Project description

Title: Fund for Policy and Reform Advice
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Palestinian territories
Lead executing agency: Palestinian Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development (MoPAD)
Overall term: 2007 to 2013

Context

For many years now the rate of political change in the Palestinian territories has displayed considerable momentum. The processes of change are extremely dynamic and entail considerable potential for conflict. Coalitions and alliances emerge and collapse within relatively short periods of time. This applies equally to the domestic policy landscape of the Palestinian territories and their international setting. As a result, the quasi-state institutions of the Palestinian Authority (PA) regularly face challenges with which they can barely cope on their own. In this difficult situation, the PA is seeking to introduce a reform programme to improve its governance, make its institutions more efficient and thereby create a foundation for greater security, growth and prosperity.

Objective

The project provides support for reform measures in selected key areas of the Palestinian executive. Strategic planning, decision-making processes and the capacity to implement reforms within these institutions are all sustainably improved.

Approach

The Fund for Policy and Reform Advice provides the PA with technical advice, training and in-process support. The fund operates on a demand-driven basis. This means that, for each individual measure to be financed from the fund, the institutions of the PA propose reform measures that are then implemented jointly by German and Palestinian partners. Activities are always implemented in line with the principles of good governance and the PA’s development priorities.

The proposals are examined and selected by a body comprising representatives of the Palestinian Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development, the Representative Office of the Federal Republic of Germany and GIZ. The Fund Secretariat as well as local, regional and international advisors assist with the planning, implementation and monitoring of the reform measures.

Results achieved so far

Sustainable development is a core issue for GIZ. This applies equally in regions marked by conflict and political instability. The following measures have been implemented so far:

• The structures and working mechanisms of the fund have been successfully established.
• All processes, funding criteria and implementation mechanisms have been documented transparently.
• Funding has been granted to half of all the applications that have been received so far. The following measures supported by the fund have helped to establish the conditions for better governance and more effective public administration: 
• strengthening external accounting control systems (by publishing accounting standards in accordance with international guidelines and establishing coherent assessment guidelines)
• developing a strategic plan for the Palestinian Central Elections Commission
• creating a handbook on diplomatic protocol
• designing concepts for the development of a local information system
• finalising a handbook on road safety
• modernising cooperative system processes in the Palestinian territories
• producing concepts for development partnerships with the private sector (PPPs) at local level
• establishing a meteorological database system
• preparing a plan for reforming the Palestinian Environmental Authority
• improving the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ consular services