A Story Of Collaboration: Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations And Shatil,
2010
Shatil (the New Israel Fund’s Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations)
A Story Of Collaboration: Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations And Shatil, Hagit Sachar
New England Journal of Public Policy
The present essay tells the story of a partnership between two organizations: the Haifa Council of Volunteer Organizations (CVO) and the Haifa branch of Shatil (The New Israel Fund’s Empowerment and Training Center for Social Change Organizations in Israel). They have cooperated for many years and, in the last two years, have further tightened their partnership. The first part of this essay presents a theoretical framework that serves as a basis for the case study discussed in the second part. The summary offers a number of open ended questions for further consideration and research.
Adaptive Capacity And Social Change. Introduction: A Conceptual Framework. Organizational Learning And Long-Term Stability, Nancy Strichman, Fathi Marshood
New England Journal of Public Policy
If there is one kind of certainty for social-change nonprofits such as those participating in the Haifa–Boston Learning Exchange, it is that they will continually be challenged to cope with periods of instability and possible crises. The ability to adapt to changing environments, learn from experience, and perform in conditions of uncertainty are considered critical tools for organizations in order to ensure sustainability. Developing this “adaptive capacity” is a particular challenge for nonprofits at the start-up or growth phase of their organizational development, as are many of the Haifa–Boston Learning Exchange participants. This discussion presents a conceptual framework for adaptive …
The Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations: Challenges And Dilemmas Of An Umbrella Organization,
2010
Haifa Council of Volunteer Organizations
The Haifa Council Of Volunteer Organizations: Challenges And Dilemmas Of An Umbrella Organization, Yael Abada
New England Journal of Public Policy
This paper reviews the challenges faced by the Haifa Council of Volunteer Organizations (CVO) as the umbrella organization of third-sector organizations working in Haifa, Israel. It will review challenges that affect our everyday decisions and shape the council’s activities. Most likely, some of these challenges affect other umbrella organizations as well, while some are unique to the CVO and are the result of local, historical, structural, and organizational factors.
We Make A Difference: Balancing Advocacy And Service,
2010
Haifa Citizen Rights Center of Yedid – The Association for Community Empowerment
We Make A Difference: Balancing Advocacy And Service, Marina Zamsky
New England Journal of Public Policy
The present essay deals with the problem of balancing community service provision and social-change advocacy, as well as other strategies, from various aspects: efficacy in achieving short-term and long-term goals, necessary resources, the benefits for society as well as for individuals, empowerment, and empowerment deficit.
Speaking Up And Taking Charge, Urban Teens,
2010
The Hyde Square Task Force
Speaking Up And Taking Charge, Urban Teens, Claudio Martinez
New England Journal of Public Policy
The beginning of this article will describe an authentic youth-led organizing effort is a model of social change that has developed at the Hyde Square Task Force (HSTF) over the past decade in our work with urban youth. We believe that members of this segment of the population are critical change agents, those with the potential to have a major impact on the future cultural and political development of our society.
Learning Beyond Borders,
2010
Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
Learning Beyond Borders, Alex Altshuler
New England Journal of Public Policy
I was involved in the Learning Exchange Network project mainly during the years 2007–2008, both as an active participant and as a member of the Social Justice and Civil Society committee, in the framework of the Haifa–Boston Connection. I was inspired by the spirit and commitment of both the Boston and Haifa leaders. At that time I coordinated recovery projects at the volunteer organization SELAH–Israel Crisis Management Center, which focused on immigrants in Northern Israel following the Israel-Lebanon war in 2006. SELAH’s core mission is providing essential assistance and emotional support to immigrants who face crisis situations; its involvement in …
The Power Of Peer Learning,
2010
Boston-Haifa-Seniors Lobby
The Power Of Peer Learning, Fannette Modek
New England Journal of Public Policy
My contact with the Boston–Haifa Project started at about the same time that the Seniors Lobby–Haifa saw the light of day. I was fortunate to have participated in the very first Seminar for NGOs in Haifa, held in January 2005. Several representatives of Haifa’s NGOs joined a group of leaders of Boston NGOs for a three-day seminar that put social-change issues on the table: Leadership, Organization, the Social Sector, Advocacy, and Conflict Management. The Power of Vision closing session generated a statement that by 2015, fifteen groups of U.S. social workers and gerontologists would visit Israel to study community-based services …
Raising The Gaze,
2010
University of Massachusetts Boston
Raising The Gaze, Mary Coonan
New England Journal of Public Policy
This article describes how our challenge is to move beyond our current vision. We must move beyond sharing our impressions of the elephant to seeing the elephant within its broader context. This kind of vision requires our joint effort and a willingness to live with uncertainty until clarity emerges through the chaos because we have been willing to look.
Transnational Social-Change Network Learning. Introduction: Shared Responsibility, Collective Reflection. Boston–Haifa Learning Exchange Network,
2010
University of Massachusetts Boston
Transnational Social-Change Network Learning. Introduction: Shared Responsibility, Collective Reflection. Boston–Haifa Learning Exchange Network, Donna Haig Friedman
New England Journal of Public Policy
This LEN project has emerged as both experiential and active. The in-person learning exchange seminars, which since the project’s inception have been taking place once a year in Haifa, Israel, and once a year in Boston, Massachusetts, were planned and facilitated jointly by the NGO partners as well as by outside trainers. Dedicated staff time and collaborative, generous attitudes on the part of planners in both cities have been essential for power sharing, efficiency, and thoroughness in the planning processes. Preparation has been extensive, requiring the core planning team, a Haifa–Boston mix, to use conference calls and e-mail communications, months …
Lessons From The Field,
2010
hopeFound
Lessons From The Field, Mary Nee
New England Journal of Public Policy
Organizational growth can fundamentally undermine the social-change mission of a nonprofit organization if the adaptive responses to growth are not continually checked against mission and vision. As the executive director of a U.S. nonprofit created in response to the crisis of homelessness, I have observed that this danger is particularly acute when an organization evolves from advocacy to service delivery.
Hope In The Room,
2010
Greater Boston Interfaith Organization
Hope In The Room, Cheri Andes
New England Journal of Public Policy
The most powerful moment of the learning exchange for me was a discussion that Haifa and Boston leaders had about violence and post-traumatic stress syndrome during my second trip to Haifa. Quite a bit of relational work had already been done that allowed this discussion to occur. This was no theoretical discussion, but rather a deep sharing of personal experience.
Preface,
2010
Simmons College
Preface, Jenna Toplin
New England Journal of Public Policy
The preface of this journal speaks about the history of the Boston-Haifa Learning Exchange Network and how as teachers and learners, LEN members continue their learning and reflection in these pages. Their stories bring a diverse collection of voices, experiences, and perspectives and capture a shared vision of creating lasting, systemic change and bettering the communities in which we live.
Service And/Or Advocacy: Nonprofit Sector In The Twenty-First Century,
2010
National Council of Jewish Women
Service And/Or Advocacy: Nonprofit Sector In The Twenty-First Century, Nancy K. Kaufman
New England Journal of Public Policy
In both Israel and the United States over the past twenty years, there has been an explosion in the number of nonprofit organizations that live in a space somewhere between government agencies and for-profit companies. While the growth of these organizations may have been stimulated by different factors in each country, there is much to be learned through a cross-cultural exchange like the one between organizations in Haifa and in Boston. In order to analyze some of the challenges facing nonprofit organizations across a wide spectrum of mission, purpose, and size, I have categorized the type of organizations being discussed …
Challenges For Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society And Challenges Faced By Nonprofits,
2010
University of Haifa
Challenges For Nonprofit Organizations. Introduction: A Theoretical Framework. Civil Society And Challenges Faced By Nonprofits, Amnon Reichman
New England Journal of Public Policy
This introduction will tackle two issues. The first is theoretical: a framework will be proposed with which to approach the activity of nonprofit organizations within civil society in modern democracies. Whereas the traditional approach posits three sectors in a triangular setting (the top corner occupied by the government, the bottom-right corner occupied by the market, and the bottom left corner by the “third sector”), a better conceptualization defines civil society as a social space between the state (located above) and the individual or the private sphere (located below). This space is where for-profit organizations (usually clustered in one side of …
Nonprofits And Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping The Relationship,
2010
University of Massachusetts Boston
Nonprofits And Social Change. Introduction: An Anchor. Reshaping The Relationship, Jennifer Cohen
New England Journal of Public Policy
In response to a variety of internal and external forces, including the recent economic downturn, nonprofit organizations in both Israel and the United States have increasingly been called upon to provide a safety net and serve as central players in the development, strengthening, and maintenance of civil society. These shifts include the privatization of services, blurring of the sectors and their traditional roles in providing services, reduced funding from traditional sources, welfare reforms including devolution, opening of new markets, enhanced role of faith-based people and organizations in service provision, intensified dependency and connectedness of policy makers and stakeholders, and the …
Global Learning Partnerships,
2010
Project Hope
Global Learning Partnerships, Margaret Leonard
New England Journal of Public Policy
The title of this section is profoundly significant to those of us who have experienced global partnerships. Our experience has revealed to us that there is a profound organic integrity to these five words, Transnational, Social Change, Learning, Networks, and together they are revelatory of an emerging future we are stretching to envision and realize in the twenty-first century. In this brief essay I would like to share with you five core experiences of global learning partnerships that I have had over the past half decade. From these experiences I have learned volumes about the organic relationships of these five …
Change From The Inside Out,
2010
U.S. LEN
Change From The Inside Out, Miriam Messinger
New England Journal of Public Policy
In this article, I proffer that one way to build social change is to create organizations, lead, and build relationships that model and reflect the change being sought on a grander scale. Sometimes this necessitates burrowing deeper and focusing inward as a means to building sustainable change. I was engaged in this work for eight years at The City School of Boston. While The City School is a functioning, vibrant organization, I no longer work there and so will talk about the work I was a part of in the past tense.
Doing The Right Thing: Doing Things Right,
2010
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
Doing The Right Thing: Doing Things Right, Jane Matlaw
New England Journal of Public Policy
I was privileged to be a part of the “birthing” of the Learning Exchange Networks (LENs) and am a veteran participant. I sat through many superb workshops and led a piece on social justice and advocacy. I had no idea that during year three of our endeavor, I would see how my world of work would so clearly intersect with the mutual learning that was happening with my colleagues in Boston and in Haifa. In my job as Director of Community Relations at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), I am responsible for the community relations activities of a 560-bed …
Nonprofit Leadership. Introduction: Miracle Workers At The Helm. New Ways Of Exercising Leadership,
2010
Boston University
Nonprofit Leadership. Introduction: Miracle Workers At The Helm. New Ways Of Exercising Leadership, Kristen Mccormack
New England Journal of Public Policy
Leading a nonprofit organization in today’s world requires nothing less than a miracle worker at the helm. That could be the conclusion one might draw from reading the literature on the traits, skills, and characteristics required to lead a nonprofit organization. Today’s leaders should be honest, competent, forward looking, and inspiring as well as intelligent, fair-minded, broad-minded, courageous, straightforward, and imaginative. Leaders should be of high integrity, dedicated, magnanimous, humble, open, and creative while energizing others. Able to cope with change, leaders must establish direction, align people, motivate, and inspire while effectively communicating their story. He or she must be …
Poverty, Vulnerability, And Provision Of Healthcare In Afghanistan,
2010
Washington University in St. Louis, George Warren Brown School
Poverty, Vulnerability, And Provision Of Healthcare In Afghanistan, Jean-Francois Trani, Parul Bakhshi, Ayan A. Noor, Dominque Lopez, Ashraf Mashkoor
Brown School Faculty Publications
This paper presents findings on conditions of healthcare delivery in Afghanistan. There is an ongoing debate about barriers to healthcare in low-income as well as fragile states. In 2002, the Government of Afghanistan established a Basic Package of Health Services (BPHS), contracting primary healthcare delivery to non-state providers. The priority was to give access to the most vulnerable groups: women, children, disabled persons, and the poorest households. In 2005, we conducted a nationwide survey, and using a logistic regression model, investigated provider choice. We also measured associations between perceived availability and usefulness of healthcare providers. Our results indicate that the …
