Background
The 36th government of Israel was sworn in on June 13, 2021. In November 2021, the government passed the 2021-2022 State budget in the Knesset. Pursuant to the approval of the State budget, the work plan book for 2022 was issued (three years following the publication of the previous work plan book). Since the inauguration of the 36th government and through April 2022 (the time of writing this report), Israel’s government approved 1,161 resolutions.
The Strategy and Planning Division of JDC Israel commissioned the Myers-JDC-Brookdale Institute (MJB) to conduct a rapid review of the work plan book for 2022 and the 36th government resolutions in order to examine the key issues on the agenda of four government ministries: the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Economy and Industry.
Goals
This review had three goals:
- To identify the key issues on the agenda of four government ministries: the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, the Ministry of Health, and the Ministry of Economy and Industry.
- To identify common, cross-sectional key issues on the agenda of several government ministries and/or issues anchored in inter-ministerial resolutions passed by the government.
- To identify gaps on two levels: policy objectives that are not reflected in the work plans of the four government ministries; tasks detailed in the work plans that are still in the preliminary stages of formulation and development.
Method
As noted, the review focused on four government ministries. Content analysis of the following documents was performed for each of the ministries:
- “The 36th Government: Policy Highlights” report – presenting the policy highlights of the government ministries and auxiliary government bodies
- Work plans, as published in the work plan book for 2022
- The government agenda – from June 13, 2021 (the day the government was sworn in) to April 10, 2022
- The government resolutions – from June 13, 2021 (the day the government was sworn in) to April 10, 2022. The government resolutions related to each of the four ministries were reviewed, and the operational resolutions identified
The policy objectives were then cross-checked against the government resolutions and the government resolutions were cross-checked against the tasks detailed in the work plans.
Conclusions and Insights
The analysis showed that the work plans of the four government ministries were characterized by a high degree of variance – in terms of structure, constituting elements, and level of detail – and that the same was true for the related policy documents (as presented in “The 36th Government: Policy Highlights” report).
The analysis further showed that the key issues on the agenda of three of the four government ministries (the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs, and the Ministry of Health) were dealt with on two levels: with reference to the target population – issues related to the population served by the relevant ministry (e.g., the population of students in the education system); and with reference to the system of services provided by the relevant ministry – issues related to service provision aspects (e.g., ensuring service accessibility) as well as to the structural reorganization of the relevant ministry in line with its specified policy objectives.
The analysis suggests four main action items for collaboration between JDC Israel and the government ministries regarding the following: key projects developed by the relevant ministry – with reference to the target population and with reference to the system of services provided by the ministry; tasks in the preliminary stages of formulation and development, in line with the ministry’s work plan; common systemic issues referred to in the work plans of all four ministries that provide an opportunity for inter-ministerial collaboration; issues that are anchored in inter-ministerial resolutions passed by the 36th government and/or in plans and resolutions approved by previous governments and that thus call for inter-ministerial collaboration.