On Monday, August 10, the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North held its second annual graduates conference. Held on the Zoom videoconferencing platform, the event was opened by the Center's outgoing director,
Professor David Dery, and by
Eviatar Baksis, a graduate of Cohort 2 of the Center's Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the North, who represented the graduates’ steering committee.
Following the two opening addresses, the participants watched a series of short presentations from graduates and entrepreneurs who showcased their activities, focusing on the question, “How do you turn a personal dream into a social enterprise that brings together partners and impacts society?” In addition,
Miki Nevo, the incoming director of the Center congratulated the graduates and explained how the Mandel Foundation's relationship with its graduates in Israel is currently being addressed by the Foundation in general, and by the Center in the North in particular.
Next, the following presentations were made:
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Dr. Shani Bar, graduate of the Mandel Program for Local Leadership in Afula, spoke about advancement of the LGBTQ community in the North
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Sharon Hinda-Kassous, graduate of the Mandel Program for Local Leadership in Migdal HaEmek, spoke about collaborative approaches to changing the culture of public cleanliness in Migdal HaEmek
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Samar Abbas Shaaban, graduate of Cohort 3 of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the North, spoke about collaborative planning of public transport in Sakhnin
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Nir Rubin Syrkin, graduate of Cohort 2 of the Mandel Program for Social Leadership, spoke about building a community network and about the realities of a mixed town in Nof Hagalil
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Roni Kantor, artist and social activist, and one of the founders of the Midburn community and Community Forward, spoke about creating local and communal culture in Hof Hacarmel
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Professor Ruth Margalit, visiting faculty member at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, spoke about how an entire community in Africa is working together to fight AIDS and to mitigate its effects.
Following this, each of the lecturers hosted a smaller Zoom group with participating graduates, who chose which group to attend in accordance with their individual area of interest. These groups discussed the matter in depth and explored the conditions that promote collaborative enterprises. Following the discussion, the insights from each group were shared with the full plenum using Padlet software.
In addition, the participants took part in three rounds of “World Coffee,” and held a discussion focusing on the question, “How do we create a participatory graduate community that will promote initiatives and activity in the North?” This was followed by a lecture on the meaning of participatory leadership by Shani Marchevsky, the founder of Hatribuna, a platform for participatory leadership in the social and private sectors.
The conference was organized by Daphi Biran Singer, director of the Mandel Program for Regional Leadership in the North;
Liraz Maanit, graduate coordinator and coordinator of the Mandel Program for Leadership in the Public Service; pedagogy expert
Revital Yahalom, a graduate of Cohort 20 of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership; and visiting faculty member
Professor Ruth Margalit.
