A Revolution in Lakiya: Improving Residents’ Lives Through Strategic Planning

31 January 2019

Israel’s 245,000 Negev Bedouin, an indigenous, once nomadic people, endure a subpar standard of living in just about every way. Negev Bedouin towns are characterized by high rates of poverty and school dropouts, as well as inadequate commercial, industrial, transportation, health, recreation, and sanitation infrastructure.

To address these problems, Shatil is collaborating with the European Union, Bimkom: Planners for Planning Rights and the Bedouin town of Lakiya to create a pioneering, replicable model for giving Bedouin municipalities the tools, skills, and knowledge to improve their residents’ lives. In effect, Shatil is helping to create the first economic strategic planning division in a Bedouin town, which will involve Lakiya’s residents in decisions – also a first.

The project, called “Good Governance and Strategic Planning in Lakiya: Strengthening the Abilities of the Local Authority,” will train and mobilize local professionals and officials to envision and implement a development plan with the participation of other residents, especially marginalized groups such as women and youth. Lakiya is currently home to 12,000 people, with another 4,500 in adjacent unrecognized villages that would be incorporated into the town as part of the planning process.

“This project will empower and improve the Lakiya municipality and especially the relationship between the municipality and the residents,” said Mansour Alsana, former city engineer and advisor to Lakiya’s mayor on planning matters.

The project will also help the Lakiya municipality secure development funds allocated by Government Resolution 2397, a five-year plan to close socio-economic gaps in Bedouin communities. To date, most of these funds have gone unused because the application process is complex and inaccessible for most Bedouin city officials.

Government officials are already seeing the possibilities of the project, saying they see the importance of creating strategic planning divisions in every Bedouin town.