Local Governance Department

The Local Government Department is responsible for sustainability and environmental protection at the level of local government - in cities, local authorities, and regional councils.

Building abilities and implementing tools in local governments

Building abilities among those who deal with the environment in local governments

Training to improve the knowledge, expertise and professionalism of the authorities' employees, at all levels, in a variety of environmental matters.

Strengthening environmental committees

Environmental committees consist of members of the municipal councils. The committee's role is to submit plans for the promotion of the different environmental issues to municipal councils and public figures (who are members of environmental organizations) and to supervise the implementation of the approved plans. The Local Governance Department works toward strengthening the committees and enriching the environmental information of the committee members.

Determining designated protocols for the environmental units' employees:

The Local Governance Department works, in cooperation with the Control Department, on the salary in local authorities in the Ministry of Interior, in order to determine designated protocols for the environmental units' employees to allow the recruitment of professional and quality manpower to units.

Forming a national policy for the regulation of the environmental entities in local authorities

Cooperating with the Ministry of Interior in order to determine governmental policies opposite the different environmental entities

The element that regulates the local authority in Israel is the Ministry of Interior. Therefore, the Ministry of Environmental Protection works in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior in order to regulate the division of work between the different environmental entities. The department works in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior in order to determine governmental policies opposite the different environmental entities.

Determining boundaries between the ministry and the local authority

There is an overlap of authorities in the law between the local authority and the Ministry of Environmental Protection regarding several matters. There is significance to clearly defining the operational boundaries between the ministry and the local authorities.

Determining the status of the environmental units

An environmental unit does not have a separate legal status than that of a local authority. In order to regulate the authorities of the environmental units and their independence, the Local Governance Department works in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior in order to formulate the best way to regulate the units' status.

Transitioning to a clean Israel: the Local Governance Department in cooperation with the Education and Community Department

The departments developed an Israeli index to measure dirtying the urban public space. One hundred authorities at the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics' social-financial ranking 1-5 got funding for preparing and implementing data-based involvement plans to change the residents' behavior. After a year of implementation, measurements were repeated in order to test the improvement in the level of cleanliness and to base the plans.

Private open spaces

Private open spaces are not designated for construction and are owned by joint housing residents. Since no one is in charge of these fields, with time, the fields become neglected. The Local Governance Branch initiated a special initiative for caring for these fields by transferring the responsibility of the fields to their owners – the joint housing residents. The initiative is intended to develop the communal life in the buildings, to improve the way the streets look, and to provide tools to create an inviting, sustainable urban public space. In addition, as a part of that, solar panels are installed on the roofs of public buildings across the authorities, and allow authorities to continue the communal activity and maintain the private open spaces for a period of ten years. Most of the initiative's budget is from the JNF.

The Local Governance Branch's data

Educational computer program to train whoever is in charge of measurements in the authority and the measurers in order to create a clean public area that includes explanations on the goals of the initiative, the preparations for measurements and the measurements in the field, and finally, a questionnaire. 

Cleanliness measurements database

The database includes: the most popular waste, the state oof the infrastructures such as trashcans, curbs, etc. The goal of the measurements is to build an involvement plan in order to change the behavior of the residents in the different areas.

Environmental entities in the local government

Environmental committees

A statuary entity composed of four authority councils, a public representative who was chosen from the local green organizations and a representative of the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The committee's role is to submit plans for promoting the environment for the approval of the authority council, and to supervise the implementation of the approved plans.

Environmental units

The local authority's organization is composed of authority employees and is used as a consulting and promoting entity regarding environmental matters in the local authorities. There are authority and regional units that include several authorities.

Environmental Urban Association

The Local Authorities Association are near one another but do not share borders. It is a statuary entity established by virtue of the Urban Association Law, 1955 (courtesy of the Nevo site).