Strategic Vision
Preliminary Notes
Towards enhancing cooperation and partnership

The Ministry believes that building and strengthening effective cooperation and partnership with the NGOs, requires several elements, which are the responsibility of the PNA and the NGOs, the most important of which are as follows:

1.      The existence of defined and agreed upon objectives.

2.      Transparency.

3.      The existence of competence and expertise.

4.      Capacity building and development of human resources.

5.      Accountability and supervision.

6.      Networking and coordination.

• In order to implement these, the Ministry will strive hard to develop the appropriate environment to obtain the required level of cooperation and partnership. It will also strive to develop various mechanisms of cooperation, coordination and networking between the various parties, this also includes developing common grounds for joint dialogue and consultation.
• To encourage continuous and organized dialogue and interaction through various forms such as meetings, continuous periodic meetings, establishing a Ministerial coordination committee, and establishing coordination committees with the various civil groups is one of the end results that the Ministry is working towards. This will encourage dialogue and discussions, the exchange of ideas, concepts and opinions so as to develop civil work and increase its contributions and effectiveness in human and community development. This will lead to achieving sustainable human development in Palestine.
• The Ministry will also suggest mechanisms to facilitate and strengthen NGOs in contributing and participating in the preparation of the Comprehensive National Development Plan and the other sect oral development plans, in addition to emphasizing the importance of an actor for projects and programs of the national development programs.
• The Ministry will encourage governments and international agencies to continue and even increase their support to NGOs in general, and to the Jerusalem institutions in particular, so that the latter may remain steadfast in their struggle against the Israeli policies and the oppressive procedures they face.
• The Ministry will strive to encourage international agencies to invest in building the capacity of NGOs and to develop their human resources, both as a necessary and a main strategy to ensure their sustainability in serving Palestinian society in all of its locations and categories.
• In regard to providing information and necessary input on NGOs, the Ministry will set up a comprehensive data base that will provide the necessary information on NGOs, their programs, activities, composition and locations. This will contribute to the future planning of this sector.
• The Ministry will try to set up a comprehensive website that includes various aspects of the Ministry’s work with NGOs so as to encourage transparency, disseminate information and increase networking and coordination.
• In regard to organizing the relationship between the PNA and NGOs, the Ministry considers that ratifying the NGO Law of the Legislative Council and the endorsement of the President is an important transition in this field. This law is the most liberal on the Arab level. No doubt it will contribute towards enhancing the internal democratic environment of NGOs and in providing the necessary environment for the development of Palestinian civil society, based on a clear legal entity, defining clearly the roles and obligations of NGOs.
• In order to enable NGOs to play a more effective role as partners in development, it is important to grant sufficient resources to capacity building and the development of skills and knowledge of NGO employees.

The process of development is considered a priority factor in enhancing the professional level and the transparency of these NGOs, in addition to there being a pre-requisite for sustainability, thus enabling NGOs to respond to the rapid changes of the Palestinian reality and to the needs of the categories it serves. Based on the above, the Ministry has considered that among its strategic objectives, it was important to contribute to developing NGOs in various fields and through various mechanisms which are detailed in the objectives and outputs section.

Based on the NGO Law and the Presidential Decree, the Ministry will focus its activities and limit them to NGOs and associations, however this does not imply that it will abstain from coordinating or cooperating with the rest of the Palestinian civic society institutions.