Getting Social Issues on Candidates’ Agenda

As candidates for city councils and other municipal bodies launch their election campaigns for November's local elections, SHATIL is launching its own campaign by working with social change organizations to make sure social and environmental issues are on candidates' agenda. As part of this effort, SHATIL is collaborating with local organizations to create a dialogue between the public and the candidates by providing local media with stories, items and interviewees on relevant issues.

SHATIL published a new booklet: The Local Elections - Tools for Working with the Political System, the Media and the Public: A Guide for Social Change Organizations, written by senior SHATIL lobby consultant Lea Lieberman Bender and SHATIL media consultant Ilanit Elul. The booklet contains time lines, strategies, tips and recommendations for ways of working during the window of opportunity the pre-election period presents, as well as lists of relevant contact people and phone numbers. It is being sent to 1500 social organizations, the 120 members of Knesset, national and local government offices, and others. The booklet is available free of charge both on line (http://www.SHATIL.org.il/files/hoveret%20behirot3.pdf) and in printed form.
SHATIL is also guiding a national coalition of environmental organizations in an effort to get their vision on local candidates' agendas. The coalition is focusing on four issues: accessibility of open spaces, public transportation, environmental infrastructure and strengthening city centers. SHATIL is offering targeted courses for activists in the North, South and Center of the country on how to maximize their effect during the pre-election period.

"The central goal of this effort is to remind people that they have the right and the possibility of influencing their lives," says Shimon Malka, director of SHATIL's Center for Policy Change.