility to clean, but de facto are public eyesores. Over the past year the Municipality took responsibility for many of them (You can read more about that here.), and as a result, thus far 10 tons of garbage (!) were added to the regular garbage collection in the city.
  • Placement of 3 huge compactors in the downtown area for the use of business owners and residents.
  • Replacing garbage bins with underground bins, and upgrading existing underground bins to new models that have bigger openings and a larger capacity.
  • Investing in educational and social activities in schools, kindergartens and community centers to advance clean city principles, when possible in light of COVID-19 restrictions.
  • Reinforcement of cleaning in gardens and playgrounds.
  • Establishment of residents’ forums in the neighborhoods that work together with the neighborhood professionals.
  • And much more….

After the presentation we had a long discussion in which residents responded to the issues presented, brought up additional needs and issues that require continued focus and effort. We thought together about ways to deal with vandalism, supervising residents and more and came up with ideas for implementation.

And yes, all this cooperation took via Zoom.

We have been introduced to many desirable changes that affect how the city looks and our quality of life, which brings us closer to our original goal – to make Jerusalem a clean city. What fun it is to work with our partners from Operations Division, who invest so much in turning Jerusalem into the cleanest city in Israel.

Here’s the link from the original Facebook post in Hebrew:

 

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and the US Embassy in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv for its continued support of the Little Prince!

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2020-11-18T15:07:57+00:00October 24th, 2020|Blog, The Little Prince - Cleaning Jerusalem Together|

MiniActive Women – Building Community Resilience with Online Lectures

The MiniActive Network of 1,000 Palestinian women has been working on a grassroots level to improve communities and their infrastructure in East Jerusalem since 2012, and in the process, they’ve been strengthening civil society, strengthening women’s place in the community, and building community resistance.

We’ve written several times about how MiniActive has strengthened community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. You can see a few examples here, here, and here.

Over 80 participants on Zoom for an anti-stress workshops

On October 15, 2020 they continued to do so, with an online lectures about how to deal with everyday stresses, especially during current times. She spoke about how to deal with everyone at home, with children who are trying to study remotely, how to reduce stress and keep control of the household without everyone going crazy.

Over 80 women participated in the lecture, and feedback was excellent.  Thank you MiniActive! May we have many more activities that help us get through this period together!

Here’s the post from the MiniActive Facebook page (in Arabic):

Many thanks to the Jerusalem Foundation and to Natan for their ongoing support of MiniActive!

 

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2020-11-06T08:38:29+00:00October 20th, 2020|Blog, MiniActive|
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