Programs

CoCuDi facilitates exchange and residency programs of artists, designers, faculty members and students from the Ceramics and Glass Department at Bezalel Academy in Jerusalem and Makerere University Art School in Kampala in order to advance international artistic collaborations, research and study.

Art has the power to connect cultures, break down barriers and to inspire tangible change and heal divides. CoCuDi brings to a municipal gallery in Jersalem, a contemporary art exhibition displaying leading artists in Uganda that features social perspectives or affiliations.

CoCuDi’s founding co-director Tamar Dekel is a lecturer at the social science faculty at Tel Aviv University and for the past three years has been teaching the ‘Social Intervention and International Development – The Case of Uganda’ course for Master Students of the faculty. CoCuDi is the facilitating platform for the course. This year (2020) CoCuDi also supports and facilitates the ‘African Activism’ visiting course from the African Studies Program at Ben-Gurion University.

As part of CoCuDi’s network and capacity building, we collaborate and mentor social and cultural activists, both individual and organizational, in East Africa, in order to grow and expand their impact. Within this frame, CoCuDi hosted a LGBTQ rights activist accessories designer from Uganda that leverages her creativity to eliminate prejudices against already vulnerable community at risk for discrimination and harm. CoCuDi is also working closely with a grass-root Kampala-based NGO called Streetlights Uganda to develop their infrastructure and programs with vulnerable populations.

The Abayudaya (“Jews” in the Luganda language) are a community of approximately 2,000 Ugandan Jews. CoCuDi and our partners are joining the Namutumba Abayudaya Community in order to increase the household incomes of the community and their neighbours.Ultimately the project will contribute towards improved food security and nutrition; increased resilience to drought; and increased social cohesion between Jewish, Muslim and Christian families.

In partnership with Oranim College of Education and Health Child Uganda, CoCuDi creates a long-term infrastructure which will strengthen the community resilience through education. In this program, CoCuDi alongside partners, ensures that the Early Childhood Education gains more importance for long term socio-economic outcomes.

In collaboration with Dr. Gal Zohar, CoCuDi promotes an inter-organizational and cross-sectoral employment program in conjunction with academia, local and international business companies, government organizations and civil society from Israel and Uganda, in the Ugandan labour market.