The Capacity Building Project targets local committees and community organisations representing unrecognised, newly recognised, and poor villages. The approach is to work with the local organisations to jointly create strategic development plans, and to advocate for their implementation. In many cases, the funds for development exist in the government budget, but local communities do not know the official processes required for access to the funds. The Mossawa Centre will act as a liaison between the community organisations and the government - bringing the communities' development needs to the attention of the government, and empowering the local communities to advocate for their own development.

In each year of the Development and Empowerment Project, the Capacity Building Project will focus on a different area of infrastructure. In the first year, the focus will be on running water. In the second year, the establishment of health clinics. In the third year, the focus will be on roads and transportation. In addition to these new initiatives, the Mossawa Centre will expand ongoing projects connecting houses to electricity, and capacity building with women's employment organisations.

Each village is in a different state of development. Some villages have already established community development organisations, while other villages have a local committee of community leaders. The Mossawa Centre will inform local committees of the process of becoming an official organisation, and facilitate the application process. Some villages lack running water, while other villages need to develop public roads. The Mossawa Centre will work with the community organisations to identify the village's development priorities, and to create a strategic plan. The plan will include potential supporters, potential obstacles, history of development, and timeline of responsibilities.

Twice a year, the Mossawa Centre will organise group workshops on the subjects of development, government processes, and advocacy. Each workshop will invite planning experts, government officials, and organisational consultants to train the participating organisations in the skills of project planning, government contracts and tenders, community mobilisation, and the specific areas of water, roads and transportation, and family health clinics. Depending on the needs of the community organisations, additional areas of focus may include sewer systems, environmental units, support of agriculture, and establishment of industrial zones.

Electricity Training

In the past years, the Mossawa Centre advocated for a special exception to the law governing connection to the electric grid. This temporary provision allows for houses that were built without official government permission to be connected to the electric grid. However, few villages know of this provision, and of the process for receiving electric services. During the three years of the Development and Empowerment Project, the Mossawa Centre will hold two training workshops on the connection process, training a total of 20 community organisations.

For the majority of villages, the only requirement for connection to the electric grid is a formal request to the national electric company, with a list of the addresses and homeowners of the houses to be connected. This process can take up to a few months, as the local committees contact all families without electricity, and verify their addresses and national identity numbers.

Women's Employment Research

The Israeli government has several programs designed to support local employment and small business initiatives. The Mossawa Centre will conduct annual research on these programs, to increase potential sources of support for women's employment organisations, and to identify all of the updated criteria required to qualify for government support programs.

Capacity Building with Women's Organizations

In conjunction with research on the required criteria, the Mossawa Centre will work with women's organisations to build their capacity in order to meet the required criteria. Through individual consultation and group workshops, the Capacity Building Project will target 2 women's organisations in the first year of the project, in order to apply for government funding at the beginning of the second year. During the second year, the Capacity Building Project will target 3 additional women's organisations, in order to submit 5 applications at the beginning of the third year.

Dissemination of Position Papers

Throughout the duration of the Development and Empowerment Project, the Mossawa Centre will prepare bi-monthly position papers on the state of Arab villages. Using the foci of the project as issue areas, the Mossawa Centre will present case studies and local research to decision makers in the government and to the media.

The position papers will be used to stimulate debate in the Israeli Parliament on the development needs of the Arab community, with the goal of securing support and funding for sustainable development of the Arab sector. The ongoing debate will include the fundamental issues facing the community, as well as more focused debates on current issues.