Palestinian Territory

The Palestinian Territory is the fourth recipient of the Belgian Development Cooperation. The Palestinian Authority and Belgium work together to reduce poverty and to build a more sustainable and fair society.

WHAT WE DO

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Since 1997, Belgium has been supporting the development activities and emergency interventions in the Palestinian Territory. Education and local governance are the two primary sectors. Furthermore, we also implement different projects for the European Union.

Education

The Palestinian Authority has established an Education Development Strategic Plan to improve the quality of education. Belgium supports different components of this plan.

We improve infrastructure and create a healthy and safe educational environment. We advise on foundational reforms and new policies in education. Through capacity building of teachers and Ministry staff, we try to improve the quality and labour market relevance of technical and vocational education and training. We also facilitate internships and develop entrepreneurship programmes through partnerships with private companies. We intervene in the West bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

Local Governance

The Palestinian Authority is reforming the local government system in order to strengthen administration and to improve service delivery to citizens and local development.

We support the decentralisation efforts by strengthening the smaller local government units to become more effective. In addition, Belgium contributes to a joint donor-funded Municipal Development Programme and to the economic regeneration of local historical centres.

EU projects

We implement various projects funded by the European Union, of which the most important one focuses on the creation of Business Incubators to support small and medium enterprises. These projects are complementing the programmes funded by Belgium and aspire to support the economic development of the Palestinian Territory.

Stories

Palestinian education threatened in East Jerusalem -- Ahmed is one of the 85,000 pupils in East Jerusalem. Because of the occupation and the unclear statute of Jerusalem, some 200 schools face major problems. There is a lack of money, teachers and...