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Our purpose
The Pears Program exists to catalyze new technology solutions that address international development challenges by growing Israel’s contribution to innovation in emerging markets.
We believe in the transformative power of values-driven innovation to improve the lives of people all over the world.
Addressing the most pressing challenges of our time
Agriculture & Food Systems
We take a holistic approach to agriculture value chains, addressing a range of challenges from food production, post-harvest care and processing to efficiency of agricultural markets, food access, and water, finance and energy for agriculture.
Global Health & Wellbeing
We believe in universal health coverage and support the development of digital and hardware health solutions, including point of care diagnostics, telemedicine, dissemination of healthcare information, and access to public goods enabling good health and well-being, such as global access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene.
Digital & Financial Inclusion
We work toward expansion of access to digitally-based support and services, including financial services in resource limited settings, as well as universal access to information.
Our Values
Development Impact First
Our first priority is improving the lives of people in the developing world. We work according to the standards and ethical guidelines of the international development and humanitarian action communities.
Partnership & Generosity
We believe in working with like-minded entities to achieve greater impact. We are generous in giving our time and knowledge to those who seek our support.
Innovate with Respect and Humility
We believe that the people facing challenges are the ones who are best suited to address them and we actively engage them in the process of creating solutions.
Continuous learning
We learn from our experiences and from those of others in order to continuously improve and create better ways of doing things.
Our Team
Aliza Belman Inbal
Founding Director
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Hagit Freud
Managing Director
Joanne Moore
Senior Advisor
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Yonatan Bukhdruker
Project Manager
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Roni Levy
Project Manager
Project Manager
David Mendelbaum
Hannah Friedland
Community Manager
Ron Yakir
Project Coordinator
Pears Program Timeline
Highlights of the Pears Program’s impact on the field of DevTech in Israel and abroad
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The Pears Foundation funds research at Tel Aviv University to answer the question: How can Israel increase its contribution to the developing world?
The Innovation for International Development program is launched at Tel Aviv University.
The Innovation for International Development program is
rebranded as the Pears Program for Global Innovation.
The Pears Program hosts the Executive Director of the World Food Program.
The Pears Program co-organizes ID2 and IsraelDev is born.
Grand Challenges Israel is launched under the Israeli Innovation Authority.
The Pears Challenge Venture Builder is launched to develop new Israeli technology start-ups addressing development needs.
The Pears Program holds a 4-location, bilateral India-Israel MED4DEV hackathon with 1,000 registrants in Tel Aviv, Bangalore, Mumbai and Hyderabad and 50 sponsoring organizations from both countries.
The Pears Program hosts the President of the World Bank Jim Kim in a meeting with Israeli DevTech startups. This is his only non-governmental meeting in his two-day visit to Israel.
The Pears Program organizes the India-Israel Global Innovation Bridge in collaboration with the Innovation Authority.
The Pears Program works closely with the Prime Minister’s Office as part of a standing Inter-ministerial Committee on International Development.
Launch of the IsraAID-Pears Program Pilot Fund and the Innovation Journey to Ethiopia.
The Pears Program, InnoHub Ghana and Israeli Embassy in Ghana host AgriTechAccel.
Program continues...
Pears Program in the media
*Media is primarily in Hebrew
The Pears Program for Global Innovation is an independent program of the Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research, supported by the Pears Foundation.
Pears Foundation is a British family foundation driven by a desire to demonstrate the good that philanthropy can achieve in the world.
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The Foundation funds several Israeli initiatives and organizations, with the goal of building the capacity of Israel's international development sector and enabling the country, and the Jewish people, to share expertise and resources with developing nations. The Pears Program for Global Innovation is proud to have the Pears Foundation as its anchor funder since the Program’s inception in 2008.
The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research houses the Pears Program for Global Innovation and is a leading think-tank in Jerusalem.
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The Institute helps government bodies and other organizations implement innovative and effective policies around sustainable social, economic, and urban planning policy. Alongside the Pears Program for Global Innovation, the Jerusalem Institute houses the Milken Innovation Center, which develops market-based solutions to cement Israel’s role as a pioneer in addressing global challenges in water, food, education, health, and energy and the Israeli Taskforce on Sustainable International Development.