Primary Implementing Organization Unistream

Final Report

Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders Today Primary Implementing Organization Unistream

Description of Work Unistream’s Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders Today was an innovative, three-year program that brought together youth from seven socio-economically disadvantaged Arab and Jewish Israeli communities (Akko, Nazareth Ilit, Julis, Netanya, Afula, Sahknin, and Rahat) ages 14-18 to work together toward a mutual goal of developing, establishing and managing their own startup companies. The program employed a people to people approach to conflict mitigation, while supplying participants with tools for economic empowerment – Unistream’s unique mechanism to enacting long term and sustainable impact. The process included brainstorming and formulating an idea, establishing a company, assigning roles, planning and executing market research, writing a business plan and working to raise capital through activities in the Entrepreneurship Centers and peak regional and national events. This specially honed business pedagogy was tailored for maximum meaningful, people to people interaction that would in turn spark the desired change. In the process, participants gained mutual understanding, as evidenced through monitoring and evaluation, for members of the other group, based on shared goals; while at the same time learning valuable business skills and expanding their professional networks that created a conducive environment for socioeconomic advancement. In addition, participants received leadership and social entrepreneurship training, engaging their broader communities through volunteer initiatives extending the impact of the program to indirect beneficiaries. All activities took place under the guidance of Jewish and Arab mentors, which, as discussed below, added both the professional and business elements as well as further Jewish/Arab interaction. Unistream's proposed theory of change was that (1) Youth are agents of change - If we change how youth perceive one another through working together towards mutual goals (i.e. building a start-up and social ventures from scratch), then their prejudices will decrease. This will lead to a ripple effect, impacting their families, peers and communities, thus facilitating widespread social change. (2) Socio economic mobility builds peace - If we equip participants with a practical toolbox of business skills, networking with key leaders, ability to successfully interface with members of other groups, then we will promote the full inclusion of talented Arab- and Jewish-Israelis from the socio-economic periphery into Israeli society in general and the work force in particular. Building on this theory of change, Unistream proposed a two pronged approach to promote greater understanding between Jews and Arabs and inclusion in Israeli society and the business world. First, by introducing disadvantaged Arab and Jewish-Israeli youth to the world of business development, Unistream provided them with tangible skills, fostering cross-sector social integration between the different groups. Secondly, the program provided a rare opportunity for Arab and Jewish-Israeli youth to interact and work towards mutual goals. In Unistream, the appeal for joining lies in the economic development, hence both Jews and Arabs join the program, even if it is their deeply held prejudices. Thus Arab- and Jewish -Israeli

youth, who perhaps had been reluctant to even meet members of the other group, find themselves forging relationships that they never would have thought possible. By introducing disadvantaged Arab and Jewish-Israeli youth to the business world and entrepreneurial mindset, while providing them tangible skills, Unistream fostered positive cross-sector social integration between Arab and Jewish Israelis. Consequently, Unistream paved their way to becoming integrated members of Israeli society, committed to coexistence. Results Achieved 1. Objectives The primary objective of Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders Today was to raise tolerance between Arab and Jewish Israeli youth through professional interactions and cooperation, utilizing the business and entrepreneurial platforms. This included establishing a connection and working relationships between Israeli Jews and Arabs by utilizing these platforms to promote greater understanding, fostering economic opportunities for low-income Israeli Arab and Jewish youth, promoting inclusion in Israeli society in general, and in the workforce in particular, and improving accessibility of Israeli Jews and Arabs to each other, providing disadvantaged Israeli Arab and Jewish youth with knowledge and practical skills to improve their socio-economic status and engaging participants’ families / broader community through social entrepreneurship activities. In order to meet these objectives Unistream provided Israeli Jews and Arabs with opportunities to meet and interact in a supportive and encouraging environment which included all business and entrepreneurship activities at the seven Entrepreneurship Centers, Twinning activities, and peak regional and national events ranging from Business Hackathons, Entrepreneur of the Year Competitions, Innovation Days, to name just a few. The program also granted participants with access to a forum of over 4,700 business mentors that provided their knowledge, skills, expertise, and connections to help promote the socioeconomic mobility of the participants. The participants had the shared goal of business and social ventures which sparked their interest in engaging and working from different ethnic and religious backgrounds while also forging the next generation of socially conscious business leaders. As a result, there was a significant change in behavior and attitudes upon the completion of the program. This is numerically represented via indicators below.

2. Status of Indicators

Targ Actual FY3 Baselin Target Result Target Actual et # level Indicator Code and Name Type e Value FY 1 FY1 FY2 FY2 FY3

1.6.2-01-cust: Percentage of targeted participants who agree that they have better understanding of the others that 65% 81% 70% 69% 75% 77% Goal / helped in changing their attitude 1 Objective positively MGT NA 1.6.2-12 Number of USG-funded events, trainings, or activities designed 853 1090 to build support for peace or 853 1108 853 978 23.3% 2 reconciliation on a mass scale OP/ PPR NA deviation 1.6.2-14 Number of people

participating in USG-supported events, 284 trainings, or activities designed to build OP/ PPR 300 286 340 300 350 27.9% mass support for peace and deviation 3 reconciliation NA Number of joint initiatives developed and presented by Jewish Israeli and Custom NA 9 9 9 9 9 9 4 OI Arab Israeli youth. Number of startups presented at the end Custom NA 18 20 18 22 18 21 5 IR1 of the year competition % Of Participants who agree they increased their level of understanding Custom NA 65% 93% 70% 81% 75% %71 of the business and entrepreneurial 6 IR1 worlds Number of mixed Arab and Jewish Israeli youth events held on a Custom NA 13 13 13 13 13 12 7 IR2 regional/national level 3. Lessons Learned Transformation of the Organization The partnership with USAID has fundamentally transformed Unistream organizationally both in terms of its integration of CMM principles into the DNA of the organization as well as organizationally efficiency and sustainability as it relates to effectiveness and impact. In regards to the former, Unistream had minimal experience executing conflict mitigation programs. In fact, Jewish and Arab participants only interacted at Unistream’s mixed Entrepreneurship Centers, of which there were two at the time and did not have parity between the number of Jewish and Arab participants, and peak events where, in many cases the interactions where strictly that without any structured people to people relationship building. As a result, the program developed with USAID marked the first steps in helping

Unistream evolve into an organization that understands the values of shared society as an intrinsic part of fulfilling the organization’s mission. More concretely, Unistream began to expand conflict mitigation programming including developing, for the first time, people to people interaction between participants of Entrepreneurship Centers that were not mixed, harnessing business and entrepreneurship as a means to create a shared goal between Jews and Arabs thus cultivating meaningful relationships, engaging with mentors working with the “other,” developing intentions to expand these ideals in other programs implemented by the organization, etc. More importantly, a lightbulb went on and the mindset of Unistream began to change. When assessing the content and curriculum, Unistream began to look for opportunities to further the objectives and missions. While this might seem small, it fundamentally altered how Unistream addressed its vision and enforced the undeniable fact that creating a shared society between Jews and Arabs in Israel is a requirement to meet all of the organizational objectives. In addition, USAID has some of the most stringent standards of any organization worldwide that have enabled Unistream to become more efficient and sustainable. This included the structure of the approved and vetted CRM system, policies and procedures, audits both internal and external, etc. In parallel, Unistream significantly increased its monitoring and evaluation, beginning with this program but soon expanding beyond, in order to understand areas of strengths and weaknesses and how the programs are “working.” By addressing these areas for improvement, USAID allowed for greater efficiency and set the stage for Unistream to attain sustainability. It is also important to note that during the tenure of the Unistream grant from USAID, the organization doubled in size and quadrupled in major programs provided. When designing and implementing these programs, Unistream integrated the structures provided by USAID while also molding the programs to include conflict mitigation aspects. Realities on the Ground This aspect may seem rather a simple concept, but the USAID program helped Unistream to fully map the realities on the ground regarding Jewish and Arab relations and addressing the conflict, setting the stage for a more nuanced and expansive partnership that Unistream and USAID have just begun from 2019-2022. As mentioned, Unistream lacked experience in this field at the beginning of the program. There was some optimism/ naiveté which limited the scope of Unistream’s program – the organization was working on the fundamentals. However, with MEL, Unistream became fully appraised of the field and situation, gaining a deeper understanding of cultural norms, dominant professional thinking around effective conflict mitigation, and how to best engage our participants using business as an incentive. This has greatly informed the development of the organization, programs, and staff. Harnessing Unistream’s Strengths One of Unistream’s most formative assets is the mentors’ forum comprised of over 4,700 of Israel’s leading business people, government officials, leaders, and entrepreneurs. They serve in a variety of capacities in

5 the program – mentor a specific group, adopt an entrepreneurship center, host peak events with both Arab and Jewish engagement, give specialist lectures, and lead workshops for mixed entrepreneurship centers based on participant role. Prior to the program with USAID, Unistream held the assumption that the mentors were providing a valuable service and did not explore the impact that participants had on the mentors themselves. As Unistream became more sensitive to exploring opportunities to employ conflict mitigation, it became clear that as the participants impacted the views of the business community, including key people, and therefore the program had an opportunity to make institutional change on the structural level of society. By extension, Unistream also recognized that mentors and participants interacted with the “other”, establishing positive relationships and changing perceptions related to the conflict. Thus, the indirect beneficiaries went beyond the immediate community members and penetrated deeper to a higher level within society. Unistream began to examine ways to leverage this unique outcome for the greatest impact. 4. Constraints Geographic Proximity One of the constraints that Unistream faced during the implementation of the program revolved around geographic proximity specifically for the Entrepreneurship Centers that were part of the twinning program. While Unistream was conservative in its targets for in person meetings and met the targets, the participants at the Entrepreneurship Centers developed very close bonds through work on their social startups. They had a desire to increase their meetings, and were very vocal about it, but the distance and timing made this a challenge. In order to overcome this limitation, Unistream relied heavily on electronic communication both in a formal setting and informal. For example, the participants texted independently on the messaging application WhatsApp to discuss both the social venture and their lives. Budget Unistream’s first proposed budget was based on best estimates of the costs involved in executing a large scale program with the integration of a new pedagogical approach (conflict mitigation). After three years of implementation and financial reports, it became apparent that Unistream greatly underestimated costs particularly in personnel (the budget set salaries for positions that were later increased with the change in workload due to the expansion of the organization and addition of new staff) and costs related to marking, branding, and PR. Working within the constraints of the total budget both for USG funds and cost share, Unistream was able to utilize the 10% deviation allowed between line items to more accurately balance the budget. It was also a learning opportunity utilized when preparing the budget for Unistream’s forward facing grant with USAID, with the refinement focused on maximum impact achieving USAID objectives in the most cost efficient manner. 5. Further Refinement and Expansion Engaging Key Leaders and the Community

As discussed above, Unistream came to understand how the organization’s business mentors could be influenced through their interactions with participants and not just the other way around. This began an exploratory process through which Unistream asked the question – How can we utilize meaningful relationships between Jews and Arabs and enact behavioral and attitudinal change that fundamentally alters institutionalized conflict on a structural level? It became apparent that while these interactions were a constructive first step, Unistream needed to continue to build on this concept and let the seeds that were planted fully germinate and grow. The first stage was transforming the business people and key leaders from indirect beneficiaries to direct beneficiaries, taking the best practices and lessons learned during the first grant to develop programs that meet the needs of this unique group. To begin, Unistream developed curriculum targeted towards high level and key people that, while harnessing business and entrepreneurship, directly referenced the conflict. It will be implemented in the coming three years in partnership with USAID. As with the case of the key leaders, Unistream also indirectly impacted members of the wider community through the participants in the form of social activism, familial relations, etc. Through monitoring and evaluation, Unistream gained insight as to how to engage the community to extend impact. On the first point, Unistream wants to increase the beneficiaries and target a wide variety of demographics including children and adults, which allows for wider spread behavior and attitudinal change related to the conflict. This is a clear point. However, Unistream also began to understand that direct engagement with the community also strengthened the impact of the conflict mitigation pedagogy on the youth. To further explain, while the program is extremely intensive, the youth are also influenced by the other environments they spend their time in such as in school, with their families, and interacting in the local community. This means that without a community that is also building meaningful relationships with the other and working towards a commitment to shared society, youth will be negatively impacted by dominant views that hold otherwise. There is pressure, whether overt or not, to conform and to think like those around you. By transforming the community, more can be accomplished with conflict mitigation on the youth level. This refinement and expansion was built into the upcoming grant with USAID. Full Integration of Conflict Mitigation As the partnership progressed, USAID helped Unistream assess the structure of the program and plans for continuous improvement. Even more importantly, USAID recognized that Unistream could continue to expand, develop, and hone our conflict mitigation approach through pedagogy and harnessing direct engagement and discussion. At the beginning of Unistream’s first grant with USAID (being reported here), our hypothesis focused on utilizing a shared goal, with a basis in business and entrepreneurship, to build meaningful relationships that would enable participants to overcome prejudices and biases that perpetuate the conflict. As the grant progressed, Unistream added additional mechanisms to enrich this experience and

7 execution which were detailed in Unistream’s quarterly and annual reports. With this in mind, Unistream aimed to build off the strong structure demonstrated throughout this grant, further refining our program and harnessing the contact theory and superordinate goals theory. For the first time, Unistream built the program and further refined it to include direct conflict mitigation activities, deepening the breadth of the shared society programming. It is thanks to a cooperative relationship with USAID and the learning that Unistream was able to expand the core of this program to meet USAID’s goals and objectives in the future. 6. Challenges Onboarding Conflict Mitigation Prior to the partnership with USAID, Unistream functioned and executed its mission differently as described at length above. Thus, as conflict mitigation became more deeply ingrained as part of the organizations zeitgeist, there were what can best be described as “growing pains.” One major component was staff. While the staff at the management level had a strong grasp of the program and the necessary steps that must be undertaken to implement the people to people activities in the Entrepreneurship Centers and peak events, this did not translates to the staff members in the field that were completing the implementation. While all the targets were met and activities implemented, the field lacked a foundation as to what were the objectives and outcomes that these activities were supposed to achieve which limited the program. This was a result of a myriad of factors but one weakness that created this dynamic was professional development and training. Training did happen but it was not as focused as it could have been. This has been rectified but in the past the format and focus of the training did a disservice to the field staff and the participants. There was also a disconnect in understanding the scope of the grant and the responsibilities of the field staff that went beyond activity implementation. Another staff related challenge, albeit in a different vein, was Unistream’s goal of reaching parity of Arab and Jewish staff members, mentors, board members, and at the managerial level. Throughout the grant, Unistream consistently hired more Arab staff members (prior to the award all staff was primarily Jewish) and added different demographics to the office as well. However, despite best efforts, Unistream still does not have Arab representation on the board and only one higher level manager that is Arab. Part of this stems from Unistream’s start as a Jewish run organization but more concrete steps can be taken to rectify this issue. In regards to the mentors, Unistream made targeted efforts to gain more Arab mentors and high level members of the business world who are Arab (to participate in main events and at the Entrepreneurship Centers), which were successful but there is still considerable room for improvement. Relationships with Municipalities Part of Unistream’s sustainability as an organization comes as a result of our relationship building with the local municipalities that host the Entrepreneurship Centers i.e. Akko, Nazerth Ilit, Julis, Netanya, Afula, Sahknin, and Rahat. The municipalities provide in kind donations of rent and utilities, while providing the

8 physical space and its upkeep. While there are many benefits to this arrangement, this also means that the success of the Entrepreneurship Centers is tied to the relationships with the municipalities. In Akko for example, the mayor of the city is deeply engaged with the program, personally visiting them and donating to the progression of their startups. They do everything within their power to promote the program and the participants, and take pride in the work Unistream is doing in their city. In this case the relationship has been very positive which has enabled the Entrepreneurship Center to thrive. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Sahknin. While there was a cooling of the relationship, Unistream did not anticipate the municipality taking away the space for the Entrepreneurship Center and putting the participants in a substandard place. Even with many overtures made by Unistream, the municipal government made it very clear that they were uninterested in continuing a partnership and Unistream was forced to stop recruiting new participants. USAID was informed throughout this process. In addition to preventing Unistream from reaching the targeted number of participants, it was very disappointing to close an Entrepreneurship Center, especially one of the few, at the time, in the Arab sector and one that was successfully connected to the Afula Entrepreneurship Center which is Jewish. It is also frustrating to be at the mercy of politics or simple disinterest. In Rahat, careful consideration had to be taken regarding staff and the municipality because familial connections and hierarchy needed to be respected in this traditional Bedouin city. While the Entrepreneurship Center is a success, it takes nuanced approaches. To better our relationships with all municipalities and combat these issues, Unistream has hired a management level position in charge of this directive. A different issue that has also arisen with the municipalities is their willingness to support, publically or not, conflict mitigation activities or even simply activities that bring Jews and Arabs together. For example, Nazareth Ilit, recently changed its name to Nof HaGalil in order to disassociate itself from Nazareth which is the largest Arab city in Israel's north district. It was a conscience decision made based on prejudices. There is constant framing that must be done without compromising any aspect of the program and the ability of Unistream to reach the objective. Unistream feels very lucky that USAID worked diligently with Unistream to address any challenges that arose when ensured a very successful implementation of the program.