Gaza – At the Khan Yunis Municipality building, the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (AMAN) launched a research study, titled Examining the Integrity System at the Khan Yunis Local Government Unit: A Case Study. The study diagnoses and presents, as a case study, the environment of integrity at the Khan Yunis Municipality in the first half of 2018. It evaluates how compliant the municipality was with the principles of transparency in service delivery processes and mechanisms. It assesses how much the municipality officials and staff were aware of, and implemented, a set of integrity values. It also evaluates the effectiveness of accountability systems, including the accountability exercised by community stakeholders in relation to the services provided by the Khan Yunis Municipality. The event brought together representatives of the Khan Yunis municipality, including current and former mayors as well as all directors of municipality sections and departments.
The findings of the study affirm that the Khan Yunis Municipality has made remarkable progress in its response to some evaluation indicators of the environment of integrity with respect to staff performance. In addition to a conflict of interest document, the municipality has adopted a code of professional conduct for both members and staff. It has upgraded the municipality’s organisational structure and put into operation a computerised system based on a set of evaluation criteria and indicators. Informed by a participatory approach, the municipality’s vision and mission were developed jointly the target audiences. This was reflected in the compilation of the Khan Yunis Municipality Development Strategic Plan 2018-2021.
On the Other hand, the study identifies some shortfalls, which the Khan Yunis Municipality needs to resolve in order to create an enabling environment to promote the concepts of integrity, transparency and accountability. In addition to developing a procedure manual for promotions, community advice and communication programmes should be invigorated. A process will be initiated to sensitise service providers of anti-corruption mechanisms and of the measures the municipality implements in this area. Further meetings need to be held with the local community. In line with the principle of community accountability, the municipality will disseminate administrative, financial and achievement reports to citizens and their representatives. The study also recommends that a focused procedure manual be developed to address cases of corruption and protect whistle-blowers as determined by competent authorities that investigate cases of corruption. Based on the study recommendations, a plan of action should be developed, focusing on community accountability and contributing to strengthening citizens’ confidence and participation in setting their own priorities.
It is worth noting that this research paper is one in a series of focused studies to test the integrity system at Palestinian local government units through AMAN’s Monitoring and Studies Unit. This activity is designed to provide a global standard guide to measuring integrity and developing anti-corruption mechanisms and processes on the level of local government units.
