Ending Poverty, Building a State The Role of Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory By Jens Toyberg-Frandzen

Ending Poverty, Building a State The Role of Development in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

By Jens Toyberg-Frandzen

http://www.thisweekinpalestine.com/details.php?id=3150&ed=184&edid=184

On a concrete-clad, half-built house, a satellite dish receives a signal and relays it to three transmitters. One, an eight-metre antennae, transmits the signal to the neighbouring houses while the two others transmit it up and down the valley to nearby villages.

This is how Mazani al Houbani and its neighbouring villages, north of Ramallah, receive access to the Internet. The service is a result of the entrepreneurship of Khamis al Qadi, who provides Internet access to around 60 homes and businesses from an old server in his sitting room and transmitters on his roof.

It is also a good example of how the United Nations Development Programme’s Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People aims to promote development among individuals and in society at large.

Khamis al Qadi, 34, left school at 16 and worked as a day labourer whenever there was work available until he began to suffer from a blood condition which made physical work difficult. In 2008, he applied for a grant from UNDP to help him start a grocery business in the basement of his house.

When the grocery was successful, he looked for new ways to increase his revenue and discovered that with an outlay of $2,000 he could provide Internet access to his remote community, which consists of several hilltop villages separated by deep, terraced valleys.

UNDP provided the initial support which allowed Khamis al Qadi to provide for his family and develop ambitions. He now has his own income and can make decisions and finance his future.

Khamis al Qadi is one of 10,398 individuals and families in Gaza and the West Bank who UNDP has helped emerge from a vicious cycle of poverty to a virtuous cycle of development as part of one programme funded by the Islamic Development Bank. The aim of our development work is to have a relatively short-term engagement which leads to long-term improvement for individuals, organisations, and institutions.

Since 1978, UNDP has engaged in hundreds of development initiatives in the occupied Palestinian territory. These efforts have made a mark on the Palestinian landscape and increased capabilities and opportunities.

The village of Allar near Tulkarem was not connected to a water network until last year. Without water, the economic development of the village was held back. Residents had to spend time harvesting water and a lot of money importing it in water tankers during the summer.

There was never enough water to carry out water-intensive work such as small-scale industry and some types of agriculture. UNDP, with funds from the Japanese government, built a network of pumps, pipes, and reservoirs to provide water for every household and business.

Water costs have fallen by two-thirds, water-borne infections have fallen dramatically, and residents have been able to start businesses such as poultry farms and masonry which were previously impossible. Since 1994, UNDP has worked extensively with the Palestinian Authority, supporting its efforts to push for an independent state. UNDP is currently planning and preparing for the construction of a new Ministry of Foreign Affairs and engaged in negotiations to build a legal and judicial complex in Ramallah. These buildings will provide attractive additions to the architecture of Ramallah and an exceptional environment for the professional management of international relations and justice.

But construction of government buildings is just one part of UNDP’s contribution to the overall governance of the Palestinian Authority. The legal complex is one part of a series of projects UNDP has undertaken and hopes to undertake to enhance access to justice in the Palestinian territory. The work includes building regional courthouses, automating legal record-keeping, improving the capacity of the Ministry of Justice and other legal bodies, and increasing legal services for all Palestinians.

The construction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which is funded by China, is part of a portfolio of assistance to the Palestinian Authority which also involves strengthening the capacities of government institutions from the President’s Office to local authorities.

The Capacity Development Initiative is a five-year institutional development programme to strengthen the organisational structures and capacities of the Ministry of Planning, the Ministry of National Economy, the Ministry of Labour, the General Personnel Council, the Prime Minister’s Office, the Cabinet Secretariat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Justice.

The goal of UNDP is to build the infrastructure and provide the services that must go with it to ensure that Palestinians receive the government services they deserve. The hope is that the knowledge and skills that are being taught in partnership with the Palestinian Authority and civil society will last as long as the bricks and mortar.

But development is vital at the community level as much as at the government level. The example of Khamis al Qadi demonstrates the potential of international development to provide a platform for innovation and self-reliance for individuals and communities.

Jens Toyberg-Frandzen is Special Representative of the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme in the occupied Palestinian territory.Mammoon al Qadi (the brother of Khamis) examines the Internet transmitter. Photo by Ahed Izhiman / UNDP.