FES \ Projects

Strengthening Civil Society

The Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung seeks to strengthen civil society and promotes groups working for peace, democracy, and social justice. Since security and foreign-policy questions often dominate the public debate in Israel, it is essential that the area of “social justice” not be neglected. This is the background against which the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, together with its partners, plays a coordinating role in working out possible solutions and formulating them as policy recommendations in such areas as education, fighting poverty, employment and social policy, or consumer protection. Here the approach also includes questioning economic policy axioms, encouraging reform processes and public discussions, and making alternatives an integral part of the political agenda. Goals also include bringing about public awareness of and understanding for gender mainstreaming. At the same time, training programs for young leadership and opinion disseminators help to promote the understanding of democracy.

Another important step toward strengthening Israeli civil society includes defusing the conflict between the Arab minority and the Jewish majority, because the discrimination of the Arab community will continue to constitute a dangerous potential for conflict for the whole of Israeli society. Consequently the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung supports conferences, courses, and political lobbying activities that strengthen Arab decision-makers’ competence, bring about a public awareness of this problematic state of affairs, and encourage majority-minority exchanges.

Project Examples:

	"Zichron Yaacov - Action Plan"
	Women's Parliament: Platform for critical and feminist debates on the prevailing policies and discourse in Israel. Partner: Women´s Parliament
	Conferences and Round Tables on political, public and professional issues
	Weekly working papers on social, economic and political issues on the Israeli agenda distributed to decision-makers Partner: MACRO-Center for Political Economics