Team Members
Rami Khader
Founder and Executive Director of Anar
Dara Rafeedie
Psychosocial Support Coordinator
Celina Jarayseh
Administrative and Financial intern
About Our Team Members
Rami Khader : Rami Khader is a humanitarian, artist, entrepreneur, and psychosocial support trainer from Bethlehem, Palestine with a diverse range of professional experiences. He is the founder of several notable initiatives and organizations, including Diyar Theatre, Diyar Academy for Children and Youth, the Bethlehem International Performing Arts Festival, and Anar Organization for Psychosocial Support. These initiatives/organizations use art and creative activities to inspire young Palestinians to advocate for constructive social change, cultivate cultural identity, improve mental and emotional health, and provide a unique platform for personal expression.
Rami’s expertise lies in a variety of fields, including humanitarian response, psychosocial support, arts-based healing initiatives and programming, MHPSS capacity-building, and community grassroots empowerment. He is a staunch advocate of using psychosocial healing to empower children, youth, and caregivers not only to survive but to thrive in crisis and difficult contexts.
Rami currently serves as the Director and Founder of Anar, a not-for-profit organization situated in Bethlehem, Palestine. Anar’s work is centered on advancing the psychosocial well-being and resilience of children who have been impacted by violence and oppression. The organization is committed to improving the lives of these children through various programs and interventions that prioritize their mental and emotional well-being.
Rami’s extensive training experience has been enriched by his tenure as a lecturer at Bethlehem University, where he taught psychology and social work, and his time as the Director of East Jerusalem YMCA’s Rehabilitation Program, where he led a team of 70 staff members, trainers, counselors, and coordinators in delivering lifesaving psychosocial support. He is particularly committed to mobilizing and educating young people to support mental health and psychosocial initiatives in their communities.
Dara Rafeedie: Dara is a clinical psychology MSc graduate with an artistic background in theatre, she has been a part of Ashtar Theatre in Ramallah since 2012, through which participated in several plays, as well as engaging in leading drama classes for disabled children, and attending several workshops in psychodrama.
Dara’s expertise lies in working primarily with children and parents in different contexts, whether in clinics with those living with intellectual disabilities, refugee camps where children experience daily oppression, to emergency contexts where quick and first responses are needed in psychosocial interventions with communities and individuals.
Through Dara’s undergraduate and graduate studies, she has focused her research on intergenerational trauma, resilience, and the development of daily coping and resilience skills among children and young adults through arts and everyday continuous violent situations. She believes that the historical and continuous living under occupation has resulted in more resilient communities in the face of oppression; this resilience is reflected through parenting lifestyles, responses to daily traumatic events, the verbal expression and perception of such events, and a hope-driven attitude.
Dara believes in art’s power that lies within its flexibility to be applied in all contexts, despite available resources. This makes it a fitting tool to be used when working in psychosocial support for communities, especially for children, where imagination and free body movement lead their behaviors, which through art could motivate healthy well-being and social growth as much as possible despite surrounding events.
Mira Jarayseh: A Psychosocial support intern at Anar. She graduated from Bethlehem University in 2022 with a BA in Social Work and has volunteered in various organizations. She assists in creating and implementing trainings, tools, and interventions at Anar and participates in the outreach team.
Celina Jarayseh: An administrative and financial intern at Anar. She holds a BA in Accounting from Bethlehem University and is passionate about using her skills to serve her community. She joined Anar as a fresh graduate and is keen to learn and contribute to her community.