SAWA: Empowering the Bedouin Women

Israel In Our Day Listen online: http://frontpagejerusalem.com/site/index.php
Reported by Shalle McDonald
Written by Kasey Barr

According to a report from Israel 21C, hundreds of Bedouin women are becoming self-employed entrepreneurs thanks to Chagit Rubinstein and her SAWA microfinance program in Israel. Rubinstein is a native Israeli with a dream to empower the poorest populations in Israel. Microfinance is the practice of providing small loans to low-income populations to help them engage in productive activities.

Rubinstein was a Fulbright Scholar and earned her MBA in France before moving to the US to study microfinance at the American University in Washington, DC. After learning all the ins and outs of microfinance, Rubinstein returned to Israel to fulfill her goal of providing financial assistance to low-income woman with the desire to own their own business.

Once back in Israel, Rubinstein quickly formed SAWA, the country's only micro-credit program. SAWA, which means “together” in Arabic, provides collateral-free group loans. The 1,000th small-business loan was just granted to a woman with a dream to start her own sheep dairy. SAWA is funded by KIEDF, or the Koret Israel Economic Development Funds, a non-profit established in 1994.

Over 1 million dollars has been lent to 60 women through small grants of 1-2,000 dollars. Since its inception, only 2.6% of the loans have defaulted, which is far below the worldwide microlending average of 5%.

Many women in the Bedouin communities are lining up to receive loans; however it wasn't always like that. Rubinstein met with much suspicion in the early days. She faced two major obstacles: the concept of interest and a deep set gender bias. The former was much easier to overcome then the latter. Most Muslims believe that charging interest is against their religious system. Rubinstein simply eliminated the interest and instead charges a fixed participation fee.

Overcoming the gender stereotype took a little more effort. Bedouin communities are proudly male-dominant and require every woman to have the approval and support of a father, brother, husband, or son to engage in any activity. Rubinstein finds that most Arab men are, at least initially, very closed to the idea of women entrepreneurs. “Men are usually skeptical and don't believe their women can really do something profitable,” says Rubinstein.

To help bridge the cultural divide, Rubinstein recruited the help of Nuzha el-Huzail, a Bedouin woman and social worker with a PhD from Ben-Gurion University. Even with the help of el-Huzail, Rubinstein admits that it took time to earn their trust. After five months of meetings, they got a dozen people to give the program a try and from there things began to blossom.

SAWA is changing attitudes," el-Huzail says. Many women are fulfilling their dreams and brining much needed financial assistance to their families. Rubinstein is thrilled by the success of SAWA and hopes that in the near future she will be able to expand the project to other disadvantaged populations, including Ethiopian immigrants.