Sustainability of Social Programs

The article reports on the findings of a comparative case study of six projects that operated in Israel between 1980 and 2000. The study findings identify characteristics of the programs, the host organizations, and the social and political environment, which differentiated programs that are sustained from those that are not. The findings reaffirm the importance of the human factor, namely, the commitment of the leadership of the host organization. In addition, the findings of these case studies point to factors that until now have not gained sufficient attention, such as the type of host organization or public attitudes toward different target populations.