As political parties vie to form a new government, NIF’s action-arm in Israel, Shatil, is helping social change groups to bring their issues and agendas to the forefront of discussions and government coalition agreements.
On April 7, as Israel’s 24th Knesset was sworn in, Shatil assisted a coalition of over 40 organizations, including NIF grantees and partners Israel Women’s Network (IWN), Achoti (Sister) – for Women in Israel, The Aguda – Israel’s LGBT Task Force, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI), Omdim Beyachad (Standing Together), Tag Meir, and Rabbis for Human Rights, in standing up for progressive values. Both religious and secular activists working on a range of issues demanded any future government of Israel exclude racist and homophobic parties.
In the coming weeks, Shatil will launch its second Advocacy Springboard Workshop, a 5-part training to provide progressive organizations with policy change tools, including strategies for working in the Knesset and with government ministries, including the Prime Minister’s Office, and the media. Participating groups can consult on specific advocacy projects with Shatil’s Center for Policy Change (CPC) staff and guest speakers, ranging from policy advocates and media consultants to MKs and parliamentary aides. Shatil is designing a complementary training for NGO spokespeople to help them amplify their reach and ability to exert influence through public communications.
Shatil is also supporting organizations’ targeted advocacy work. The period of coalition negotiations presents a critical opportunity for social change groups to advance their goals with newly elected Knesset members and future government officials in a non-partisan way. Any new government will be grounded in coalition agreements between the various parties, agreements that set out future policy and legislative priorities, as well as the appointment of ministers and Knesset committee heads.
Shatil is assisting its partners to influence priorities that will dominate policy formation in the coming years and advocate for the translation of campaign promises into concrete proposals. Specifically, Shatil consultants are helping these organizations in building advocacy work plans and project management evaluation tools to increase efficacy.