The Latet-Matanel Prize 2025

Vision

Latet is proud to launch a unique and impactful initiative as part of the 2025 Latet-Matanel Prize, an open call for original, groundbreaking articles on poverty in Israel. This project invites researchers, graduate students, professionals, activists, and social change leaders to contribute thought-provoking, research-based or experience-driven articles that offer new perspectives on the complex realities of poverty and inequality in Israel today.

Activity

Submissions should explore financial, social, and nutritional dimensions of poverty, and propose innovative solutions or insights. We anticipate engaging from diverse backgrounds.

Project Objectives:

To encourage innovative thinking and foster a multidisciplinary dialogue around poverty, social exclusion, and nutritional insecurity in Israel.
To create a wider discussion on poverty to find more innovative solutions and methods of battling poverty and nutritional insecurity and to raise awareness about the conditions of those families and individuals who daily live in poverty.
To influence and spread awareness in public discourse and government policy by publishing the winning article in Latet’s Alternative Poverty Report, which serves as a trusted resource among policymakers and the media.

latet.org.il/research-center/

a society is ultimately judged by how it treats its most vulnerable members

- Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

Gilles Darmon

Born in Paris, Gilles Darmon is the founder and president of Latet – Israeli Humanitarian Aid, Israel’s leading NGO combating poverty, which he established in 1996 after immigrating to Israel in the early 1990s. A former military reserve in chemical warfare defense, he holds an MBA equivalent from the Sorbonne. Gilles lives in Ramat Gan with his wife- Deborah, and 3 kids, Liam, Or and Ella.

He plays a key role in shaping the organization’s policies and programs and has contributed nationally, including serving as an expert on the 2014 Alaluf Committee to reduce poverty. Since 2011, he has also served as CEO of Lavi Capital, an infrastructure-focused investment firm with major European clients. His past roles include founding Teo Life Sciences and partnering at Coronis Partners. Darmon has received several honors, including the President’s Award for Volunteering and recognition from the National Holocaust Survivors Organization.