Israeli NGOs ‘itworks’ and the Yedidut Toronto Foundation empower women to return to work.
By Pesach Benson, United With Israel
Single mothers looking to rejoin the work force in the world of Covid face unique challenges.
Fortunately, two Israeli non-governmental organizations have teamed up to empower moms to do just that.
“itworks” is a Netanya-based non-profit that promotes diversity in Israeli hi-tech by helping businesses recruit and integrate talented employees from what its website calls Israel’s “disenfranchised social sectors.
The NGO is collaborating with the Yedidut Toronto Foundation ,a Jerusalem-based NGO that, among other things, helps single-parent families.
This partnership comes at a crucial time. According to Ynet, there are around 130,000 single-parent families in Israel. The majority of them are headed by women. An estimated 20,000 single mothers were placed on unpaid leave by their employers when the first wave of COVID hit Israel.
Thanks to the collaborating NGOs, programs for single moms are available at a token cost. They include career consultation, mentoring, networking, assistance in job-hunting and readjusting to the workplace.
Leading corporate employers helped itworks and Yedidut develop courses in human resources, digital marketing and more.
Maya Ashkenazi, program head at itworks, told Ynet that if there’s one silver-lining in COVID for single mothers, it’s that employers are giving workers more latitude to work from home. She also stressed the importance of single mothers simply having self-confidence to deal juggle demands on their time along with financial burdens and