Kessem Adiv

Israel

MSc Refugee and Forced Migration Studies
Kofi Annan Scholarship, Mansfield College
Oxford-Weidenfeld and Hoffmann-Abraham/Rausing

Kessem has a BA in Politics and African Studies from Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. For the past ten years, she has worked and volunteered in several Israeli NGOs promoting Palestinian rights and refugee rights. She has also volunteered in refugee camps and community projects in South Africa, Greece and Ethiopia. At present, she is manager and co-founder of Midreshet Dror (“Freedom School”), a project developing and running political educational programmes aimed at young adults who intend to become the next generation of leaders, to find new solutions for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Kessem is the co-founder and co-owner of Imbala, an activist multicultural cooperative in Jerusalem. She plans to create a network of shared communities and cultural centres in other locations in Israel. These will lay the foundation for a growing global network of similar communities, particularly in neighbouring Middle Eastern countries.