Strengthening Civil Society through Enhancing the Accountability

and Good Governance in the NGO Sector

Introduction

The reform process in Palestine requires a broad collective effort of the institutions of the Palestinian Authority and the civil society, i.e. NGOs and the private sector. Democratisation, pluralism, good governance and the rule of law can most efficiently be strengthened by exerting pressure from the civil society for changes in the practices and procedures of Palestinian politics.

So far, the NGOs’ role has varied according to the political, economic and social situation in Palestine. However, both before and after the establishment of the Palestinian Authority, NGOs have contributed to the strengthening of liberal and human ethics within the Palestinian society.

The Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAF), together with its local Palestinian partner AMAN (Coalition for Accountability and Integrity), is implementing the Nazaha project to strengthen the Palestinian civil society by enhancing accountability and good governance in the NGO sector as part of the European Union’s “Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights”.

The overall goal of the project is the struggle against corruption within Palestinian NGOs and to enable these NGOs to play their monitoring role in order to create a more transparent and a liable public administration in the Palestinian Autonomous Territories.

bjectives:

Strengthening an operational society based on transparency, accountability and integrity, and creating a challenging environment against corruption inside the Palestinian NGOs.

Implementing transparency and accountability standards inside Palestinian NGOs.

Developing the capacities of NGOs in fighting corruption inside the Palestinian community.

Reinforcing the role of Palestinian NGOs in increasing the public awareness against corruption.

Activities:

The focus of Nazaha in cooperation with Palestinian NGOs will be:

Reviewing and evaluating the work of the NGOs, analysing weaknesses and suggesting methods to reinforce such values as integrity, transparency and accountability. This will be serving the following aims:

Compelling the NGOs involved in the project to adopt strict financial and professional standards of integrity, accountability and transparency.

Developing a Code of Conduct which controls the relationship between the NGOs and their reference committees, the local society, the PA and the donors.

Developing and issuing an "NGO certificate" in coordination with the civil sector. This will be granted to the NGOs which consider the Code of Conduct and ensure transparency and accountability in their work.

Presenting suggestions on adjusting the “Charitable and Non-Governmental Organizations Law No. 1” of the year 2000.

Issuing a regular newsletter targeting Palestinian NGOs and those involved in their work in order to raise awareness of the importance of accountability and integrity issues in the NGO sector. In addition, issuing informational material which defines the work of Palestinian NGOs, i.e. their legislative assets, transparency requirements and accountability instruments.

Designing training programmes targeting NGOs with their executive and reference committees (administration and public committees) to introduce the types of corruption that may occur, their motives, outcome and means of fighting it. Further, introducing the different committees to their roles according to the “Charitable and Non-Governmental Organizations Law No. 1” of the year 2000.

Creating the network of “NGOs against Corruption” which coordinates the struggle against corruption inside the Palestinian community in general and the non-governmental sector in particular. This involves activating the civil community role in supervising the public sector. Moreover, this network will be working on modifying the rules of the civil society and reinforcing the values of transparency and accountability.

Nazaha project is implemented by AMAN in cooperation with Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation and funded by the European Commission.