Assistance to Palestinian IT Firms Helping Them To Link to Markets Beyond the West Bank and Gaza: As a result of assistance from USAID’s Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Program, El Tariq Systems, a Ramallah-based software company specializing in web applications, recently signed a $1 million contract with the Saudi Waqf Ministry to connect its 220 branches with a web-based application. Through the Project, USAID helps Palestinian firms to link with and develop outsourcing relationships between Palestinian and International IT firms.

USAID Renovations Make Public-Private Partnerships Possible at Palestinian Post Office:  In Nablus, the West Bank’s 2nd largest city, USAID helped to redesign and rebuild the Post Office building as part of overall efforts to help the Palestinian Authority enhance its capacity to provide services and to collect revenue. The renovations have made retail space available to rent to vendors that provide ancillary services to that of the post office. Three telecommunication companies have already signed on to provide onsite customer services, transforming the post office into a multipurpose service center and creating an additional revenue stream.

U.S. Consul General, USAID and Sesame Street Characters Celebrate Mother’s Day with Palestinian Mothers and their Children: Consul General Daniel Rubinstein joined local and Palestinian Authority Education officials and hundreds of guests to celebrate Palestinian Mother’s Day at an event supported by USAID and held at the Women’s Charity Center in Salfeet. Local children and Palestinian Shara’a Simsim (Sesame Street) Muppets performed fun and informative skits for the assembled guests. The USAID-funded Palestinian version of Sesame Street is produced in Ramallah. The same Muppet characters also performed for students in Gaza in support of USAID’s Model Schools Network Program after school program.