Ronen Goffer

Graduate of Cohort 3, Mandel School for Educational Leadership Development Manager at the Mandel Graduate Unit


Ronen Goffer holds an M.Sc in Physics and a B.Sc. in Physics & Mathematics, both from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is currently a Ph.D. student in Political Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Mr. Goffer has had 15 years of professional experience in the social and civic field. He has established and engaged in leading entrepreneurial initiatives that involved the establishment of international networks, governmental-civic sector partnerships and fund raising from multiple sources. Mr. Goffer has turned vision into practice as he has envisioned, implemented and managed enterprises dealing with empowering the civic sector, with democratization and with significant challenges faced by contemporary democracies.

Ronen Goffer was recently the Director of the first Van Leer Education Conference, a position which included involvement in the planning and managing of the International Workshop for Directors-General of Ministries of Education with the participation of representatives from 10 countries, international experts and the top leadership of the Israeli education system.

In the past 15 years, Mr. Goffer was engaged in the foundation of KOL-Active, the Israeli Center for Engaging Citizens in Governance and before that in the establishment of the Division for Participatory Democracy at the Haim Zippori Community Education Center. These initiatives were the first entrepreneurial attempts in Israel to engage citizens in decision-making and governance on a national level, and were aimed at reversing the (worldwide) trend of deteriorating government legitimacy due to citizens’ frustration and feelings of alienation. The approach chosen for achieving this was a controlled renewal of the democratic system through effective civic participation in governance, including the import of innovative models of citizens’ participation from Denmark, Holland, US and elsewhere.

Mr. Goffer brings years of experience in social innovation and in participatory and deliberative democracy to his work, along with qualities of entrepreneurship, management and team work. He has published several articles in the area of participatory and deliberative democracy.

Ronen Goffer commented: ”During my studies at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership, I had the opportunity to professionally reinvent myself and I will always cherish that”. His activities in the years after Mandel were an actual implementation of the very initial ideas he had developed in MSEL, including his personal-project.

Ronen has recently joined MGU.