Overview:

The JP sought to reduce all forms of gender based violence, help increase representation of women in decision making bodies and advance equal opportunities for women’s economic participation.

Under Outcome 1 the JP supported the draft of the National  Strategy to Combat Violence Against Women (VAW), the first ever enacted Strategy in the history of oPt, which was endorsed by the Palestinian Ministers Cabinet in January 2011. The action-oriented research on VAW contributed to the rolling out of the action plans for the National Strategy to Combat VAW. Although human and financial sources for implementation still need to be identified, the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has committed to addressing the budgeting needs during the development of the upcoming Palestinian National Development Plan 2014 – 2016 and is expected to be incorporated into the oPt United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) 2014 – 2016.               

Another tangible result of the JP actions is the plan of Sharia court judges and lawyers to establish a Bar Association of Sharia Lawyers and Judges, the first ever to be established in oPt, for which Sharia law has to be equated with that of the civil court and operationally, the verdicts from the Sharia courts to be transferred to the civil courts. Training of sharia court judges initiated a dialogue forum within the Sharia Court administration as well as within the trials/cases. 

The establishment of the Hayat multipurpose center (shelter) in Gaza was the first physical structure for the protection of women addressing gender based violence (GBV) forcing the government to address GBV and VAW issues for the very first time at the national/ policy level. 

The capacity development interventions carried out under Outcome 2 were of a holistic nature (modular training course, development of procedural manual on how to hold meetings, incentivizing meetings into which women local council members were involved etc.). Together with the establishment of the National Committee for Women’s Employment (NCWE), amount to sustainable mechanism to support continued change in women representation in the economic and political life of Occupied Palestinian territories (oPt). 

Outcome 3 included interventions such as women only cooperatives, training of young women engineers, support to women’s startup businesses and entrepreneurial skills development. These interventions contributed to increased understanding of labour standards laying solid ground for gender-sensitive reform of the labour law. They also contributed to creating employment opportunities. 

The Participatory Gender Audits have directly contributed to raising awareness on gender issues and identifying key gender gaps within the government institutions, civil society organizations and the private sector and have subsequently resulted in development of action plans to address such gaps.

Outcome 1:

Reducing gender-based violence and all forms of violence against women and the girls.

Outcome Achievements:

• Several national institutions and UN agencies collaborated to strengthen institutionalization of research and knowledge based systems on GBV and VAW at the central level with the aim to provide policy makers with more evidence based data on how to reduce GBV and VAW.
• Draft of the National  Strategy to Combat VAW which was endorsed by the Palestinian Ministers Cabinet.
• Training courses for judges, lawyers, prosecutors and 4^th year students in the Faculty of Law at the Birzeit University initiated a shift in attitudes.
• The action-oriented research on VAW contributed to the rolling out of the action plans for the National Strategy to Combat VAW.
• Training gender advocates at the central level in research and data analysis on GBV and VAW and how to link it with the development of policies and action plans.
• Support to women organizations in Gaza and West Bank on networking, and development of an action plan to influence decision makers.
• Training for 150 health providers in the Emergency Units, Primary Health Care, and District Clinics on improved provision of assistance to victims of GBV.
• The establishment of the Hayat multipurpose center (shelter) in Gaza, a breakthrough in the Gazan society, forcing the government to address GBV and VAW issues for the very first time at the national/ policy level.
• Support and upgrade of the helpline services offered by  a CSO, which provides 24 hour services to victims of violence through technical expertise, capacity building, new technology, database management and training of volunteers.
• Awareness raising for 1,500 children, 120 initiative coordinators and 500 parents on violence as well as providing them with conflict resolution skills and alternatives to violence.
• Training provided to 80 Ministry of Social Affairs counselors and 20 disadvantaged youth seeking to strengthen the departments of Vocational Training and Education.

Outcome 2:

Increasing the representation of women and women’s issues in decision-making bodies.

Outcome Achievements:

• Establishment of a multi-sectoral, multi-partner, National Committee for Women’s Employment (NCWE), established in February 2010 as an advisory body to the Ministry of Labor after being endorsed by the Cabinet.
• 300 members of the local councils in 15 districts have been trained on Gender mainstreaming (concepts, district planning, and law) as well as Gender Responsive Budgeting, etc.
• The project “Women Political Participation: Right not Privilege”aimed at achieving its goals of improvement and social transformation by following three important strategies: 1. Awareness to the public; 2.Improving capacity building for organizations and youth groups; and 3. Lobbying and advocacy.
• A three-day training workshop on Gender and Elections for 20 Palestinian women participants, taught by two accredited BRIDGE trainers.

Outcome 3:

Advancing equal opportunities for women’s economic participation.

Outcome Achievements:

• Extensive capacity development interventions in the form of training courses for Ministry of Labor (MoL), the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU) and the Federation of Palestinian Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (FPCCIA) staff members on gender equality in the workplace, decent work, international labor standards and GBV as well as on how to do a gender review of all existing laws and policies that impede women’s labor force participation.
• The Participatory Gender Audit (PGA) has been an important tool that was conducted within several institutions such as the MoL, PGFTU, FPCCIA and the  Ministry of Economics to promote organizational learning on how to practically and effectively mainstream gender.
• A situation and institutional assessment on “Mainstreaming Gender Equality concerns in Palestinian cooperatives” was conducted in 2009.
• Around 700 cooperatives (women as well as mixed cooperatives) were established in the West Bank.
• Skills development training program for 44 unemployed women engineers in Gaza was developed. At least 11 out of 44 (25%) women engineers managed to secure jobs at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the construction sector.
• The Young Women Gain Employable Skills in Photography course enabled 17 young and unemployed young women (mainly from the refugee camps and rural areas) to acquire skills training on photography. This course responded to the lack of female photographers in the local market and hence, was a demand driven initiative.
• The Gender and Entrepreneurship Together initiative (GET Ahead) supported the training of 291 women from the projects conducted by ASALA and UNRWA. 24 micro enterprises were established.

Best practices:

• The delivery of training courses for judges, lawyers, prosecutors and forth year students in Ramallah initiated a shift in attitudes. Many participants reported that the concept of gender as a fundamental principle of human rights broke taboos in their mindset. In particular, female and male sharia court judges expressed their deep appreciation for this training, which according to them initiated a dialogue forum within the Sharia Court administration as well as within the trials/cases. 
• Although the shelter was not fully operational at the end of the JP, it was nevertheless the first physical structure that addresses gender based violence within an integrated, human rights-based approach, and promotes prevention, while promoting a culture of gender-sensitive, violence-free family relations as well as the protection and empowerment of women, girls and children victims and survivors of violence.
• Development of the Violence Against Women (VAW) Strategy, which was enacted in January 2011 by the Ministers Cabinet.
• The implementation of the VAW Strategy through the line ministries by developing action plans.
• The draft of the Cross- Sectoral National Strategy on Gender (CSNSG) 2011-2013, the very first in its kind advocating to mainstream gender across all sectors in oPt.
• The development of the Media and Advocacy Strategy on GEWE issues for the very first time in oPt.
• The institutionalization of the national Gender Machinery towards the end of the JP by means of establishing a Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) Unit within the Ministry of Women Affairs (MoWA), in charge of developing and monitoring national gender indicators in close cooperation with the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) and the Development Assistance and Reform Platform (DARP) of the Ministry of Planning and Administrative Development (MoPAD).
• The publication of the most gender sensitive “violence survey” the PCBS has ever published through capacity development interventions by the JP, hence enabling policy-makers to address violence cases in a much more targeted and comprehensive way.
• The establishment of the National Committee on Women´s Employment (NCWE) as an advisory body to the Ministry of Labour in partnership with representatives from government institutions, worker unions, employers, and civil society organizations.
• The JP allowed UN agencies to develop more holistic interventions in the field of GBV, VAW and GEWE. It also increased the organizations’ technical expertise to mainstream gender within their programmatic areas. UNRWA, for instance, adopted GEWE, GBV and VAW within its programmatic areas for the very first time in oPt.

Lessons learned:

• According to the Union of Cooperative Associations for Saving and Credit (UCASC), which took over the capacity building training programme of women cooperatives only in the middle of JP implementation and which is an umbrella organization of all women´s cooperatives, the women cooperatives were more beneficial than the mixed ones, as women were more empowered, confident and capable in these. 
• The lack of an M&E Unit within MoWA from the outset of the programme has prevented gender equity goals being fully monitored and adequately assessing the JP’s achievements/ progress. 
• The non-functioning of the PLC has meant that it has not been possible to take forward gender issues in national planning cycles, including budgets and loan instruments. 

More details can be found in the documents below.