It is not uncommon to see Bedouins working as doctors or as factory workers in Israel, but this is less so in the hi-tech industry. Bedouin communities have some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in Israel, but with the right support, this is changing.
Fahima Atawana, a Bedouin woman who has made it her personal and professional mission to increase the number of Bedouin representation in the Israeli hi-tech sector, says that out of about 2,000 workers in hi-tech in the Negev, where many Bedouins reside, only about 25 are Bedouins. As Atawna puts it: “It’s a start, but it’s still a drop in the ocean.”
Fahima is the Executive Director of Siraj, an NGO that strives to integrate Bedouin society into Israel’s hi-tech sector, to “activate workforce development processes that will increase economic prosperity” as well as decrease “polarization between Bedouin and Israeli society.”
Siraj was founded in 2017 by Bedouin and Jewish academics, social entrepreneurs, and Israeli hi-tech veterans. “Siraj” means “a source of light” in Arabic. Atawna and her team try to increase models in the industry to impact careers that young Bedouins pursue. They have a mentorship program, a 5-week high school course program, programming in cooperation with Ben-Gurion University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and more. Siraj also has a six-month internship program at Siraj Technology, their daughter company, where Bedouins learn working skills and are later placed in permanent jobs in hi-tech.
Siraj isn’t the only organization bringing change to hi-tech and the Bedouin community. Startup Negev is a tech accelerator focusing on helping Bedouins enter the hi-tech industry by nurturing talent from the Bedouin south into hi-tech. Startup Negev was established by the non-profit Mata Advanced Technology Center in the Negev and other partners, and gathers people from different technological backgrounds, divides them into teams, has the members build products with mentors, and a panel of judges then selects a winner for a large cash prize. They just completed their third cycle in August, with first place going to AD impact, an app that helps in the process of detoxing from alcohol and drugs.
