The Ma'anim Institute for the Applied Research of Poverty in Israel
The Ma'anim institute was established with the aim of dealing with one of Israel's most pressing issues – the soaring poverty rates and its wide-reaching implications in all areas of life. According to a report published by the OECD in 2013, Israel is placed on the highest level of the poverty ladder with one in every five Israelis living in poverty conditions. These figures call for a need for a significant change in the way poverty is perceived and in ways of dealing with the problem. Despite the fact that there are many organizations in Israel providing responses to the different perspectives of dealing with poverty, no research has yet been carried out to examine the available services in the field and which maps, analyzes and develops practical tools for professional learning and implementation.
With the aim of providing a response to this problem, Shoulder to Shoulder has initiated the establishment of the Ma'anim Institute for the applied research of poverty in Israel. Ma'anim is a first of its kind institute, providing innovative and groundbreaking services. The findings of the institute will serve as the basis for the development of multi-disciplinary government programs to deal with poverty in Israel and as a leading body for advancing knowledge and training in all aspects of poverty extraction. The institute is unique in its multi-dimensional approach to poverty, which takes into account the entire family system, and it's surrounding, as opposed to a one-dimensional approach common today which only examines the per-capita income without providing an effective definition or solutions.
The Institute is accompanied by a professional steering committee comprised of academics and experienced professionals working in the field of poverty extraction, and is headed by Prof. Menachem Monikedem from the School of Social Work in Bar Ilan University, and formerly head of the Poverty Research Unit at the Social Sciences Faculty.
