אודות המיזם

The Mawared Initiative is a partnership between the Ministry of Social Equality, the Ministry of the Interior and the JDC Institute, with the goal of ensuring the optimal implementation of Government Resolutions 922 and 1480, and increasing the ability of Arab municipalities to locate and utilize resources.

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For this purpose, it was decided to create the new role of "Manager of Resource Utilization and Economic Development " in the municipalities - who will take responsibility for advancing these goals.

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Background:

There is a significant gap between the quality of infrastructure and services available to Arab society in Israel and those available to society as a whole. This gap is evident in the performance of public systems, accessibility to employment and education, public transportation and more. These gaps were created, inter alia, due to budgetary mechanisms that are not suited to the policy of economic integration of disadvantaged populations.

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Resolutions 922 and 1480 are five-year plans aimed at the economic integration of Arab society into the country's economy and reducing the abovementioned gaps.

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While the five-year plans have tremendous potential to strengthen Arab society, there are many challenges, short and long term, which must be dealt within their implementation. Various studies, together with data from the actual implementation of the plans, indicate that funds provided by government resolutions - whether targeted for strengthening a geographical area, a specific population or an area of ​​activity - are not exploited or their implementation rates are low, due to various types of barriers. This challenge becomes even more acute when it comes to municipalities in the periphery, and especially the Arab municipalities.

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The main challenges in realizing the potential in the government resolutions can be attributed to four main issues:

• Lack of coordination between the various government ministries and the incompatibility of the planning and implementation tools with the needs in the field.

• Lack of resources and organizational capabilities at the local level.

• Relationships between the central and local government, which lack mutual trust, coordination and accessibility.

• Additional material barriers stemming from various causes - mostly due to planning issues, land ownership and availability of state land.

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The main role of the Manager of Resource Utilization will be to optimally implement government resolutions and to facilitate the utilization of resources in the Arab Municipalities including:

• Implementation and utilization of existing and potential resources, while identifying obstacles and finding ways to overcome them.

• Setting up work procedures at the municipal level and improving the work interfaces with government ministries.

• Building and strengthening collaborations with municipal and non-municipal bodies.

• Formulation and implementation of an economic development plan.