JNFseesthewood from the trees as it builds in Negev

FOR THOSE of a certain age, JNF conjures up images of trees and blue boxes.

But Alan Aziz, who took over as JNF UK chief executive a year ago, says there is now less need for forestation, leading the charity to branch out into kindergartens, hospitals, mobile medical units, after-school projects and youth centres. They have one thing in common — their Negev location.

“The Negev is still a very underdeveloped part of Israel with huge potential,” says the 47-year-oldCEO, who was previously with the Zionist Federation.

“It comprises 60 per cent of the geographical land of Israel but only houses eight per cent of the population.

“Government investment gravitates towards the centre of Israel, where most people live. Peripheral areas like the Negev do not attract the JNF UK CEO Alan Aziz investment to make it a more attractive location for people to move to. “It’s a real mission for JNF UK to reeducate people that the Negev isn’t a desert region that should be given up on.” As a part of this process, the charity is now offering day trips to the Negev for both British ex-pats and tourists from the UK. “We did one in March, one in August, and we’ll do one in October,” Mr Aziz reports. Around 100 people will join each visit and the intention is to increase the number of trips to five next year. “We organise everything. So there’ll be bus pick-ups from Jerusalem, from Tel Aviv, from Haifa, from Netanya, from Herzliya. For many of them, it’s the first time they’ve been s outh of J e r u s a - lem.” The Bikurim music school is one of the varied projects JNF UK is supporting in the Negev region

An example of the projects is a music school, Bikurim, the first of its type in the region. The charity is also working with other faiths and is about to launch a scholarship programme for young Bedouins. “Typically, the percentage of young Bedouins who study after school is very low, which exacerbates the disconnect between the Bedouin community and Israeli society,” Mr Aziz says.

But the JNF’s traditional interest areas have not been neglected.

Another new project involves planting large trees to enhance the beauty of towns, with JNF supporters from Hull the first sponsors.

As for the “massively iconic” blue box, Mr Aziz says it remains important for engaging the less well off, who might only be able to save £10 or £20 a year. “That is OK, it’s more than OK.” He is also pondering the potential for a blue box app, which would ask the user a daily question: “Do you want to put anything in?

“After a week or a month, you can press ‘cash in’ and it’s taken from your account and gets sent to the JNF.”

Mr Aziz adds that overall, “donations are rising”, with the charity receiving in the region of £15 million annually.

The has recently focused on the problems facing communal welfare charities.

Looking at the wider picture, he questions the need for some of the small organisations set up in recent years, “many of which seem to be duplicating others.

“Sometimes people will set up a charity that does something remarkably similar to something already set up. But many people want to do their own thing.”