Source: eJewish Philanthropy
Benji Lovitt takes issue with a number of recent articles which call for improving the level of Birthright Israel American madrichim. He agrees with the diagnosis but thinks that additional training is not sufficient. He calls for a concerted effort by trip organizers to choose madrichim with basic skill sets that will allow them to successfully serve as educators and meaningful facilitators for the Birthright groups they lead.
Benji calls for requiring Birthright madrichim to have meaningful Israel experience (Masa participation), group leadership skills, and basic concepts of Jewish identity.
He suggests that more money be spent to hire high quality madrichim and considering employing recent Masa program graduates in Israel or young people who have made aliyah to serve as educators to deepen the Jewish identity experiences of the Birthright participants.
See his article at eJewish Philanthropy.