Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North​

The program invests in senior public service officials – women and men, Jews and Arabs – who are strongly motivated to work for the benefit of society both within and beyond the context of their professional roles.

The Mandel Program for Leadership for Public Service in the North is designed to contribute to the development and thriving of Israel’s northern region by investing in senior public service officials who view their work as a calling of the highest order. We seek senior officials – women and men, Jews and Arabs – who are strongly motivated to work for the benefit of society both within and beyond the context of their professional roles.

Launched at the start of the 2019-2020 academic year, the program is an in-service program, in which fellows continue working in their senior positions throughout the year.

Beyond leadership education, which is the central theme of the programs of the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, the goal of this program is to introduce a spirit of capability and foster a civil service ethos of entrepreneurship, inter-departmental cooperation, and openness to collaboration with all sectors.

Accordingly, in addition to our core themes, the program covers a number of topics of crucial relevance to the public sector in Israel:

• Inter-relations between the political and professional echelons in the public sector
• Public service ethics
• Models of collaboration
• The structure of the public service system in Israel and in other countries
• Relations between central and local government
• The "legalification" of the public service system.
  

The diverse public service background of the participating fellows provides the opportunity to foster trust and build connections between professionals and professional fields that usually operate in isolation from one another. The program also includes an applied studies component, which revolves around a group project that develops multidisciplinary responses to the main challenges of life in Northern Israel.

The curriculum, which totals approximately 440 study hours, is spread over 40 study days that take place weekly on Wednesdays throughout the academic year. It also includes several intensive two-day seminars and one-day field trips.

The program is held at the Mandel Center for Leadership in the North, located on the Oranim Academic College of Education campus.