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Birzeit University. Human Development Programme. Ramallah: 1997.

Main Theme

Successful planning for the interim stage and its management, and guiding performance to serve the Palestinian people effectively, called for a development policy that could operate under the restrictions of the current stage while maintaining ongoing efforts towards the establishment of the Palestinian state. Such a policy required a close observation of conditions on the ground, careful collection of data on various aspects of life, and in-depth and diligent analysis of the information gathered. It also required knowledge about the performance of Palestinian society before the establishment of the PNA, its performance under the PNA, the performance of the PNA itself, and the impact of external factors on overall performance of all actors.

The Palestine Profile was divided into three main sections, and a fourth section that included the appendices. It monitored and evaluated the state of human development in Palestine and the factors impacting it, whether positively or negatively, and provided an analysis of political, social, health and economic conditions of the Palestinian people.

Importance of the Palestine Human Development Profile

The importance of the Palestine Human Development Profile lies in the fact that it is the first report published on human development in Palestine. Due to the absence of the conditions necessary for the production of a Palestine report on human development (political and social stability, availability of credible data), it was decided that a development profile be issued as a prelude to the production of a development report, as is the case in other countries in the world. The Palestine Profile gives a clear idea about the nature of existing problems and helps local and international (governmental and non-governmental) development institutions in their efforts to streamline the development process. It also provides a comparable basis for development achieved in Palestinian society with development achieved in other societies around the world. It highlights certain issues and problems that require more extensive study in the future.

The Palestine Profile presents concepts, visions and tools to enrich development issues in a process conducive to constructive dialogue, and serves political decision-makers, development experts, academics, researchers and institutions in streamlining decisions on development issues, in fostering the concept of human development, adapting it and applying it in Palestine.

Content

Part I: Addresses population issues and the development environment in Palestine. It examines development initiatives prior to the establishment of the PNA, and external influences on them. This part is divided into two chapters: Chapter 1 provides a theoretical and methodological background on the concept of human development, the human development index (HDI), the Palestine Human Development Profile, research problems, the concept of development in Palestine, de-development, measurement of human development in Palestine and the methodology of preparing the profile. Chapter 2 discusses the development environment in Palestine, including population, natural resources, development initiatives in Palestine, PNA jurisdiction under the Declaration of Principles (the Oslo Agreement), challenges of the transitional stage and, lastly, the establishment of a Palestinian development perspective.

Part II: This part addresses human development indicators in Palestine by focusing on its three main indicators (income, educational attainment, and life expectancy at birth), with its material and human components represented by the development environment, population, civil and political liberties, popular participation and other components. This part is divided into four chapters: Chapter 1 discusses human development indicators in Palestine, and covers economic dependency, employment and labour, economic sectors, income and poverty. Chapter 2 covers education indicators, including kindergartens, formal schooling, students, teachers, infrastructure, curriculum and teaching methods and post-secondary education. Chapter 3 covers health indicators, including the state of health and the health apparatus. Chapter 4 covers complementary indicators, including structural indicators, human indicators and a set of vital issues.

Part III: Discusses the near future under current conditions, and presents analyses, conclusions and recommendations. This part is divided into two chapters: Chapter 1 addresses factors for an independent development climate, institution-building, legislative, judicial and executive authorities, administrative institutionalization and training. Chapter 2 provides a future perspective of human development indicators, including HDI other indicators, originality and research development and general observations.

Part IV: This last part provides a number of appendices including statistics and definitions of terms, as additional data to enrich research work and to be of assistance to those seeking further clarifications.

Methodology

The production of the Profile depended on two inter-related tracks. The first was the research track: the collection and analysis of the data, relying mainly on the statistics produced by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), and other sources of data. The team also relied on the data provided by the researchers commissioned by the project to prepare papers on relevant topics.

The second track involved the collection of official, non-governmental and individual opinions. The research team depended on community participation through the media, interviews, seminars, and the exchange of views with a broad diversity of social groups.