The Review was prepared by the OECD Public Governance Directorate (GOV) under the leadership of Elsa Pilichowski, Director. It was developed under the strategic direction of Martin Forst, Head of the Governance Reviews and Partnerships Division, Miriam Allam, Head of the MENA-OECD Governance Programme, Ms. Sara Fyson, Head of the Public Governance Reviews Unit, Mr. Daniel Trnka, Deputy Head of the Regulatory Policy Division, and Mr. Daniel Gerson, Head of Public Employment and Management Unit.
Jeroen Michels, Simon Callewaert, Ismail Bazine and Alberto Costa (Chapters 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5), Richard Alcorn (Annex A), and Simon Callewaert (Annexes B and C) co-authored the report and were responsible for the data collection and analysis.
The report was co-ordinated by Amira Tlili, Jean-Jacques Hible, Guillaume Biganzoli, Yusuf Ashmawy and Nevin Abdel Rahman. Valuable feedback was provided by Benjamin Welby and Johannes Klein. The authors would like to express their gratitude to Xavier Sisternas and Timo Ligi, Senior Policy Advisors within the SIGMA Programme, for their comments. The local team based in Ramallah, composed of Ra’id Malki, Hanna Sjoberg, Zeina Mabrouk, Nadia Abu Alia, and Muna Khoury provided substantive inputs and feedback in addition to their support in the data collection, translation, and integration of comments received. Ciara Muller with the support of Francesca Romani prepared the manuscript for publication and controlled the quality.
This Review would not have been possible without the significant commitment and support of the Palestinian Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the General Personnel Council (GPC), the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology (MTIT), the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, the Ministry of Social Development, and the Ministry of Education. The authors are particularly thankful to Dr. Estephan Salameh, Advisor to the Prime Minister for Planning and Aid Coordination, Mr. Mahmoud Attaya and Ms. Nida Salameh, for supporting the coordination of the Review and facilitating all exchanges between the OECD and different PA institutions in order to collect and verify data.
The authors also express their gratitude towards the following institutions for completing the OECD Questionnaires administered for the purpose of the Review: the PMO, the GPC, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Transport, the State Audit and Administrative Control Bureau (SAACB), the Official Gazette Bureau (Diwan), the Coalition for Accountability and Integrity (Aman) and the Human Rights and Democracy Media Centre (Shams).
The authors would also like to extend their gratitude to other public institutions who participated in the various capacity-building activities organised as part of the project, which also helped inform the Review, notably the Office of the President, the PMO, the GPC, the Palestinian National School of Administration, the General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, the Official Gazette Bureau, the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, the Administrative and Financial Control Bureau, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Higher Education, the Ministry of Public Works and Housing, the Ministry of National Economy, the Ministry of Telecom and Information Technology, the Ministry of Women Affairs, the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Local Government, the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Labour, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Transport and Communications, the Higher Council for Youth and Sports, the Palestinian Land Authority, the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority, the Palestine Monetary Authority, the Palestinian Water Authority, the Wafa Agency (Palestine News Agency), the Independent Commission of Human Rights (ICHR), the Palestine Trade Center (Paltrade), the Human Rights and Democracy Media Center (Shams), the Institute of Law (Birzeit University).
A number of peers from OECD and other MENA countries participated in the fact-finding missions and capacity-building activities, providing invaluable insights that were integral to the present analysis. The authors wish to warmly thank:
Mr. Jacques Druart, Director General, Federal Public Service for Policy and Support, Belgium
Mr. Hatim Mouradi, Head of Division for Innovation and Modernisation Programs, Ministry of Digital Transition and Administrative Reform, Morocco
Mr. Adam Ostry, former public servant in the Privy Council, Canada
Mr. Oskar Thorslund, Senior Adviser, Division for Public Administration, Ministry of Finance, Sweden
Ms. Maria Oliveira Fernandes, Adviser, Competence Centre for Planning, Policy and Foresight in Public Administration, Portugal
Mr. Alan Plummer, Public Service Transformation Policy Unit, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Ireland
Mr. Arnaud Vajda, Chairman of the Board, Belgian Science Policy Office (BESPO) & Former Head of Human Resources, Ministry of Finance, Belgium
Ms. Mélanie Recour, Mr. Peter Vandenbruaene, Ms. Christine Daems, and Mr. Robby Vanlaer, General Directorate for Recruitment and Development, Federal Office for Strategy and Support (BOSA), Belgium
Mr. Adam Flanagan, HR Business Partner, HR Strategy Unit, Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, Ireland
Ms. Mafalda Santos, Directorate General for administration and public employment, Portugal
The authors would like to thank the European Union for its financial support, which made this Review possible, and the Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank and Gaza Strip, UNRWA), notably Mr. Ibrahim Laafia, Head of Cooperation, Ms. Sirpa Tulla, Head of Section: Macroeconomic Support, Social Development and Institution Building, and Ms. Shereen Abu Eid, Programme Manager for their continuous support.
This Review also builds on the findings of the complementary OECD Review Rule of Law and Governance in the Palestinian Authority: Delivering Better Policies and Legislation for People developed under the “Support the Palestinian Authority to enhance Governance and the Rule of Law” project, funded by the European Commission, led by Mr. Thomas Kirchner, Head of Governance Section, and Ms. Sarah Velud, Programme Manager. The report focused on the initial stages of policymaking with a focus on achieving a more effective, transparent, and participatory policy- and law-making process. This complementary Review looks at later stages of the policy development process, including co-ordination, policy delivery, monitoring, and evaluation.