Mandel Program for Local Leadership in Tira, 2010-2012
The program was the Mandel Foundation’s first local leadership program in the Arab society in Israel.
GENERAL DESCRIPTION
The program in Tira had three main goals:
- To form a group of leaders that have a shared vision and who work in collaboration in order to improve the city’s social and educational services
- To broaden and enrich the fellows’ professional judgement and to improve their planning and managerial capabilities, their work methods and their capacity for implementation - both at the individual level and as a group
- To formulate a shared vision and specific action plans in the field of youth and young adults in Tira
The program was held every Monday over the course of two years, and included a number of day-long field trips and experiential outdoor activities, as well as overnight retreats in the Negev, in Jerusalem, and in Nazareth.
The Mandel Center for Leadership in the North continues to work with the Tira program graduates.
PARTNERS
Tira municipality; the INJAZ Center for Professional Arab Local Governance; the Massar Institute for Research, Planning and Social Consultation, headed by Dr. Khaled Abu-Asbah.
STEERING COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Mayor of Tira, Mamoun Abd al-Hay (chair); Sameh Iraqi; Dr. Khaled Matar; Muhamad Samarah; Dr. Khaled Abu-Asbah; Jidaa Rinawi-Zuabi; Hadijah Mansur; Fuad Sultani; Ihab Iraqi; Dr. Dalia Fadilah.
MAIN CONTENT AND PROCESSES
The program revolved around the following central themes: observation, familiarization and mapping; processes in Arab society in Israel; values clarification; leadership and leading change; group bonding processes; and work-plan development that was carried out in teams and also included field-based practice.
EVALUATION
The program was accompanied by an external evaluation process conducted by Ghada Abu-Jaber Nijem. The evaluation also included tracking graduates for a year after the program ended. An additional follow-up was carried out some three years after the program, and found clear indications of success in relation to the stated objectives. At the time of this last survey, all graduates were still committed and engaged activists in various educational and social fields, and most of them (around two-thirds) had progressed to more senior positions, or positions with broader responsibilities and influence. All the graduates work in some degree of professional collaboration with others, and many of them are even working closely together on shared community and educational initiatives.
PROGRAM DIRECTORS
Dr. Safa Abu-Rabia, Dr. Danielle Shani
