The Desert Stars School provides a stellar educational so that Bedouin boys and girls can shine as students and budding leaders. Students complete rigorous studies in small classes led by instructors who teach and exhibit leadership, active citizenship, and peaceful coexistence.

Rawafed (Arabic for tributaries) complements the school's formal curriculum with an ambitious array of extracurriculars otherwise unavailable to Bedouin youth. Through the program, Desert Stars high school students participate in technology and entrepreneurial clubs, arts, sports, weekly volunteer placements, and training in leadership and life skills. The students also travel to meet diverse Israeli communities and discover Israeli sites and history first-hand.

The Forsan Al Sahra 'Knights of the Desert' Leadership Program provides a meaningful afterschool social and educational framework.

Participants attend two weekly sessions: The first focuses on developing social and community awareness and how to address issues such as inequality, giving, accepting others, leadership training and communal responsibility. The second actualizes these values through volunteering in the community, such as assisting the elderly and distributing food baskets.

Participants initiate projects based on needs they see in their own neighborhood. This allows the young teens to practice leadership skills and experience firsthand that they themselves, even as teenagers, can make a difference.

Raidat Leadership Program for Women is a yearlong gap-year program for high school graduates. Raidat prepares talented young Bedouin women for ambitious careers, entrepreneurial initiatives and future leadership roles.

GOALS

• To empower talented young Bedouin women to realize their individual and collective potential as change-making leaders.

• To guide students to understand themselves, the Bedouin community and Israeli society more through meetings with diverse Israelis.

• To prepare high school graduates for higher education and ambitious careers.

• To foster students’ managerial and leadership skills.

• To teach the life skills needed in order to succeed in a modern world.

The Incubator prepares talented young Bedouin for leadership roles, higher education, and quality employment. The Incubator opens with months of leadership training for 12th grade candidates followed by a year-long boarding program for the candidates with the most drive and leadership potential.

Incubator program focuses:

• Outdoor leadership training

• Entrepreneurship

• Career and academic readiness

• Coexistence and identity

• Life skills

The Alumni Program embodies our mission: Desert Stars alumni innovating together to benefit their community and society. Today's Alumni Program is a dynamic, expanding platform which will eventually include more than 2,000 members. Every year, new alumni cohorts join while older alumni contribute their growing leadership and professional experience. Alumni Program members initiate community projects, mentor and support one another, and utilize Alumni Program opportunities that include leadership training, internship placements, private tutoring, and more. The Alumni Program is the realization phase in our leadership sequence—the phase when talented young Bedouin become Negev leaders.