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עט השדה
2012
ספטמבר
Preface
Development
Work in the Social Realm
Rami Sulimani, Director General, JDC-Ashalim
Ashalim, as a strategic partnership of JDC-Israel, the Israeli Government and UJA-Federation of
New York, plans and develops services on behalf of children, youth and young adults in situations
of risk and their families, and supports the professionals who work with them.
We believe JDC-Ashalim’s power and the key to its continued success in the future lie at the point
where development and learning intersect, on the seam between the field and academia. It is at
this point that JDC-Ashalim can produce new knowledge and create interfaces between various
and varied professional disciplines and fields of focus, which have the power to ensure relevance
in a complex reality. This issue casts a spotlight on the points of interface connecting the various
subjects of writing in the social field: on the various areas of development, on the areas of work,
on building partnerships and on evaluating programs.
In a period in which the yearning for social justice in Israel is on the public agenda, it is worth
recalling that social action with, and on behalf of, excluded populations is an imperative. Ashalim,
while understanding the complex challenges that professionals face in working with populations
in situations of risk, is working on behalf of and with these populations: building and managing
effective partnerships with government ministries and various social organizations, hearing the
voices of the populations on behalf of whom it acts while displaying cultural sensitivity and the
design of suitable responses, program development and building research and evaluation systems
appropriate to the diverse character of the various programs.
This issue expresses our aspiration at JDC-Ashalim to spearhead social endeavors and to continue
developing innovative responses for diverse populations in situations of risk and exclusion.
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