13 Years of government public participation

13 years, 70 participation processes

Since 2008, we have had the privilege to guide Israeli government offices through more than 70 public participation processes of various dimensions, which included tens of thousands of participants from the government and business sectors, from civil society, philanthropy, academia, the community and the general public.

These processes have yielded diverse products and results, in the form of new legislation, government decisions, innovative models of participation, the development of inter-organizational infrastructures, work plans that take public opinion into account and more.

Along with these results, a new enriching and ongoing discourse evolved between the sectors, which has created an opening for their integration into government work and decision-making.

Among the government offices we worked with were the Prime Minister's Office – in which we supported the establishment of the constitutional round table; the Ministry of Education; the State Comptroller's Office; the Ministry of Economy; the Holocaust Survivors' Authority – where we supported the mission-based table for holocaust survivors; the civil service commission; the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Social Equality.

Bridging the discourse between the sectors

Sheatufim is a unique player in the arena of cross-sector dialogue and public participation in Israel. We are a civil society organization that creates bridges which enable dialogue between the various sectors. We believe that public participation and active citizenship can dissolve barriers, eliminate suspicions between players and build trust between Israeli citizens and their government.

Our experience has taught us that trust and joint professional action over time, are necessary conditions for promoting multi-sectoral activities to deal with systemic social issues. We believe that the integration of different methodologies of inter-sectoral discourse among government ministries has created a basis for setting policies tailored to face the challenges in present day reality.

In each of the government offices we were privileged to work with professionals who understand the importance of open and participatory discourse, and value the integration of different sectors into decision-making processes. We were pleased to be the first and leading body in Israel to introduce the culture of public participation in governance and to play a part in changing the government and public discourse on the subject