Palestinian women participating in village meeting ACTIVITIES • Strengthening the Palestinian Legislative Council • Rule of Law project • TAMKEEN • Civil Society Empowerment through Training and Skills Development • Consortium on Electoral and Political Processes I and II • Increasing NGO Participation and Strengthening the Legislative Process • Moderate Voices RELATED ITEMS • Program Graduates Create Stronger Civil Society • Democracy Day Gets Vote from USAID • Palestinian Authority Court Structure • Translation of Palestinian Laws • Publications • Premiere of AL-MUQTAFI Databank System • Palestinian Reform • More Features... RELATED PROGRAM INFORMATION • Program History • Program Budget • Program Partners • Business Opportunities

• The lack of modern, unified laws or regulations affecting the public and private lives of Palestinians impedes development in many fields, including economic and judicial reform: even post-1967 Israeli military orders which still apply to Gaza are often different than the ones for the West Bank.
• Most, if not all, Palestinian agencies do not have the resources or mobility to function at their pre-September 2000 levels, including the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), civilian courts and local governments.
• Lawyers and judges responsible for applying both the old and new laws and regulations have widely varying legal backgrounds, and inherited very inadequate libraries, court facilities and case management procedures from the years of Israeli occupation.
• Palestinian civil society organizations have had to carry heavy social service burdens elsewhere usually considered to be the responsibility of governments: they supplement or often supply the only social services many Palestinians receive, including education at all levels, health care, rehabilitation services, environmental safety and agricultural extension.

USAID Responds

USAID's democracy and governance program focuses on providing technical assistance to agencies whose work is fundamental to building a modern democracy that can support a market economy, (such as the PLC and the civilian courts), and technical assistance, capacity building, and grants to CSOs whose aims support the same goals. Some of the CSOs incorporate promotion of democratic values into their work. Others focus almost exclusively on democratic activities, e.g., helping communities stay informed about government policy, or making or changing policies that affect them.

USAID's current work with the PLC has been implemented by Associates in Rural Development, Inc. since September 1999. Now scheduled to end in May 2003, this $8.3 million program has assisted the 88-member PLC and its 300 professional and support staff in developing skills on a wide range of specialized tasks. These tasks include: crafting and reviewing legislation and increasing the interaction of PLC members and their constituents through town meetings and the media. USAID is now planning an assessment of all its West Bank/Gaza legislative assistance programming since 1996, and will be considering future activities with the PLC after getting the assessment results.

The West Bank/Gaza mission has also been pursuing rule of law activities since September 1999. Most of the activities have been undertaken by DPK Consulting of San Francisco. Through January 203, DPK had an $8.84 million contract to increase the capacity of the judiciary and prosecutors in civilian courts to serve the public and improving Palestinian legal education. Through September 2004, DPK has a budget of $3.9 million to expand its work to help judges, courst staff and prosecutors in several additional locations. From September 1999 through May 2002, the Mission also had a $2.07 million cooperative agreement with AMIDEAST of Washington, D.C., to strengthen the Palestinian legal profession.

The centerpiece of USAID's work with Palestinian CSOs is a project called TAMKEEN ("Empowerment"), a $33 million, five-year project implemented by Chemonics International, Inc., that started in 2000. TAMKEEN's overall goal is to increase participation of CSOs in public discourse by supporting Palestinian initiatives to develop transparent, responsible and effective government. It can provide small grants in rapid response to political developments, pay for democratic process activities, and respond to specific civil society program needs identified by the West Bank/Gaza Democracy & Governance team. It can also provide resources for organizations that (1) work directly and exclusively on building democratic knowledge, skill and attitudes, or (2) incorporate democratic process activities into their main missions, which usually involve delivery of services to different sectors of the Palestinian public.

The Mission also provides grants to other organizations, both American and Palestinian, which support democratic activities conducted by CSOs in the West Bank and Gaza.

Results

• Established two pilot courts in Gaza, one in Jenin and one in Ramallah to increase the speed and consistency of case handling, through new case management systems and software.
• Established private centers for alternative dispute resolution of commercial cases in Gaza and Ramallah.
• Increased research capabilities for law faculties and students by establishing computer labs in three Palestinian law schools and provided assistance for all the schools to have direct access to the Al Muqtafi legal databank developed by Birzeit University's Institute of Law.
• Sponsored first conference of Palestinian law professors from all four law schools, with participation of professors from U.S. law schools.