DEMOCRACY AND GOVERNANCE FACT SHEET

Program Overview

A responsive and competent public administration is an essential component to a functioning democratic society. Building on existing public sector reform efforts, USAID designed the Palestinian Authority Capacity Enhancement project to assist the Palestinian Authority (PA) in providing its constituents with more effective, efficient, and responsive services. In October 2008, USAID invested $20 million over three years towards this end. Chemonics International Inc. is working closely with PA Ministry counterparts in carrying out the project.

The project has two phases. In the first year short-term interventions will have quick and visible impact on the way in which Palestinians receive services from the PA. Improvements in service provision will be carried out in cooperation with the Palestinian Land Authority (PLA), the Ministry of Finance (MOF), the Ministry of Transportation (MOT), the Ministry of Public Works and Housing (MOPWH), and the Ministry of Interior (MOI).

The second phase of the project will lead to long-term reform among PA ministries and other public sector institutions. The program uses a consensus-building approach called the “Centers of Excellence (COE)” as the primary means to build institutional capacity. COE will support teams of mid to senior-level civil servants from within partner ministries. It will provide them with a heightened understanding of government best-practices and with a structured means to apply this understanding and to improve service delivery. Perhaps most importantly, it will maximize ownership of the reform process, which is critical to the sustainability of all project initiatives.

Goals

• Improved delivery of key services by targeted PA ministries and institutions that result in immediate tangible benefits to citizens.

• Enhanced and sustained capacity of PA officials.

• Strengthened public communications about, and participation in, PA decision making.

Illustrative anticipated results include:

• Establishment of a systematic approach to diagnose, improve, monitor, and reward organizational performance

• Enhancement of knowledge and skills in core management functions, including financial transparency and accountability

• Increased capacity to utilize information technology in service delivery

• Increased public participation in the creation of policy

• Improved communication with the public

Successes

• Completed upgrades to the citizen service areas at the Ministry of Transportation’s licensing bureau in Ramallah

• Reduced the application process time for national IDs, birth records, death certificates, and other core services from 15 days to 20 minutes at the Tubas Civil Affairs Department

• Trained 115 ministry staff to develop leadership skills and improve customer relations

• Helped to establish the Higher Council of Traffic by working with 52 road safety officials

• Reached out to twenty-one civil society organizations wishing to engage in capacity development through grant opportunities

• Initiated renovations of a cold asphalt plant in Nablus for the Ministry of Public Works and Housing for quick road repair needs

• Helped to staff and train three road repair teams through assistance from USAID’s Emergency Jobs project