Bringing corporate thinking to peacebuilding

The Middle East Partnership for Peace (MEPPA) grants have the potential to change the face of peacebuilding.

The grants, approved by the US Congress in 2020, provide $US250 million over five years, advance peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians and enable a sustainable two-state solution.

But the grants could also backfire terribly, said Ariel Markose, Acting Executive Director of Amal-Tikva, a social changemaker dedicated to supporting peacebuilding organisations.

“This is exactly the injection of hope and finances that the sector needs but it needs to be managed strategically. Because it’s Congress it’s going to be very carefully monitored and evaluated and if organisations are not able to deliver it could get cancelled.”

MEPPA offers grants of between $US500,000 and $US3 million to changemaking organisations. But many peacebuilding organisations are simply too small to manage such a major influx.

Markose said the typical civil society or peacebuilding organisation in Israel consists of perhaps 15 people, each running projects and reporting directly to an overworked CEO.

“The CEO can’t even get into a place where they can think creatively. Many of these organisations have entire operating budgets of less than $500,000. You are talking about doubling their capacity. It’s deep work. If you could get them a MEPPA grant of perhaps $150,000 it could make a huge difference, but they need to be able to structure the organisation to use even that,” Markose told The Jewish Independent.