Background
The Israel Authority for Prevention of Violence, Alcohol and Drug Abuse (hereafter: The Authority), operating under the Ministry of National Security, was established to enhance the personal safety of Israel’s residents through the development, leadership, and promotion of prevention programs and services to address violence, crime, and substance and alcohol abuse in local authorities (National Authority for Community Safety Law, 2017). The Authority implements most of its programs through local municipalities, which bear full responsibility for hiring and managing staff and for implementing the programs. Each local authority employs a municipal coordinator whose role is to manage, coordinate, and lead the prevention activities. The coordinator is responsible for data collection, establishing a local partnership forum, developing a work plan, and implementing the prevention programs. The coordinator is also involved in mobilizing volunteers and conducts public outreach and education in the local authority’s key content areas.
Objective
To identify and map the barriers and challenges faced by municipal coordinators. This effort is part of the structured development of the Authority’s activities and stems from the understanding that the complexity of this work requires comprehensive and in-depth planning of its programs and of the methods used to evaluate their outcomes.
Method
The study utilized a quantitative design implemented through an online self-report survey (Hebrew and Arabic) distributed to all 256 municipal coordinators. A total of 234 coordinators responded (a 91% response rate). The questionnaire assessed characteristics of the local authorities and of the coordinators themselves and examined a range of barriers and challenges in their work. Data collection took place between December 2024 and February 2025.
Findings
Municipal coordinators reported multiple barriers and challenges: 87.9% reported delays in the allocation of the Authority’s program budgets, 36.8% reported outdated policies or policies that were not aligned with the needs in the field and 36.8% reported gaps between the Authority’s professional guidelines and the professional perspectives of field staff. 54.7% reported difficulty estimating required budgets and resources, 43.9% reported difficulty obtaining or collecting data from various sources, 31.4% reported insufficient or missing information about community services and interventions and 26.0% reported difficulty estimating workforce needs. 45.3% reported challenges in recruiting qualified staff or shortages of skilled personnel and 26.0% reported frequent staff turnover.
Additional challenges reported included: difficulty in coordination and collaboration with managers of health departments, emergency organizations (Magen David Adom ambulance services, National Fire and Rescue Authority, Community Emergency Teams), civil society and third-sector organizations, and volunteers; difficulty in reaching service recipients physically; inadequate physical infrastructure relative to the needs of the population; negative attitudes toward services among some service recipients; lack of staff support and professional backing; and delays in payments to external providers or workers.
Municipal coordinators from local authorities in higher socioeconomic clusters were more likely than those from lower clusters to report: outdated policies or policies misaligned with field needs; lack of tools and guidance for their work; insufficient documentation of professional activities and interventions; and difficulties recruiting or retaining qualified staff.
Coordinators from local authorities in lower socioeconomic clusters were more likely to report that their work focuses on: youth, Arab and Bedouin populations, children, and LGBTQ+ communities; poverty; youth experiencing unemployment, difficulty finding work, or lack of access to employment; high levels of crime or criminal environments; high perceived danger or lack of personal safety as major barriers facing their target populations; and that their primary work interfaces were with volunteers and local leadership.
Recommendations
- Develop an integrated computerized system for continuous monitoring of all Authority activities in local authorities. The system should collect data on service recipients, local authority characteristics, needs of target populations, organizational needs, and planned and implemented activities. It should provide feedback through periodic reports and customized queries.
- Remove bureaucratic barriers and strengthen alignment between annual budget planning, entry into the computerized system, allocation of funds, and the coordinator’s annual work plan.
- Revise and formally update the municipal coordinator’s job description, detailing responsibilities, authority, and essential work interfaces.
- Strengthen the status and positioning of municipal coordinators, formally recognizing their role as field leaders with direct access to senior municipal management.
- Recruit, retain, and develop high-quality staff, including offering financial incentives to attract and maintain skilled personnel for fieldwork in local authorities.
- Continue developing targeted professional training for municipal coordinators, combining expertise in prevention and community work with managerial and organizational skills. Training should promote planned, evidence-based, outcome-oriented work.
- Develop interventions tailored to the socioeconomic cluster of each local authority. Lower-cluster authorities require additional resources, training to strengthen community resilience and leadership, and targeted interventions for youth, LGBTQ+ individuals, and other vulnerable groups. Policies should also encourage innovation and provide tools adapted to the coordinators’ needs and the needs of their target populations.