Ramallah – 6/8/2019 – Over a three-day period, MIFTAH organized a training workshop that targeted a group of women and youth organizations in order to build civil society capacities and to provide them with the knowledge and skills necessary to read and analyze the public budget and actual expenditure reports. Another objective was to provide them with monitoring and social accountability tools for the public budget and to measure the extent of compatibility of budgets, fiscal policies and programs from a gender perspective i. This aim of the workshop was to prompt these organizationsto join the Civil Society Team on Public Budget Transparency lead by AMAN coalition, which periodically monitors the financial performance of the government, follows government spending and organize public hearing sessions with the Ministry of Finance on an annual basis to held the ministry of Finance accountable to issues pertaining to the public budget and the government’s fiscal policies, based on governmental financial reports and data.
Participant comments
Mohammed Sabri Al Biss, Director of the Social Development Department at the Health Work Committees said, “I was never very interested in the idea of training before, mostly because it is not my field of expertise. However, after I participated in this training, many things are now clearer for me about the public budget. I am able to calculate the various expenditures of the state’s public budget and its details for example. I can now also analyze certain things pertaining to the current economic situation and where things are headed,” he said.
“I also think this training was important in terms of lobbying and advocacy for certain campaigns that target some of the sectors we are concerned with like health ,education, youth, women and social affairs within the context of the public budget.”
Another participant, Ahlam Abdel Karim Zubeidi, financial director at the General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW) said, “It was very important to me since this is my field of study. I acquired a lot of skills in terms of budget preparation, expenditures and inflated sums allocated to some provisions in the budget.” She went on to say that, “If I were asked to prepare the GUPW’s budget, I could do it right now, something that was not possible before this training.” Zubeidi said she hoped more trainings would be held, which focus on other practical aspects to help strengthen their skills and expertise. “Most work in local institutions is typical and unspecialized and lacks creativity. This is why MIFTAH’s training and hopefully its continuation in the future is extremely important.”
MIFTAH consultant on budget affairs, Muayyad Afana who also supervised the training said, “The training workshop was important in that it gave women and youth organizations the skills for better understanding the public budget, whether in regards to its terminology or the economic, social and legal framework. This will better equip them to read budget numbers and expenditure indicators in Palestine and to analyze actual expenditures, especially for the social sector. In light of the dissolved PLC, the need for civil oversight over public spending arose, given its importance to every Palestinian. That is why we are trying to bolster the skills and expertise ofcivil society organizations so they have the ability to read the budget and therefore promote the concept of social accountability. “
Afana continued that the participants in the workshop represent the women and youth sectors in Palestine. He said these two sectors traditionally suffer from marginalization in terms of the public budget, which therefore made it necessary for them to participate in this training to “acquire the skills and expertise they don’t get at university and to mobilize their lobbying and advocay efforts towards calling for social justice in government spending..”
Meanwhile, MIFTAH project coordinator Hassan Mahareeq said the training workshop was part of the organization’s OXFAM-funded project “Finance for Development”, through which MIFTAH seeks the adoption of international transparency standards and the sustainability of interventions pertaining to the promotion of transparency for the public budget in Palestine as one pillar of good governance. This, he said, was through recruiting support and networking between civil society organizations, represented by the Civil Society Team on Public Budget Transparency. Mahareeq also said MIFTAH wanted to expand the Civil Society Team base through providing it with organizations with oversight and accountability tools, which are capable of monitoring the needs of the social sectors they represent, including youth and women. This is in order to identify their needs and guarantee their integration in public policies which would contribute to fulfilling their aspirations in exercising their citizenship and monitoring role over the management of public funds through social justice criteria.
استهدفت عاملين في مؤسسات نسوية وشبابية 'مفتاح' تختتم ورشة تدريبية في قضايا الموازنة العامة وتحليلها
تاريخ النشر: 07/08/2019
بقلم: مفتاح
ماذا يقول المشاركون في التدريب؟
محمد صبري البس، نائب مدير دائرة التنمية الاجتماعية في لجان العمل الصحي، وأحد المشاركين في الورشة التدريبية، قال: " لم يكن موضوع التدريب قبل مشاركتي في هذه الورشة ملفتاً أو مهماً بالنسبة لي كونه لم يكن في مجال اختصاصي. لكن بعد مشاركتي في أيام التدريب تلك، بدأت كثير من الأمور تتضح لي وهي ذات أهمية وتتعلق بالموازنة العامة وتفسير بعض جوانبها، وبالتالي أصبحت أمور الموازنة العامة إحدى القضايا المهمة جداً بالنسبة لي، حيث صار بإمكاني أن أحسب أوجه إنفاق الموازنة العامة للدولة وماهية تفاصيلها، وبت أكثر قدرة على تحليل بعض الأمور المتعلقة بحيثيات القضايا ذات الصلة بالوضع الاقتصادي الحالي وإلى أين تتجه أموره".
أضاف:" أرى أيضاً أن هذا التدريب مهم جداً في إطار تجنيد بعض القضايا المتعلقة بالضغط والمناصرة في إطار حملات معينة تستهدف بعض القطاعات التي تهمنا كقطاعات الصحة، التعليم، الشباب، المرأة، والشؤون الاجتماعية، والعمل ضمن مجموعات شبابية لأوضح لهم كيفية تعزيز عمل الدائرة التي نعمل بها في سياق الموازنة العامة".
مشاركة أخرى في التدريب، هي أحلام عبد الكريم زبيدي، المدير المالي في الاتحاد العام للمرأة الفلسطينية، علّقت على مشاركتها في التدريب بقولها:" بالنسبة لي كان التدريب مهماً كونه يندرج في مجال تخصصي الدراسي، حيث أضاف لي مهارات عديدة في مجال إعداد الموازنة وشرحها وأوجه الإنفاق، وضخامة المبالغ التي ترصد لبعض بنود الموازنة". أضافت:" الآن، لو طلب مني إعداد موازنة لمؤسستي لقمت بذلك في الحال، وهذا لم يكن ممكناً قبل التدريب. وفي رأيي يجب استكمال هذا التدريب بتدريبات أخرى إضافية تركز بالمزيد على الجانب التنفيذي العملي ما يعزز من خبراتنا ومهاراتنا، علماً بأن مجمل العمل في مؤسساتنا المحلية نمطيّ غير متخصص، ويفتقر للإبداع، لكن التدريب الذي وفّرته لنا "مفتاح" واستمراريته مستقبلاً أمر على غاية من الأهمية، ويجب أن يتبعه خطوات أخرى لاحقة".
أما مؤيد عفانة، مستشار "مفتاح" لشؤون الموازنات، والذي أشرف على تنفيذ التدريب، فقال:" تكمن أهمية الورشة التدريبية هذه في أنها أكسبت المؤسسات النسوية والشبابية المشاركة مهارات في الإطار المفاهيمي للموازنة العامة، سواء كانت متعلقة بالمصطلحات أو الإطار الاقتصادي والاجتماعي أو القانوني من أجل إكسابهم القدرة على قراءة أرقام الموازنة، ومؤشرات الإنفاق في فلسطين، وعلى تحليل الإنفاق الفعلي خاصة على القطاع الاجتماعي. وتبعا لغياب المجلس التشريعي وتعطله، فقد كان هناك ضرورة بوجود رقابة مدنية على الإنفاق العام، كون هذا الإنفاق مهم للكل الفلسطيني، لذا نحن نعزز خبرات ومهارات المؤسسات الموجودة من أجل أن تمتلك القدرة على قراءة الموازنة، ما يعزز مفهوم المساءلة المجتمعية".
ولفت عفانة، إلى أن المشاركين في التدريب يمثلون القطاع النسائي والشبابي في فلسطين، ويعملون في مؤسسات نسائية وشبابية فاعلة، وهذان القطاعان يعانيان بالأصل من التهميش من حيث الحضور في الموازنة العامة، وبالتالي كان ضرورياً أن يشارك هؤلاء في أيام التدريب التي نظمتها "مفتاح" مشكورة – ليكتسبوا مهارات وخبرات لا توفرها لهم الجامعات".
بدوره، قال حسن محاريق، منسق مشاريع في "مفتاح"، أن هذه الورشة التدريبية تأتي في إطار مشروع "التمويل من أجل التنمية" الممول من "اوكسفام"، حيث تسعى "مفتاح" إلى المساهمة في تبني معايير الشفافية الدولية واستدامة تدخلاتها المتعلقة في تعزيز شفافية الموازنة العامة في فلسطين كأحد مرتكزات الحكم الصالح، من خلال تجنيد الدعم والتشبيك بين منظمات المجتمع المدني والمتمثلة بالفريق الأهلي لدعم شفافية الموازنة، فيما تود "مفتاح" المُضي في توسيع قاعدة الفريق الأهلي من خلال رفده بمؤسسات ممكنة بأدوات الرقابة والمساءلة، وقادرة على رصد احتياج الفئات المجتمعية التي تمثلها، ومنها الشباب والنساء بغية تحديد احتياجاتهم وضمان دمجها في السياسات الوطنية ما يساهم في تلبية طموحهم في ممارسة مواطنتهم ودورهم الرقابي على إدارة المال العام.
MIFTAH releases 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social and security sectors, including social justice and gender indicators
Date posted: April 04, 2023
By MIFTAH
MIFTAH recently released 2021-2022 comparative actual spending reports for the social sector (health, education, higher education and scientific research, social development and labor), and for the first time, the security sector (Ministry of Interior and National Security). The reports were based on annual financial data released by the Ministry of Finance in Palestine for 2021-2022 and on an accrual basis.
The data showed that the Ministry of Interior and National Security had the highest percentage of actual spending in 2022, accounting for 22.8% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.68 billion. This was a slight increase from the Ministry’s share in 2021. Meanwhile, actual spending on the education sector (Ministry of Education, Higher Education and Scientific Research) stood at 21.5% of overall public expenditures, or ILS3.48 billion. This was also an increase from the education sector’s share in 2021, which was 20.6% of public expenditures.
Moreover, actual spending on the Ministry of Health also increased in 2022, comprising 15% of overall public expenditures, at a sum of ILS2.4 billion. This was higher than in 2021, where its share was 14.4%. As for the Ministry of Social Development, actual spending was still low, amounting for 6.2% of overall public expenditures in 2022, compared to 5.8% in 2021. The Ministry of Social Development’s actual spending in 2022 was approximately ILS1 billion. As for the labor sector, actual spending on this sector in 2022 was 0.31% of overall public expenditures, while in 2021 it was 0.28%. Actual spending on the labor sector in 2022 was ILS50.1 million.
Upon review of actual spending reports of the targeted ministries from a gender and social justice perspective, it is clear that actual spending on the Ministry of Social Development does not coincide with the scope of its responsibilities as the forerunner of the social sector in Palestine, including its programs for combatting poverty and the protection of poor and marginalized social sectors. Moreover, non-compliance to the disbursement of payments for poor families within the CTP continued according to estimates, whereby only two of four installments for 2022 were disbursed, one at minimum value. This adversely affected the financial security of the most underprivileged and marginalized sectors of society, in addition to the insufficient estimated budget and actual spending on the social protection program, in spite of its importance in providing protection and social services to battered women, children, special-needs persons and the elderly.
The data also pointed to the low percentage of women working in the security sector, which stood at 6% of the total number of workers in this sector, while they comprised 46% of the civil sector. This shows a gap in actual spending on the security sector from a gender perspective, given that the lion’s share of actual spending in 2022 was on salaries and wages. Hence, women only benefited very little from these allocations, which were nearly ILS2.9 billion in 2022.
The data also indicated that the development expenditures for the Ministry of Labor were only ILS4.5 million in 2022, even though planned development expenditures were ILS32 million, which is much higher. This casts a shadow on gender-related programs and projects, which were allotted sizeable budgets within development expenditures, such as creating sustainable opportunities as alternatives for Palestinian men and women working in settlements, for which ILS10 million were earmarked.
Even though there was an increase in actual spending in 2022 at the targeted ministries in general, this increase was mainly concentrated on salaries and wages. In spite of the importance of providing a decent life for employees, there is still a need to increase spending on development expenditures, since they are at the forefront of developing government services, including the nationalization and institutionalization of various social services.
MIFTAH concludes town hall meetings on political participation and citizens’ rights for women and youth
Date posted: January 09, 2023
By MIFTAH
Ramallah – 29/12/2022 – Within its efforts to promote democratic values and the peaceful transfer of power within the Palestinian government system, MIFTAH’s field advisory team completed over 100 town hall meetings in the second half of 2022. The meetings were held in coordination and cooperation with CSOs, LGUs and grassroots organizations and targeted women and youth in several West Bank and Gaza Strip districts. The objective of these meetings was to raise awareness among the electorate on the electoral system in Palestine and on civil society demands to increase women and youth participation in local and general elections as candidates and voters, on the premise that this boosts their presence in decision-making levels and involves them in public affairs.
The town hall meetings included several exchange visits between LGU members in the various districts. The women shared the experiences and challenges they faced after becoming council members. The meetings focused on the concept of citizenship within a broader definition of the various forms of political participation and the importance of involvement from youth and women in public life. They also pointed to the different forms of democracy and the main pillars of the democratic society Palestinians seek to create. The participants furthermore discussed the various forms of electoral systems and shed light on the gaps in electoral laws regarding the presence of women and youth.
The participants pointed to the importance of periodic legislative and presidential elections and the danger of the ongoing absence of the PLC on matters pertaining to civic peace. They also warned against the absence of oversight and accountability, maintaining that the defunct PLC has contributed to shrinking civic space and public freedoms and therefore, the ability or desire to become involved in political life, especially for women and youth. In most of the meetings, the participants also indicated that the absence of a regular democratic process in Palestine contributed to the overall exclusion of youth from participation and to the marginalization of the role of women in Palestinian political decision-making.
The town hall meetings stressed on the importance of pressing for legislative, presidential and local elections in all West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza Strip districts. They also endorsed the demand for equality in electoral laws, starting with raising the women’s quota to a minimum of 30%, raising the candidacy age and lowering the threshold. They urged Palestinian factions to assume a key role in the process of inclusion for women and youth in the public sphere and to prevent the progression of tribalism in the democratic process. The attendees emphasized the importance of monitoring the performance of LGUs in their interaction with local communities and the consistency of their meetings. Finally, they said female council members must be given the opportunity to exercise their role in their respective councils as equals to their male counterparts.
MIFTAH holds town hall meetings on an annual basis as part of its awareness campaign on citizens’ rights and the promotion of the democratic approach for a peaceful transfer of power, in addition to the involvement of women and youth in elections as both candidates and voters. Each year, through these town hall meetings, MIFTAH aims to reach the widest possible segment of the electorate and the different social sectors in all parts of Palestine.
MIFTAH completes training workshop in the Gaza Strip on family protection and advocacy
Date posted: January 05, 2023
By MIFTAH
Gaza – 2/1/2023 – MIFTAH recently completed a training workshop on measures and regulations on family protection in the Gaza Strip. The workshop was part of MIFTAH’s strategic objectives to prioritize family issues in communities and to support local institutions in increasing awareness on citizenship and constitutional rights for Palestinian women and on combatting all forms of GBV and discrimination in Palestinian society.
The workshop’s objectives included providing institutions with important information on the legislations, laws and measures for family protection in effect in the Gaza Strip, in a bid to enhance the oversight role of CSOs in holding accountable official parties responsible for enforcing these measures and legislations. The training also included offering institutions the necessary mechanisms for managing digital and media campaigns to press for the ratification of laws and legislation that protect women’s rights.
The discussions focused on a number of points, including legal (including sharia law) rebuttals to claims from parties opposing legislation, including the Family Protection Law. They also discussed how applicable this law would be in the Gaza Strip once ratified by the President.
The participants unanimously agreed that they supported adoption of the law, giving no credence to the claims of more extreme elements in Gaza on the Family Protection Law. They called on MIFTAH to hold general, open meetings with the public to introduce them to the law and its importance, so that they could defend themselves from the extremist discourse surrounding it.
Opinions and impressions
One of the participants, Latifa Shatat, said such training workshops were crucial for every Palestinian, male and female. “It is great we are pressing for protection laws such as the Family Protection Bill. This law will have tremendous impact on society as a whole. I can say from experience as a social and mental health worker that protection is the most important element in our work, especially in cases involving women and children, who are the most vulnerable social sectors. I commend MIFTAH and anyone who participates in spreading a culture of nonviolence, protection, justice and equality.”
Meanwhile, Haifa Al Araj said the training offered important details about the Family Protection Law and also ways of conducting initiatives and activities that could produce positive results in mobilizing support it.
Another participant, Hatem Abu Ta’a, said the training was a new starting point for him as an institution director in terms of integrating the demand to implement the Family Protection Law in all advocacy and lobbying activities and programs. He said he became more aware of the impediments to the law’s implementation at the official and social level, saying, “This training reminds us to renew our calls to demand implementation and ratification of the law at the official level.”
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Abu Rabee said ratification of the Family Protection Law would be a huge step, for women and children especially. “This law will amplify women’s voices and their ability to access help with stronger and more supportive centers throughout the homeland. As a strong supporter of this bill, I want to stress on the importance of civil society institutions explaining the clauses in the bill pertaining to CEDAW and to also focus on working with parties that oppose the law in particular.”
The training workshop is part of MIFTAH’s “Policy dialogue and Good Governance” Program, which aims at influencing public policies and legislation in favor of protection for citizens’ rights in Palestinian society, based on the principles of social justice and respect for human rights.
