On July 6^th, the Conference on Development Challenges for Local Government in Palestine which was organized at An-Najah National University under the auspices of the University President, Prof. Rami Hamdallah and His Excellency Dr. Khaled Al-Qawasmi, the Palestinian Minister of Local Government, and in sponsorship from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) / Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People (PAPP) was successfully concluded.

Attendees to the Conference included: Mr. Frode Mauring, Special Representative of the Administrator at the UNDP, Dr. Abdel Fattah Shamleh, the Conference Coordinator, in addition to a number of Mayors and representatives of village councils in Palestine.

At the beginning of the conference, Dr. Shamleh welcomed the attendants and valued their interest in participating in the event. He also presented a brief introduction about the event, its goals and subjects.

Following that, Prof. Hamdallah delivered a speech in which he welcomed the participants and said: “The transformation that the Palestinian territories are experiencing in light of the work that the Palestinian National Authority carries out means that every one has to work seriously and assume responsibility especially in this particular stage. Since the arrival of the Palestinian National Authority the concern with local government emerged as being one of the major aspects of independence.”

“Challenges and obstacles must be identified in order to be correctly treated so as to ensure the effectiveness of the local institutions within the elements of the national strategy which has among its main goals the concept of decentralization. Decentralization grants local bodies and institutions the authorities and powers to help develop these institutions in a way that would ensure the overcoming of challenges”. Prof. Hamdallah explained.

Prof. Hamdallah also pointed out that the ideas presented to develop the potential of local government in Palestine must be discussed collectively through the participation of all the bodies which would help in developing new strategic alternatives that are stronger and more effective to achieve the desired goals. He also said that what is expected from the conference is to offer a detailed description of the actual challenges and suggest the necessary procedures to face them.

He also said that local bodies are working on achieve the goals of development in the different political, economical and human fields since this development is the Palestinians only way to get rid of their dependence on the Israeli economy. It is important to establish a professional cooperation network and to build institutionalized relationships between the different local academic, economical and social institutions providing that these relationships are built based on public interest.

Dr. Al-Qawasmi spoke about the history and establishment of the local bodies in Palestine and the role they have been taking ever since. He explained that local bodies are considered the main source of services for the Palestinians and said that municipalities have played a major role in the country.

He also spoke about the challenges and difficulties that local government in Palestine face these days and the substantial achievements this sector has made over the last three years. Moreover, he described the problems that face the Palestinian municipalities and village councils including the financial ones; he explained that the Government has formed a committee that consisted of members in the Ministry of Local Government and the Ministry of Finance as well as the Municipalities Fund in order to track the issues related to the work of local bodies in the country.

Furthermore, the Minister described the Ministry’s plan for the year 2010-2014 which is based on a set of principles including the reinforcement of the organizational structure of municipalities, reinforcing administrative system, improving work and societal involvement, enhance partnership between municipalities and he private sector, as well as development in a number of fields.

Mr. Mauring delivered a speech in which he spoke about the UNDP’s support of this conference and hoped that it would shed light on the challenges that face local government in Palestine. He said that the UNDP / PAPP work with governance is guided by the principle that “good governance and the rule of law at the national and international levels are essential for sustained economic growth, sustainable development and human development”.

“In practice that means ensuring that people have a say in the decisions that affect their lives; that state institutions like the judiciary and police force are capable of responding to people’s needs; and that international standards on anti-corruption, human rights and gender equality are met at the national level.” Mr. Mauring stated.

Moreover, Mr. Mauring said that the UNDP / PAPP have worked with governance in Palestine since the programme was established by the United Nations General Assembly in 1978. He also explained that demand for UNDP’s democratic governance expertise has shifted over the years from a focus on election assistance to include other things such as: support for areas such as public administration reform, anti-corruption and transparency initiatives, access to justice and rule of law, civic engagement and inclusive participation, decentralization and local governance.

The conference also consisted of a number of discussion sessions that focused on a number of topics including: Administration and Organization, Financial Resources, the Legal Area, Infrastructure and Architecture of Local Bodies, as well as External Challenges. The participants presented work papers about these different topics through dividing them into different working groups through which speakers discussed the related subjects.