The Pioneer Program

The Pioneer Program is a unique and groundbreaking program designed by the Institute for Democratic Education. The program focuses on central underprivileged communities in Israel, aiming to change these into pioneer loci for the creation and dissemination of a New Israeli Culture. The Program's underlying theory is that these underprivileged loci are not merely a collection of local problems, but rather problems that radiate and negatively influence the entire Israeli society. The purpose of the Pioneer Program is to turn these problem loci into pioneers that would radiate positively throughout our society.

The Pioneer Program is based on several assumptions: that the pioneer spirit still prevails in Israeli society; that a concerted and concentrated effort, rather than broad and distributed actions, is needed to effect change in this realm; that the concerted effort will disseminate throughout the neighborhood and its community; that the local change will create a magnet region, attracting people outside the Givat Olga community.

The Pioneer Program makes uses of existing resources already present in the neighborhood by creating new links and cooperations between them, while attracting more resources from outside. The Democratic School, which will offer high quality education for the local community, is expected to attract newcomers into the neighborhood, and serve as a magnet that will instigate dialogues between populations, ideas, initiatives and actions.

About the Institute for Democratic Education

About Yaacov Hecht