Dr. Muhammad Al-Nabari

Consultant

Dr. Muhammad Al-Nabari, a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the Negev, is a social entrepreneur and public figure with extensive experience in leading social change in local government and civil society. From 2004 to 2018, he served as head of Hura Local Council. Throughout his tenure, he was committed to improving the quality of life in Bedouin Arab society in the Negev in innovative and groundbreaking ways, promoting women’s employment, scientific and technological education, building infrastructure, and more. For his achievements as mayor of Hura, he was named a Knight of Quality Government by the Movement for Quality Government in Israel. Muhammad also founded and served as chairman of Wadi Attir, a desert agriculture initiative that also includes environmental, technological, community, and economic elements. This initiative implements the principles of the Global Sustainability Laboratory and leverages the knowledge, values, and aspirations of traditional Bedouin society by harnessing advanced modern technologies and scientific knowledge. As a visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center, Muhammad is an important source of expertise and inspiration on meaningful and sustainable acts of leadership, ways of leading grassroots change, public administration, and leadership challenges in Bedouin Arab society in the Negev. Alongside his work at Mandel, Muhammad is also the founding chairman of Yanabia, a nonprofit promoting social business entrepreneurship that works with government ministries, local authorities, civil society organizations, and businesses to advance Bedouin Arab society in the Negev and transform it into an engine of growth for the region. He is also chairman of the board of Desert Stars, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing trailblazing young Bedouin leadership, and is a member of the board of Achva Academic College and of the board of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.