Ramallah -- Razan Ja’afar Salha from Aseera Shamaliyeh is a student at the Hisham Hajjawi College in Nablus and is very active in the Palestinian Youth Network established by MIFTAH as part of its program to empower youth leaders. She participated in a series of training courses organized by MIFTAH over several days and in two rounds. The training is part of MIFTAH’s interest in empowering and supporting young leaders in partnership with the Anti-Corruption Commission. The goal was to empower Palestinian youths to actively contribute in combating corruption..
Most recently, Razan participated in a six-day training course held by MIFTAH, which revolved around the training of trainers as part of its project , “Activating the role of youth in combating corruption – phase II.”
Razan says about her involvement with the network: “I realized through my participation how important it is for citizens to be active and effective in their society.” She says she wanted to find her place as an individual and also as part of Palestine’s youth. “The diversity in ideas among my colleagues only strengthened my motivation to work towards social change,” she said, maintaining that she was mostly impacted by the “Kumi” methodology, which “put me in the place I needed to be.” Razan says the training was able to change a number of preconceptions she had, which she then applied to change the same preconceptions with her family. “That was important for me because I started to see things in a positive light, downplay the obstacles and then think up solutions.”
Al Quds Open University student Nadim Oweis from the Nablus-area village of Lubban Sharqiyeh said MIFTAH’s training was important because of the impact it left on him and the other network members. “We all learned new skills in communication, methods of sending and receiving information and the ability to formulate ideas in a simplified way.” He also said the training addressed the tools used in combatting corruption and how to convey this to Palestinian youth groups.
Another active member of the youth network who participated in the training is Raed Atrash, a media student at the Palestine Technical College in Arroub. “My job as a broadcaster and journalist and my direct contact with the public has taught me how to identify the correct ways of addressing people and impacting my audience,” he says. The training, he says, further honed these skills as a journalist and also as a youth activist.
Najwan Abu Nijem, another Youth Network member says the training of trainers’ workshop was very productive at the level of learning skills for educating and impacting, in addition to learning information and statistics from the Anti-Corruption Commission. “This gave us a clearer idea about the nature of the trainings we will give to youth in this field. This, I believe, is the first practical step to moving forward in building youth groups that realize the danger of corruption and are determined to combat it.”
According to trainer and expert in social accountability Fadel Suleiman, the goal of the training was to ‘help members of the youth network, gain skills and knowledge useful to them in the real world so they can connect with and persuade university students to become more involved in combatting corruption.” Suleiman elaborated on why university students in particular were chosen, saying that researchers and observers came to the conclusion that as long as ordinary citizens do not participate in efforts to combat corruption, these efforts would remain lacking. “There is no one more worthy of these efforts than the youth since they have such tremendous energy and a desire for change,” he said. As for the group participating in the training, Suleiman says: “I was pleasantly surprised at their levels of skills and knowledge. All said, MIFTAH’s efforts with this group have really paid off.”
Zeidat: A qualitative and different kind of intervention
MIFTAH project director Shadi Zeidat says this year’s intervention is part of MIFTAH’s partnership with the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission through a group of activities that guarantee the building and sustainability of achievements in the Phase I of the project. This phase resulted in the development of a youth strategy for combatting corruption. He said this year, the intervention was qualitatively different because it included developing training skills among the Youth Network to enable them to responsibly work in the field while guaranteeing that youth are part of the anti-corruption efforts. Another goal was to raise the level of public awareness on the forms of corruption and ways to intervene and combat them.
To this end, a six-day training of trainers took place to ensure that the Youth network’s members had the necessary tools and skills to convey their message, deliver important information and motivate youths to participate in this field. The Anti-Corruption Commission played a key role in the training through holding sessions with the youth to raise their legal awareness on corruption and its various forms and also on the role of the commission in combatting them. In addition, the commission presented the participants with valuable information about corruption in Palestine and the importance of raising social awareness on this subject.
The Youth Network is planning to hold awareness workshops in a number of West Bank universities, culminating in a Youth Day where the network, the targeted university groups and other youth groups take to the streets in five West Bank districts. There they will interact with the public and shed light on the importance of social awareness in combatting corruption, including the negative impacts it has on society such as hindering development and increasing the poverty and unemployment rates.
MIFTAH releases 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social and security sectors, including social justice and gender indicators
Date posted: April 04, 2023
By MIFTAH
MIFTAH recently released 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social sector (health, education, higher education and scientific research, social development and labor), and for the first time, the security sector (Ministry of Interior and National Security). The reports were based on annual financial data released by the Ministry of Finance in Palestine for 2021-2022 and on an accrual basis.
The data showed that the Ministry of Interior and National Security had the highest percentage of actual spending in 2022, accounting for 22.8% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.68 billion. This was a slight increase from the Ministry’s share in 2021. Meanwhile, actual spending on the education sector (Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research) stood at 21.5% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.48 billion. This was also an increase from the education sector’s share in 2021, which was 20.6% of public expenditures.
Moreover, actual spending on the Ministry of Health also increased in 2022, comprising 15% of overall public expenditures, at a sum of ILS2.4 billion. This was higher than in 2021, where its share was 14.4%. As for the Ministry of Social Development, actual spending was still low, amounting for 6.2% of overall public expenditures in 2022, compared to 5.8% in 2021. The Ministry of Social Development’s actual spending in 2022 was approximately ILS1 billion. As for the labor sector, actual spending on this sector in 2022 was 0.31% of overall public expenditures, while in 2021 it was 0.28%. Actual spending on the labor sector in 2022 was ILS50.1 million.
Upon review of actual spending reports of the targeted ministries from a gender and social justice perspective, it is clear that actual spending on the Ministry of Social Development does not coincide with the scope of its responsibilities as the forerunner of the social sector in Palestine, including its programs for combatting poverty and the protection of poor and marginalized social sectors. Moreover, non-compliance to the disbursement of payments for poor families within the CTP continued according to estimates, whereby only two of four installments for 2022 were disbursed, one at minimum value. This adversely affected the financial security of the most underprivileged and marginalized sectors of society, in addition to the insufficient estimated budget and actual spending on the social protection program, in spite of its importance in providing protection and social services to battered women, children, special-needs persons and the elderly.
The data also pointed to the low percentage of women working in the security sector, which stood at 6% of the total number of workers in this sector, while they comprised 46% of the civil sector. This shows a gap in actual spending on the security sector from a gender perspective, given that the lion’s share of actual spending in 2022 was on salaries and wages. Hence, women only benefited very little from these allocations, which were nearly ILS2.9 billion in 2022.
The data also indicated that the development expenditures for the Ministry of Labor were only ILS4.5 million in 2022, even though planned development expenditures were ILS32 million, which is much higher. This casts a shadow on gender-related programs and projects, which were allotted sizeable budgets within development expenditures, such as creating sustainable opportunities as alternatives for Palestinian men and women working in settlements, for which ILS10 million were earmarked.
Even though there was an increase in actual spending in 2022 at the targeted ministries in general, this increase was mainly concentrated on salaries and wages. In spite of the importance of providing a decent life for employees, there is still a need to increase spending on development expenditures, since they are at the forefront of developing government services, including the nationalization and institutionalization of various social services.
MIFTAH concludes town hall meetings on political participation and citizens’ rights for women and youth
Date posted: January 09, 2023
By MIFTAH
Ramallah – 29/12/2022 – Within its efforts to promote democratic values and the peaceful transfer of power within the Palestinian government system, MIFTAH’s field advisory team completed over 100 town hall meetings in the second half of 2022. The meetings were held in coordination and cooperation with CSOs, LGUs and grassroots organizations and targeted women and youth in several West Bank and Gaza Strip districts. The objective of these meetings was to raise awareness among the electorate on the electoral system in Palestine and on civil society demands to increase women and youth participation in local and general elections as candidates and voters, on the premise that this boosts their presence in decision-making levels and involves them in public affairs.
The town hall meetings included several exchange visits between LGU members in the various districts. The women shared the experiences and challenges they faced after becoming council members. The meetings focused on the concept of citizenship within a broader definition of the various forms of political participation and the importance of involvement from youth and women in public life. They also pointed to the different forms of democracy and the main pillars of the democratic society Palestinians seek to create. The participants furthermore discussed the various forms of electoral systems and shed light on the gaps in electoral laws regarding the presence of women and youth.
The participants pointed to the importance of periodic legislative and presidential elections and the danger of the ongoing absence of the PLC on matters pertaining to civic peace. They also warned against the absence of oversight and accountability, maintaining that the defunct PLC has contributed to shrinking civic space and public freedoms and therefore, the ability or desire to become involved in political life, especially for women and youth. In most of the meetings, the participants also indicated that the absence of a regular democratic process in Palestine contributed to the overall exclusion of youth from participation and to the marginalization of the role of women in Palestinian political decision-making.
The town hall meetings stressed on the importance of pressing for legislative, presidential and local elections in all West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip districts. They also endorsed the demand for equality in electoral laws, starting with raising the women’s quota to a minimum of 30%, raising the candidacy age and lowering the threshold. They urged Palestinian factions to assume a key role in the process of inclusion for women and youth in the public sphere and to prevent the progression of tribalism in the democratic process. The attendees emphasized the importance of monitoring the performance of LGUs in their interaction with local communities and the consistency of their meetings. Finally, they said female council members must be given the opportunity to exercise their role in their respective councils as equals to their male counterparts.
MIFTAH holds town hall meetings on an annual basis as part of its awareness campaign on citizens’ rights and the promotion of the democratic approach for a peaceful transfer of power, in addition to the involvement of women and youth in elections as both candidates and voters. Each year, through these town hall meetings, MIFTAH aims to reach the widest possible segment of the electorate and the different social sectors in all parts of Palestine.
MIFTAH completes training workshop in the Gaza Strip on family protection and advocacy
Date posted: January 05, 2023
By MIFTAH
Gaza – 2/1/2023 – MIFTAH recently completed a training workshop on measures and regulations on family protection in the Gaza Strip. The workshop was part of MIFTAH’s strategic objectives to prioritize family issues in communities and to support local institutions in increasing awareness on citizenship and constitutional rights for Palestinian women and on combatting all forms of GBV and discrimination in Palestinian society.
The workshop’s objectives included providing institutions with important information on the legislations, laws and measures for family protection in effect in the Gaza Strip, in a bid to enhance the oversight role of CSOs in holding accountable official parties responsible for enforcing these measures and legislations. The training also included offering institutions the necessary mechanisms for managing digital and media campaigns to press for the ratification of laws and legislation that protect women’s rights.
The discussions focused on a number of points, including legal (including sharia law) rebuttals to claims from parties opposing legislation, including the Family Protection Law. They also discussed how applicable this law would be in the Gaza Strip once ratified by the President.
The participants unanimously agreed that they supported adoption of the law, giving no credence to the claims of more extreme elements in Gaza on the Family Protection Law. They called on MIFTAH to hold general, open meetings with the public to introduce them to the law and its importance, so that they could defend themselves from the extremist discourse surrounding it.
Opinions and impressions
One of the participants, Latifa Shatat, said such training workshops were crucial for every Palestinian, male and female. “It is great we are pressing for protection laws such as the Family Protection Bill. This law will have tremendous impact on society as a whole. I can say from experience as a social and mental health worker that protection is the most important element in our work, especially in cases involving women and children, who are the most vulnerable social sectors. I commend MIFTAH and anyone who participates in spreading a culture of nonviolence, protection, justice and equality.”
Meanwhile, Haifa Al Araj said the training offered important details about the Family Protection Law and also ways of conducting initiatives and activities that could produce positive results in mobilizing support it.
Another participant, Hatem Abu Ta’a, said the training was a new starting point for him as an institution director in terms of integrating the demand to implement the Family Protection Law in all advocacy and lobbying activities and programs. He said he became more aware of the impediments to the law’s implementation at the official and social level, saying, “This training reminds us to renew our calls to demand implementation and ratification of the law at the official level.”
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abu Rabee said ratification of the Family Protection Law would be a huge step, for women and children especially. “This law will amplify women’s voices and their ability to access help with stronger and more supportive centers throughout the homeland. As a strong supporter of this bill, I want to stress on the importance of civil society institutions explaining the clauses in the bill pertaining to CEDAW and to also focus on working with parties that oppose the law in particular.”
The training workshop is part of MIFTAH’s “Policy dialogue and Good Governance” Program, which aims at influencing public policies and legislation in favor of protection for citizens’ rights in Palestinian society, based on the principles of social justice and respect for human rights.
