On Thursday, July 25th, the Steering Committee of the Working Together Initiative (WTI) convened.
The objective of the steering committee is to monitor whether the annual targets were met and to assess the program’s degree of success. In addition, the committee discussed monitoring the implementation of the work plan, guidance of the integrating body (Eretz-Ir organization) and the changes, if required, relating to the scope and areas of activity, the program’s target audience, deadlines or required services.
The committee’s composition reflects the Initiative’s guideline, which is “working together”, therefore it includes representatives from the Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, and WTI’s philanthropic foundation partners. Members of the committee include Yulia Eitan, head of the administration for special populations’ employment in the Ministry of Labor, who also serves as chair of the steering committee; Shula Mozes, chair of WTI partnership and founder of Lamerhav; Dr. Naama Meiran, managing director of the Gandyr Foundation, and Matan Hemo, senior manager of the administration for special populations’ employment in the Ministry of Labor, as well as the Ministry’s representative at the WTI.
The “Working Together Initiative” has been operating for about two years, in the south of Israel, and aims to integrate young adults into meaningful employment. The target audience is young adults aged 18-25 in the Southern District, who are not integrated into employment and need support and guidance due to their life circumstances. WTI is a joint venture led by philanthropists and the Israeli Ministry of Labor, Social Affairs and Social Services, and is supervised by the Lamerhav organization, and Eretz-Ir as the integrating body.
The committee members discussed the findings of the WTI’s evaluation research and the insights arising from the implementation process. They also examined WTI’s scope of activity and its progress towards achieving its goals.
There is progress in achieving the various goals set for WTI, and which represent different stages in the process of integration into employment in general, and meaningful employment, in particular. In the meeting, various possible factors for the existing situation were presented and discussed, as well as suggestions for courses of action. In the coming year, emphasis will be placed on achieving the goal of integrating young adults into meaningful employment by developing various solutions.
