January 23^rd. The University-based Institute of Public Administration organized a workshop titled “Planning for the Newly Introduced Palestinian Municipalities through Societal Participation” in cooperation with the Faculty of Engineering. Attendees included a number of mayors, as well as a representative of the local governance directorate in Nablus.

Dr. Abdel Fattah Al-Shamleh, Director of the Institute of Public Administration, started the workshop by emphasizing the University’s commitment to supporting the local society and contributing to its development and prosperity. He explained that the Palestinian society must take part in the planning process of its municipalities since this enhances the municipalities’ performance and capabilities.

Involving people in the planning process is very important to ensure a clear and steady development of the Palestinian municipalities and the local society alike. Researcher Sami Khalifa presented the results of his scientific study which he conducted on the societal participation in planning for the Palestinian municipalities.

He spoke about the different types of societal participation including announcements regarding planning activities that are taking place. This helps keep people in touch with the latest developmental and planning activities. He also spoke about women’ participation in municipality work which faces several obstacles these days including the weak available infrastructure needed to achieve the best women participation in this respect.

He then presented a model of societal participation in the planning process in which he explained the different stages that this process involves such as the objectives, priorities and analysis of the participating bodies (their expectations and potentials).

The event was concluded by a discussion session in which the mayors presented their own experiences and suggestions. They stressed the importance of the results stated in Khalifa’s study and called upon the Ministry of Local Government to adopt this method and integrate it into its work. By integrating this issue into the planning carried out for the Palestinian municipalities, the Palestinian society will be able to overcome many obstacles in the present as well as the future.

The participants also recommended that the Ministry of Local Government should supervise the societal participation in the planning process, reinforce trust and cooperation between the different parts of the society, overlook any personal interests, stress the priority of public interest, involve experts from different universities and municipalities in the planning process, and hold meetings between all municipalities to discuss progress achieved on the level of municipality planning.