TIFLI Program – Mati Jerusalem

TIFLI - Upgrading Daycare Centers and Training Caregivers

MATI recognizes the urgent need to upgrade children’s daycare centers in East Jerusalem and to train caregivers. Our TIFLI project helps pre-school children to thrive, and develops future-proof employment opportunities for Arab women. It also encourages mothers in East Jerusalem to recognize the value of pre-school education, to utilize local daycare facilities, and to expand their own horizons by earning qualifications to enhance their own economic empowerment.

745 people have participated to date in the TIFLI program, but its impact is much wider – educating children, empowering their parents, and building a better future for the entire community.

SUCCESS STORIES

Suheir Aweida

Opening New Daycare Centers

After 9 years working at a daycare center, Suheir Aweida decided to open her own facility. With help from MATI, she attended courses and business mentoring, applied for loans, and opened her first daycare center in Shuafat. MATI helped Suheir get her facility officially licensed in 2023, and in 2024 she opened a second daycare center in the city center. Our photo shows Suheir with MATI’s East Jerusalem Branch Director Riham Jaber.

Hifa’a Khshan

Daycare Manager

When Hifa’a Khshan joined our TIFLI program for professional guidance, she had established a small daycare center for 6 children. MATI encouraged her to apply for grants and loans, and provided ongoing pedagogical and professional guidance. Today, she employs a team of nine caregivers to look after three groups of children, and her daycare facility serves as an exemplary training site for early childhood education students, under the supervision of the Ministry of Labor.

Improving Daycare Centers and In-Home Daycares

One of TIFLI’s priorities is to enable local daycare centers in East Jerusalem to upgrade both their physical fabric and the level of education content that they deliver to pre-school children. We encourage them to operate according to all Israeli health, safety, and educational standards in order to become officially licensed. This process includes ensuring the safety of the daycare building, helping the managers to apply for city permits, and training their caregivers. To date, MATI has coached 21 daycare centers to receive official recognition, and 10 more are currently working on getting licenses.

Training Caregivers

MATI encourages women from East Jerusalem to open and run private daycare center businesses, to expand them and to employ additional staff. They receive one-to-one business mentoring from MATI. We help them to develop business plans and to apply for interest-free micro-loans, and we offer them ongoing professional training including first-aid certification courses.

We are committed to developing additional employment opportunities for women from East Jerusalem. We run Hebrew language courses to help facilitate their integration into the daycare sector in West Jerusalem, in coordination with the Jerusalem Municipality Education Department. We are also training 33 women to become parenting advisors. Eventually, they will train the entire cohort of TIFLI caregivers in these important skills, which will complement and enhance their work with the pre-school children.

PLANS FOR 2026

MATI Jerusalem's next project is to open our own daycare center in East Jerusalem, as a pilot program for high quality pre-school education, offering job opportunities for our trained staff, and providing a learning space for our caregivers program.

We have been asked by the Municipality and the local population to open Hebrew courses and a vocational training program for caregivers, and we plan to offer additional courses for pharmacists, paramedics and scientists.

PROGRAM PARTNERS

MATI’s East Jerusalem TIFLI program began in 2021 and receives funding from Yad Hanadiv, the Joint Distribution Committee, the Jerusalem Municipality, and the Ministry of Education. Recognizing the success of the program, we have received funding to run our TIFLI programs until 2030.

women participated in communication and professional enrichment workshops

daycare owners received business mentoring and loans

professional caregivers qualified & state-approved

daycare facilities licensed operate (10 more in process)

Talk to us about opportunities for sponsoring our Hebrew vocational training or daycare staff training programs!