Ramallah – On 20/12/2018 MIFTAH held a hearing session attended by Deputy Minister of Social Development, Mr. Daoud Al Deek and other official representatives from the ministry during which budgets allocated for the economic empowerment and social protection programs at the ministry were showcased. Afterwards, recommendations were also addressed towards increasing budget allocations for these two programs. The meeting is part of MIFTAH’s “Finance for Development” project aimed at promoting standards of international transparency for budgets through institutionalizing strategic partnership with the public sector and enabling senior officials to institutionalize these standards within the fiscal policies of the ministry. It is also aimed at preparing and publishing the citizens’ budget and promoting a participatory approach in budget preparation. The Oxfam-funded project is implemented by MIFTAH in partnership with AMAN and ARIJ.

MIFTAH project coordinator, Hassan Mahareeq said the session was part of the preparations for launching the national campaign ‘Towards increasing budget allocations for the economic empowerment and social protection programs”. MIFTAH prepared a needs-assessment report for beneficiary sectors from the two aforementioned programs in order to determine the budgets needed to lessen the gap between the allocated budgets and the needs of these beneficiary sectors. This is in addition to producing a documentary film that sheds light on the importance of the economic empowerment program in making the transition of beneficiary families from need to production and the role of the ministry in reducing poverty, marginalization and social exclusion.

MIFTAH CEO Ibtisam Husary opened the session by welcoming the participants and stressing on its importance the resulting discussions and recommendations.

Meanwhile, Deputy Minister Al Deek and other ministry officials including assistant Deputy Minister Anwar Hammam and director of the ministry’s budget department, Hanadi Barahmeh highlighted the most significant achievements of the ministry pertaining to the economic employment and social protection programs in spite of the challenges posed by the limited financial resources. They shed light on the steps taken by the ministry towards improving the impact of their interventions on the conditions of its programs’ beneficiaries, pointing out that the ministry’s policies are based on achieving social justice.

Al Deek also discussed the ministry’s plan to localize funds for economic empowerment and establishing cooperatives and companies owned jointly by the beneficiaries and the public and private sectors as one of the initiatives. Furthermore, he talked about the efforts being made to provide a suitable climate for guaranteeing the success of small economic empowerment projects and providing protection, which would contribute to their sustainability and competitive ability in the market.

The contributions of the participants focused on the need to increase allocations for ministry programs and promote their role in protecting marginalized social sectors, which plays a role in combatting poverty and social exclusion. They also stressed on the need for the ministry’s programs to avoid financial austerity plans.

MIFTAH, along with a number of partner organizations, is continuing its interventions to influence government policies, which would increase expenditures for development and social programs. These are aimed at protecting and empowering citizens in light of limited financial resources and also contribute to guaranteeing standards of social justice in government financial planning and spending.