This study was carried out by Michlol- the Evaluation and Measurement Unit of the Shalem Fund

Towards the end of 2020, Keren Shalem published a call for social services departments (in authorities) for Tamar  track – a grant track that aims to support professional training in the field of disabilities in social services departments in local and regional authorities. 29 advanced training courses (professional development) were developed and implemented (in which 49 authorities participated). The evaluation purposes were to examine the feasibility of the authorities submitting proposals following the call for proposals, to examine the process of developing the advanced training courses and their characteristics, and to assess the degree of their success for developers’ and leaders’ point of view.

Data were collected by sending an online questionnaire to all the training leaders as well as by analyzing the syllabi of the developed courses. The evaluation was attended by 27 program leaders. The results indicated a challenging process of developing the advanced training courses, however, the success of the departments in implementing them, in accordance with the declaration. The degree of satisfaction with the venture and the process was high to very high. The advanced training enabled a professional time-out, the acquisition of a uniform language and tools, and the formation of teams in the authorities. An important contribution has been made to setting threshold conditions and schedules for implementation, to the involvement of national and district supervision, for merging authorities with each other, for carrying out preliminary needs mapping and for mobilizing external and internal forces. In addition, it is evident that it is important to decide on the advanced training format (zoom/frontal) while understanding the advantages and disadvantages of each format.

To read the full findings report in Hebrew press here

Key Words
Shalem Fund study, Local councils, training, learning, social workers