El HaLev, Jerusalem, Israel
From the Global Women's Network
| El HaLev, Jerusalem, Israel | |
|---|---|
| Logo: |  |
| Street address: | General Pierre Koenig 37 |
| City: | Jerusalem |
| Country: | Israel |
| Location: |
Loading map...
|
| Location coordinates: | 31° 47' 9" N, 35° 12' 3" ELatitude: 31.7857 Longitude: 35.2007 |
| Executive Director: | Yudit Sidikman |
| Contact number: | +972-2-678-1764 |
| Contact email: | elhalev@elhalev.org |
| Website: | http://www.elhalev.org |
| Twitter: | http://twitter.com/elhalev |
| Facebook: | http://www.facebook.com/elhalev |
| Target: | Girls and Women |
| Organization type: | National NGO (operating countrywide or advocating at the national level) |
| Sectors: | Disabled Women, Education, Elder Women, Empowerment, Human Rights, Violence Against Women |
| Other sectors: | Self-Defense |
| Year founded/registered: | 2003 |
Summary
El HaLev was established to help women and girls protect themselves against violence by means of personal-safety and self-empowerment training.
About
El HaLev ("To the Heart”) was established as an Israeli non-profit organization in 2003 to help women - from girlhood through mature adulthood - protect themselves against violence by means of personal-safety and self-empowerment training. Over time, we expanded our outreach to include other populations at risk, including children, the elderly and people with special needs. We see our mission as national in scope and to this end have carefully built the infrastructure to offer programming throughout Israel. El HaLev operates a Jerusalem center that serves as the logistical hub of activities which take place both onsite and within individual communities and is actively training and certifying new instructors in order to generate more jobs in a field where there is a demonstrated demand for employment. To further create impact and leverage best practices and donor support, our workshops and training courses are frequently carried out in partnership with other Israeli non-profit and government organizations. Since our founding, El HaLev, Israel’s leading organization in the field of personal safety, has taught more than 20,000 people of all backgrounds (Jewish, Christian, and Moslem) to defend themselves against sexual, physical, and verbal assault.
Our programs borrow from the innate power, discipline, and tenets of self-defense and martial arts training which stress intuition and effective communication over violence. It is well documented that self-defense training is one of the most effective interventions to help prevent gender-based violence. In fact, experts note that more than 70% of the time we can successfully defend ourselves and stop someone who intends us harm simply by using our awareness, our intuition, our body language, and our words. The following principles are central to El HaLev’s outreach:
- Violence prevention preparedness is an essential life-skill, not a luxury.
- No matter the outcome of a specific situation, the perpetrator is always at fault.
- Being physically intelligent is equally important to being academically intelligent.
- The more tools a person carries in their personal toolbox the better chance they have to successfully defend themselves.
Activities
El HaLev embodies the principle that every woman, regardless of political, religious, ethnic or socio-economic status has the indisputable right to defend herself. This is core to women’s health and is a vital component for any civilized society.
Since its founding, El HaLev has accumulated considerable experience working with different age groups and in different languages throughout Israel to build cohesive communities through leadership development and self-empowerment activities, particularly within male-dominated societies.
Programs:
- Personal Safety and Martial Arts Summer Camp for Girls - every year we offer a unique summer camp for girls ages 7-12, which introduces them to a variety of Martial Arts and includes a KidPACT Workshop – Personal Safety for Kids.
- Youth of Valor - a Self Defense and empowerment program for young women between ages 16-18. The program will focus on helping them develop life-long skills that are particularly important during their upcoming transition from school to military or national service, to college or work. They will participate in Self Defense “the Freedom to Choose” and “IMPACT” workshops, and will enjoy a variety of Martial Arts training.
- The Freedom to Choose - This unique workshop empowers women and teenage girls, and was also adapted to at-risk population. the participants gain a wide range of physical, mental and verbal skills for dealing with unwanted or threatening behaviors. The Freedom To Choose imparts life-enhancing skills that last a lifetime.
- IMPACT - an internationally recognized personal safety, assertiveness and self-defense training program, which is part of a comprehensive effort to prevent sexual assault and other acts of interpersonal violence and boundary violations.
- Beit El HaLev - a vast and beautiful community center which operates Martial Arts training for women and girls, such as Judo, Karate, Aikido, Capoeira and more.
