The communities with the highest rates of poverty in Jerusalem are the more religious Jews and the Palestinian Arabs, who have limited access to microfinance. The latter, as citizens of Jerusalem but not Israel, are outside the reach of existing mf organizations. Beyond the economic need, there is growing inter-community suspicion and hatred between these groups. Peace and prosperity, mutually reinforcing, require both issues to be addressed.

Over three years the project would sponsor the creation of some fifty micro enterprises, led in equal numbers by women respectively from the poorer sections of the Jewish and Palestinian communities. Through the course of the initiative, workshops involving members from both communities will be organised, and other opportunities will be exploited to allow mutual experiences to be exchanged and thus to build up trust between the groups. The project has been piloted successfully.