Fahima Atawna, a native of the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev, has served as CEO of the Siraj Advancing Hi-tech in the Bedouin Community since February 2019. She is excited to continue her working to promote education and socioeconomic development in her community.
Concurrently, Ms. Atawna also serves as an adjunct lecturer at Kaye College, teaching Introduction to Environmental Health. Prior to joining Siraj, she worked for four years at AJEEC-NISPED, an NGO based in Beer Sheva dedicated to empowering the Negev Bedouin community and promoting Arab-Jewish cooperation. As Program Manager in the Department of Health and Environment, she designed and implemented outreach programs and represented the organization to Israeli and international partners. Her projects involved areas ranging from breast cancer and physical fitness to civil defense and first aid. The second Bedouin woman to qualify as an EMT, Fahima volunteers on weekends on Magen David Adom, Beer Sheva, Israel
Previously, Ms. Atawna spent eight years as an inspector with the Ministry of the Environment’s Department of Industrial and Business Licensing. Working with Jewish and Arab companies and members of the public, she was the only Bedouin woman on her team.
Ms. Atawna holds an MPH from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, with a focus on environmental health, and a BA in Industrial Management from Sapir College’s Department of Biotechnology. For three years, she helped to support herself during studies by working at Israel Chemical’s Neot Hovav complex.
In her free time, Ms. Atawna enjoys reading and spending time with her family. Her passion is traveling and seeing other cultures.