11:00- 13:00 Minority women and girls and the right to education Hannan Elsaneh 6. Lack of coordination and support from the Ministry of Education and/or local government educational offices. From this study we concluded that intervention from the Third Sector can only be significant if A) it counts with an adequate and localized methodology, and B) if it is leveraged by government funding and support. Otherwise the qualitative and quantitative impact of the intervention of NGO’s will always be limited. What Sidreh has developed to counter these challenges is the establishment of the Forum for Adult Education for Bedouin Women, whereby 16 local and national organizations join efforts to reclaim girls’ and women’s right to education,while establishing a coherent platform to reduce illiteracy rates in a scalable fashion. The forum’s main objectives are, on one hand to generate an ongoing exchange of best practices, and methodology to ensure that a specialized adult education curriculum is constantly developed and updated according to the local culture, traditions and socio-economic particularities of the target population; and on the other hand, toadvocate and influence public opinion on local and international levels to increase government participation and commitment. In addition, our experience has taught us that it is key to address adult women education as part of an integral empowerment process that should include both psycho-social support—such as strengthening women’s self esteem and increasing their communications and leadership skills—as well as economic and workforce development support. This support can be provided in the form of for example, vocational training, financial literacy and small business development. 2. Preventing girls from dropping out: The alarming rates of girls’ dropping out of school, especially in unrecognized villages are equally dramatic as the crisis in adult illiteracy, as this is the root of illiteracyof the new generation. The followings are our recommendations to address this critical issue: ● Increase access to early childhood education for young boys and girls in villages ● Increase access to high school education by adding high school classrooms at the elementary schools in villages ● build high schools in the unrecognized villages. ● Scholarships and other forms of financial assistance must be made available for boys and girls, with a focus on girls who forego learning due to their difficult financial situation. Such assistance must be the top priority of organizations and state institutions 4