ILO's Role in Palestinian Social Development: Employment & Social Security, Essays (high school) of Economics

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The Palestinian Decent Work Programme

July 2017

DRAFT

Contents

ACRONYMS ............................................................................................................................................................

FOREWORD.............................................................................................................................................................

1. INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................

2. COUNTRY CONTEXT: DIAGNOSTIC AND SITUATION ANALYSIS .......................................................

2.1 Situation Analysis and Socio-Economic and Political context....................................................................... a) Political context…………………………………………………………………………………….......…. b) Economic Context………………………………………………………………………………………….

c) Labour Market situation…………………………………………………………………………………... d) Tripartism and Social Dialogue………………………………………………………………………...…

e) Lessons Learnt from the First DWP: Key findings and recommendations from the DWP Review……... g) Links to National Development frameworks…………………………………………………………....

3. COUNTRY PRIORITIES AND COUNTRY PROGRAMME OUTCOMES (CPOS) .....................................

a) Programme Outcomes, Strategies, Indicators and Targets........……………………………………….. Priority I…………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Priority II……………………………………………………………………………...…………………. Priority III………………………………………………………………………………………………...

4. MANAGEMENT, IMPLEMENTATION PLANNING, MONITORING, REPORTING AND EVALUATION

ARRANGEMENTS ..............................................................................................................................................

a) Implementation, performance monitoring and evaluation arrangements, including roles of ILO constituents……………………………………………………………………………………………………. b) Role of ILO Constituents…………..…………………………………………………………………. c) Synergies and coordination with other development partners…………...………………..…………...

d) Risks…………………………………….………...…………………………………………………...

5. FUNDING PLAN……………………………………………………………………………………………....
6. ADVOCACY AND COMMMUNICATION PLAN…………………………………………………………..

ANNEX 1: NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORKS…………………………………………………..

APPENDIX 1: DWP RESULTS MATRIX……………………………………………………………………

APPENDIX 2: MOU OF DWP………………………………………………………………………….

APPENDIX 3: DWP RESULTS MONITORING PLAN………………………………………………

APPENDIX 4: IMPLEMENTATION MONITORING PLAN …………………………………………….

APPENDIX 5: TOR FOR DWP NATIONAL TEAM……………………………………………………….

APPENDIX 6: CHECKLISTS……………………………………………………………………..

FOREWORD

to be completed/signed by the ILO RD and the tripartite constituents

1. Introduction

The International Labour Organization’s (ILO) longstanding commitment to social justice for the Palestinian people started over three decades ago – at the 66th session of the International Labour Conference in 1980 – with the adoption of a resolution mandating the production of an annual report on the situation of workers in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT). Since the establishment of its Representative Office in 1995, the ILO has and continues to collaborate with its tripartite constituents, namely: the Ministry of Labour, the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions (PGFTU), and the Palestinian Federation of Chambers of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (PFCCIA) to respond to the challenges facing the Palestinian people in the world of work and to promote the Decent Work Agenda.

The ILO Second Decent Work Programme (DWP) 2017-2020 1 aims to support the State of Palestine’s National Policy Agenda (NPA) (2017-22): Putting Citizens First with its three main pillars: i) Path to Independence, ii) Ending Occupation and iii) Sustainable development. It also aligned with the Labour Sector Strategy and the Social Protection Sector Strategy 2. The DWP provides a framework of collaboration between the Palestinian Government and Social Partners on various aspects hinged to the three pillars of the Decent Work Agenda and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work with technical and financial assistance from the ILO. The DWP supports ongoing national and UN efforts to sustain social cohesion, justice and equality. It also contributes to the forthcoming United Nations Development Assistance (UNDAF) for the State of Palestine 2018-2022, which has embraced the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development3 imperative of “leaving no one behind” as an overarching priority. While it contributes to the overall 2030 Agenda, the DWP primarily contributes to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8 (decent work and economic growth), 1 (no poverty), 5 (gender equality), 10 (reduced inequalities), and 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions).

The development of the Second DWP has built on key achievements of previous and ongoing ILO work in the OPT, and has been informed by the findings and recommendations of review of the First DWP (2013-2016) that was conducted in the second half of 2016. It supports the vision of the Palestinian tripartite constituents and responds to their priorities expressed during ongoing consultations in November 2016 and February 2017. Additionally, the Programme development process benefited from a series of technical missions, thematic consultations and analytical research that were organized by the ILO in the areas of labour governance, social dialogue, occupational safety and health, employment, social protection, skills and entrepreneurship development, gender equality, and cooperative development, and the future of work in the OPT.

As a result of this consensus-building exercise, the ILO and its constituents agreed on three chief priorities for the period 2017-2022, which they wish to jointly pursue to promote Decent Work for all Palestinian workers. The DWP offers a flexible framework that can accommodate changes in the programming context and the needs of Palestinians. Regular monitoring and reviews will help the ILO and its constituents determine if and how changes in the context need to be reflected in the framework.

The three overarching Decent Work Priorities include: Priority 1: Enhance employment and livelihood opportunities for Palestinian women and men Priority 2: Strengthen labour governance and the realization of fundamental principles and rights at work through freedom of association, strengthened collective bargaining and improved social dialogue mechanisms

1 The First Palestinian Decent Work Programme was implemented over the period 2013-2016. 2 A more detailed overview of these national strategies is provided in annex 1 of this document. 3 https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs

of a growth rate of 6.8 per cent in Gaza, and 2.5 per cent in the West Bank. Measured at 2004 prices, real GDP per capita in Gaza (US$1,003) remains 27 per cent lower than a decade earlier.

The occupation has left a negative impact on the Palestinian economy in an impaired Palestinian private sector, a dampened investment atmosphere and de-development of many sectors of the economy, thus, contributing to high levels of unemployment, underemployment and inequality. Poverty, inequality in economic opportunity and high dependency rates exacerbated by limited employment opportunities, as well as increasing environmental constraints have been identified in the Second UNDAF for the State of Palestine as key economic drivers of vulnerability.

Within the overall context of occupation, the Palestinian Authority (PA) has also become heavily reliant on donor aid in the form of external direct budget support (which accounted for 70.5% of the PA’s deficit and 35% of its financing gap budgeted in 20159) and funding for development projects. Yet, over the past five years, there has been a steady trend of reduced donor aid to the OPT. This is caused by a number of factors, including the global economic slowdown, the recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer state in 201210, , and the eruption of crises in the Arab Region, which has diverted the attention of many development partners supporting the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region away from the OPT. For example, only 51 per cent of the pledges for the reconstruction of Gaza committed in the Cairo Conference were disbursed 11, while donors external direct budget support declined by a third between 2014 and 2015 12. The PA has therefore accumulated significant arrears to the private sector and debts to banks, with little funding dedicated to development projects. In fact, the government expects in 2017 to run a budget deficit of 1.06 billion USD, roughly 15 per cent of the GDP.

c. Labour Market situation

The stagnation of economic growth in the OPT has resulted in further distress to the already weak Palestinian labour market. In addition to the occupation-related factors that have retarded Palestinian trade, the labour market has suffered for many years from the Israeli closure policy, the heavy dependence on the Israeli labour market, as well as the lack of viable productive employment opportunities.14 Labour movement restrictions have not only resulted in unemployment for a large number of the Palestinian labourers by blocking their access to their work, but also have further reduced employment opportunities by hampering economic activity.

According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) the overall unemployment rate was 25.7 per cent in Q4 2016, rising to 40.6 per cent in Gaza, among which the total unemployment rate for males was 21. per cent compared with 43.9 per cent for females. Unemployment is highest for youth aged 20–24 years, at 41. per cent. Very low labour force participation rate for women persists at 19.1% as well as higher unemployment rate for women with higher educational attainment. In addition, the gender wage gap persists despite substantive gains women have made in recent years in terms of education and employment experience. 15 In fact, data from

8 United Nations Country Team, “Common Country Analysis 2016”, available at: http://www.unsco.org/Documents/Special/UNCT/ CCA_Report_En.pdf 9 Estimated from Ministry of Finance and Planning. Monthly Financial Report December 2015, (2015). 10 On 29 November 2012, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 67/19, which upgraded Palestine to non-member observer state. 11 http://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/rebuilding-gaza-donor-pledges 12 United Nations Country Team, “Common Country Analysis 2016”, available at: http://www.unsco.org/Documents/Special/UNCT/ CCA_Report_En.pdf 13 “Drop in Foreign Funding to Force Cuts in Palestinians' Budget”, 3 rd^ January 2017, available at: http://www.voanews.com/a/drop- foreign-funding-force-cuts-palestinians-budget/3661598.html (^14) UNCTAD, (2016) “Report on UNCTAD assistance to the Palestinian people: Developments in the economy of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”, available at: http://unctad.org/meetings/en/SessionalDocuments/tdb63d3_en.pdf 15 ILO, (2016) “Exploring the gender pay gap in Occupied Palestinian Territory: A qualitative study of the education sector”, available at: http://www.ilo.org/beirut/information-resources/factsheets/WCMS_542472/lang--en/index.htm

2015 points to a significant gender pay gap, with women’s median daily wage (USD $21.2) comprising 76% of the median daily wage for men (USD $27.8).

d. Tripartism and Social Dialogue

With ILO’s support, tripartite social dialogue in the OPT has resulted in concrete achievements, notably the adoption of the Minimum Wage, the Social Security Law, the development of a National Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Policy and Programme, a labour inspection strategy and action plan, and a tripartite methodology for labour law reform. However, tripartite social dialogue is still lacking the absence of legal framework and institutionalization including legal and institutional pillars that govern social dialogue, whereby the role of the state is a key requirement. Moreover, there is a need to continue strengthening the capacities of constituents with a view to promoting an understanding of mutual interests and building confidence amongst social partners. The Tripartite Committee for Labour Affairs should be further strengthened and streamlined to ensuring relevance and coherence of socio-economic policies and fostering comprehensive and sustainable development. The Second Decent Work Programme is going to capitalize on the achievements and address the needs and challenges particularly through consensus building among the social partners.

e. Lessons Learnt from the First DWP: Key findings and recommendations from the DWP Review

In the second half of 2016, the ILO conducted a review of the first Palestinian DWP with the aim of extracting key lessons learnt from its design and implementation in terms of relevance, coherence, impact and effectiveness, efficiency and sustainability. It found that the achievements and all DWP priorities ranked high in the above mentioned evaluation criteria, although the sustainability and advances made under ILO’s 2015 Gaza Emergency Response (GER) remained questionable and there was a lack of conceptual and strategic links between the GER and the DWP. The most notable achievement of the DWP was the enactment of the new social security law by the President of OPT on 30 September 2016, fully in line with ILO’s Standards.

At the priority level , the review called on tripartite constituents to take advantage of the formulation of a new DWP to reaffirm common commitments to International Labour Standards (ILS), enforcing the national minimum wage and building the new ILO-compliant social security system.

A future DWP will have to ensure that labour inspection is built in and upgraded in the design, both for purposes of OSH and minimum-wage enforcement. Furthermore, the review points to the need to rethink the “employment” Priority in order to have focused interventions at macro level, in order to monopolize on the ILO’s comparative advantage beyond small scale employment outcomes.

In addition, it recommended to continue to apply social dialogue, with an expanded tripartite-plus approach. It noted that the community of worker and employer organizations is quite diverse for such a small territory, but also the degree of informality of enterprises and workers is high. Thus, it recommended that broader inclusiveness is necessary in the further steps to develop the national social security system. ILO’s continued efforts to work with social partners to include more of this diversity could help build the constituency for the policy outcomes sought within the DWP.

At the programmatic and management levels , the review recommended to design the second DWP in such a way that reflects a greater balance in the specificity of the Priorities and Outcomes such that it could better facilitate resource allocation across the Programme. This would improve the evaluability of the new DWP through improved and more specific performance indicators, subject also to review and revision throughout the implementation period. Periodic and regular DWP review meetings should take place at both the technical level, as well as the constituent level to ensure coherence and a results focused approach to implementation.

16 Palestinian Bureau of Statistics, 2015. Average Daily Wage for People Age 15 and above by Gender. Available at http://pcbs.gov.ps/Portals/_Rainbow/Documents/wages-201502-a.htm

f. Links to National Development frameworks

The year 2016 was a strategic one for the OPT in terms of mid-term development planning and priority setting. Following a consultative process involving all concerned stakeholders and building on the National Development Plan, the National Policy Agenda 2017-2022 along with a set of sectoral strategies, including one focusing on Labour Sector, were developed. These frameworks concentrate on strengthening institutions, improved labour market governance, sustainable and inclusive economic development and social development and protection. Further details on their priorities can be found on the Annex 1.

In tandem with the national development planning process, the UNCT developed its CCA, which was the basis for a second UNDAF for the State of Palestine for the period 2017-2020. Aligned with the national priorities, the UNDAF is premised on the principle of “Leaving No One Behind” of the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The table below demonstrates how the DWP priorities are aligned with: the national priorities, the UNDAF priorities, the SDGs, and the outcomes of ILO’s Programme and Budget (P&B) 2016-17.

Linkages between the Decent Work Programme Priorities, the National Development Frameworks, UNDAF, the SDGs and ILO’s P&B

DWP National Development Frameworks (2017-2022) UNDAF (2018-2022) SDGs Priority 1

Enhance employment and livelihood opportunities for Palestinian women and men

NPA

• Building Palestine’s future economy
• Creating decent job opportunities
• Improving Palestine’s business environment
• Promoting Palestinian Industry

Labour Sector Strategy

• Reducing unemployment rates in OPT
• Developing the vocational and technical system to provide skilled workers according to labour market needs
• Empowering the role of cooperatives in employment
• Strengthening the labour sector’s human and financial capacities and enhancing its role at local and international levels
• Promoting cooperative principles and concepts as means for socioeconomic development
• Providing support and expand the base for cooperatives with sustainable and viable business ideas
• Continuing to develop the structure and legal framework for the cooperative sector

Strategic Priority 3: Supporting sustainable and inclusive economic development

Goal 8: Promote sus inclusive and sustain economic growth, fu productive employm decent work for all

Priority 2

Strengthen labour governance and the realization of

NPA

• Upholding democratic principles
• Strengthening accountability and transparency
• Gender equality and women’s empowerment

Strategic Priority 2: Supporting equal access to accountable, effective and responsive democratic governance

Goal 5: Achieve gen equality and empowe women and girls

Goal 16: Promote pe

fundamental principles and

rights at work through improved social dialogue mechanisms

• Ensuring community security, public safety and the rule of law
• Social Justice and Rule of Law by promoting corporate social responsibility and tripartite social dialogue

Labour Sector Strategy

• Promote Decent work by national OSH policy framework and well developed labour administration system
• Reform and development of the legal framework of the labour sector
• Working continuously to provide the legal environment and practical requirements for a social protection system
• Fill gaps in legal framework to enable development of economic and social policies
• Enhancing tripartite relationship in accordance to law provisions and collective agreements
• Promote freedom of association
• Promoting social dialogue as a means for developing and regulating the labour sector

for all Palestinians and inclusive societie sustainable developm provide access to jus and build effective, accountable and incl institutions at all leve

Priority 3

Support the implementation and development of the Palestinian social security system and the extension of social protection to all

NPA

• Strengthening social protection
• Ensuring community security, public safety and the rule of law
• Meeting the basic needs of communities

Labour Sector Strategy

• Working continuously to provide the legal environment and practical requirements for a social protection system
• Fill gaps in legal framework to enable development of economic and social policies

Strategic Priority 4: Leaving No One Behind: social development and protection

Goal 1: End poverty forms everywhere Goal 10: Reduce ine within and among co

was recently launched and supported capacity building and business plan development for two cooperatives: the Gaza Saving and Credit Cooperative, which is made up of 1,470 female members and aims to empower women through the provision of financial capital; and the Cooperative Association for Beekeepers, consisting of 25 beekeepers from the Gaza Strip. The ILO is also supporting the Islamic University of Gaza (IUG) in providing career guidance services, upgrading modules of the engineering curricula and equipping student – including students with disabilities - with skills needed in the economic recovery process.

Building on all these efforts, the programme will implement a mix of interventions at the policy and downstream levels. At the policy level, the ILO will: 1- provide technical support to the PFESP as a vehicle for strategic employment policy intervention and to support its positioning on the strategic level, 2- provide technical support to develop a national action plan on employment, 3- provide technical support to generate evidence of the impact of currently running employment support interventions, 4- review and develop a mapping for a strategic vision on employment based on the employment policy diagnostics; and 5- work on the approval of the Law on Cooperatives. At the downstream level, it will: 1) provide support to enterprise development through the provision of non-financial business development services such as the Start and Improve Your Business (SIYB), Work Improvement in Small Enterprises (WISE) and Expand Your Business (EYB), and facilitate small and medium enterprises’ access to finance, 2) contribute to reduction of unemployment through supporting cooperatives, 3) support the upgrading of informal apprenticeships, and 4) develop skills for e-jobs in Gaza.

It will mainly focus on:

Outcome 1.1 Enhanced capacity of government and social partners to strategize on employment and labour market policies and programmes

Indicator 1.1.1: National action plan collectively produced and endorsed by national stakeholders Indicator 1.1.2: Indicator 1.1.3:

In order to create jobs for 400,000 unemployed people in the OPT, a stronger control of foreign funding is needed to improve the quality of the interventions and link them strongly to creating job opportunities. The tripartite constituents agreed this could be done through the PFESP, with the support of the ILO.

The PFESP was officially activated in 2011 and was designated it as the reference point and umbrella body for all job creation activities in 2014 through a decree by the Council of Ministers. Since its activation, the PFESP has supported a series of microfinance activities, targeting marginalized and vulnerable members of society. Though the PFESP has been successful in generating job opportunities, building technical capacity and stimulating entrepreneurship, the body is still fragile, owing to its still embryonic nature.

This outcome will therefore strengthen the capacity of the government and social partners to implement the mandate of the Fund in terms of coordination, evidence based financing, skills development entrepreneurship and enterprise development support. The ILO will provide technical support to the PFESP as a vehicle for strategic employment policy intervention and to support its positioning on the strategic level.

Employment diagnostics

To support this, the ILO has already commissioned an employment diagnostics in the OPT to map all existing employment programmes and services (both private and public), while assessing their impact and identifying their strengths and main shortfalls. This study will provide a full diagnostic on labour market trends, institutions and governance, while aiming to understand the nature of the deficiency of productive employment, and the

17 ILO, 2017, “Analysis of the situation and challenges facing the world of work in Fragile and Conflict Affected settings – OPT”

context-specific constraints, challenges and opportunities for increasing productive employment through sustainable and inclusive job-rich growth as a basis for a sharper and more effective focus of employment policy in the OPT.

Development of an Employment Action Plan through establishment of a tripartite national task force

Given that the OPT does not have a clear comprehensive vision for employment and the fact that different policies, strategies and programmes are implemented with an ad-hoc nature and with little monitoring and evaluation, developing a full-fledge policy or action plan is imperative for the achievement of better employment outcomes in the country.

Therefore and with the aim to formulate and implement a carefully designed and concerted set of interventions to achieve a clear employment goal that benefits both Palestinian men and women, the ILO will support the development of a national action plan on employment and will bring on board different ministries and social partners involved directly or indirectly in employment policy.

This will also be based on the employment diagnostic study that will provide the initial analysis and stocktaking of available programmes and employment initiatives in the country. A tripartite technical task force will then be established to build on this study and draft the needed action plan with the continuous technical support of the ILO in terms of training and capacity building.

Outcome 1.2 Government and social partners will have agreed and implemented concrete measures to improve the business environment through business development services, cooperatives and entrepreneurship education targeting men and women.

Indicator 1.2.1: Indicator 1.2.2: Indicator 1.2.3:

In 2008 the ILO launched its flagship entrepreneurship programme Know About Business (KAB) to create awareness on self-employment as a career option for young Palestinians, enhance knowledge on starting and operating a successful enterprise, and facilitate the school to work transition of Palestinian youth as a result of a better understanding of business operations. In 2011 the programme was nationalized and today forms the core of the ILO’s enterprise development interventions in the OPT. The KAB implementation has recently focused on the nationalization of the programme in vocational training centers under the Ministry of Labour, and in secondary vocational schools and technical colleges under the Ministry of Education and Higher Education with the inclusion of Gaza. The programme succeeded in doing so, and to this end, the entrepreneurship education has been integrated into the curricula of vocational training centers, and integrated into the curricula of secondary vocational schools. The programme complemented other technical and vocational training programmes in OPT, making the school-to-work transition easier for youth and decreasing the pressure on the Palestinian Authority to provide employment opportunities in the public sector. A process of Training of Facilitators’ (TOF) and certification is being used to achieve the interventions’ sustainability by creating a network of teachers who are able to deliver the KAB in a cost effective manner beyond the life of a given project. The added advantage of this approach is that it creates a multiplier effect for skills transfer and ensures the development of local teaching capacities in the field of entrepreneurship education.

The ILO is additionally using two other tools to foster entrepreneurship, namely GYB and SYB. The Generate Your Business Idea programme enables potential entrepreneurs to select and develop a concrete business idea. The Start Your Business Programme enables potential entrepreneurs with a business idea to develop a bankable

E-jobs are on the rise in Gaza, but there is a need to improve the business environment and standardize the skills development around these activities. Proposed interventions will aim at gathering stakeholders to define a common plan for the sector development in Gaza.

Based on a tripartite request, ILO conducted a study related to global good practices on occupational licensing which was presented and validated in a tripartite meeting. The auto-repair sector was selected for piloting. Provided the initial commitment to this endeavor is confirmed, it is proposed to (a) link with the relevant training providers / centers of excellence; (b) conduct a one day workshop on the subject; (c) define the enforcement methods for these licenses; (d) review the impact by the end of the DWP.

Priority II: Strengthen labour governance and the realization of fundamental principles and rights at work through improved social dialogue mechanisms – Under this priority, the ILO will continue to support its tripartite constituents in advancing bipartite and tripartite dialogue through mechanisms that are systematic, property regulated and well represented. Additionally, the ILO will support its tripartite constituents for improved governance of the labour market through enhancement of the legal framework, strengthening of labour administration, development of an effective and prevention oriented labour inspection and OSH system and strengthened industrial relations.

It will mainly focus on three sets of interventions with gender equality and non-discrimination embedded throughout the process. First, the ILO will continue to support the tripartite constituents in their efforts to reform the Labour Law and other labour-related legislation, while ensuring their alignment with international labour standards and relevant human rights treaties. Second, it will work on supporting mechanisms to improve freedom of association and promote a participatory and representative decision making process at all levels, in line with international standards. Third, the ILO will support enhancing labour inspection effectiveness and the implementation of the national Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Policy and Programme in the West Bank and Gaza by providing capacity building for the tripartite constituents, addressing OSH deficits in key economic sectors, establishing labour inspection database and guidelines for improved reporting on work injuries. It will also build the labour inspection capacity of the Ministry of Labour and work on improving labour inspection management and planning as well supporting awareness raising initiatives targeting employers’ and workers’ organizations to secure their effective participation in promoting improved working conditions and compliance with labour legislation.

The following Country Programme Outcomes (CPOs), Indicators and targets fall under Priority II:

Outcome 2.1 Institutions for negotiating working conditions, protecting labour rights for all workers, and reforming labour related legislation and mechanisms are improved to be in line with international standards and Human Rights treaties.

Indicator 2.1.1 Concrete proposals are elaborated on the harmonization of the Labour Law with the needs of the labour market and international labour standards (target: 2) Indicator 2.1.2 Improved capacity and effectiveness of tripartite Committees (target could be 5 out the 11)

Governance and tripartism are achieved through improvement in the legal and policy frameworks as well as institutional capacity-building and partnerships at the all levels. Improved Governance also contributes to protecting workers from unacceptable forms of work and on formalization of the informal economy. The strategy under this outcome is to support the establishment and strengthening of tripartite social dialogue machinery or processes and to build the capacity of tripartite constituents to ensure effective social dialogue and tripartism at country level. The process will involve providing technical support to the Labour Law reform process, including through providing guidance to the National Tripartite Committee for the Labour Law Reform and strengthening the capacity of the 11 technical committees established under it. It will also include support to a review of minimum wage legislation and facilitating tripartite consensus in the constituents’ efforts to agree on a trade union law.

Furthermore, and given the large predominance of women workers in lower paying and informal jobs with little or no protection, inclusive strategies for ensuring non-discrimination and gender mainstreaming will be emphasized to achieve gender balance as well as full representation of women’s workers’ interests and needs. This process will require further strengthening the capacity of the National Committee for Women’s Employment (NCWE) in advocating for women workers’ rights and providing policy advisory support to tripartite national committees for policy setting and legislative reform. It will also entail supporting workers’ and employers’ orgnaizations to better represent and integrate women workers’ issues.

Outcome 2.3 Workplace compliance is improved to better protect labour rights and promote safe and secure working environments for all workers in line with national laws and regulations and international standards, through strengthened labour inspection and increased preventative OSH culture.

Indicator 2.3.1: Annual labour inspection reports developed in line with the relevant ILS and reflect improved coverage and quality of labour inspection. Indicator 2.3.2: Improved notification, recording and reporting of work related accidents, injuries and diseases. Indicator 2.3.3: Strategic measures taken by the government and social partners to improve workplace compliance

Effective labour administration is vital for good governance and economic progress especially in a context of continued protracted crisis. It contributes to making decent work a reality, through improving working conditions and enhancing employment and productivity. The strategy under this outcome is to promote and entrench a culture of prevention, compliance and decent employment practices for improved labour relations and working conditions all of which would lead to improved productivity and income. This outcome will focus on highlighting the importance and mutually reinforcing impact of having a strong labour legislation that is aligned with ILS. In particular, the ILO will continue and further expand its work on improving labour inspection and promoting occupational safety and health in formal and non-formal enterprises and sectors. By focusing its interventions under this priority on the following technical areas which will also include Gaza:

• Developing and implementing a national labour inspection policy in consultation and collaboration with the social partners and other stakeholders.
• Reforming legal provisions on labour inspection and OSH in line with the relevant ILS.
• Develop new labour inspection tools, or update existing ones, including checklists, templates and manuals.
• Developing the capacities of labour inspectors and their supervisors on modern labour inspection procedures and relevant ILS, including policies, planning, conducting inspection visits and reporting.
• Promote the use of modern technology in labour inspection, including full automation of inspection activities and establishment of comprehensive electronic LI and OSH data bases that include all workplaces liable to inspection.
• Developing a national system for the notification, recording, analysis and reporting of occupational accidents, injuries and diseases.
• Strengthening the capacities of social partners on labour inspection and OSH.
• Enhancing the capacity of the MOL on promoting OSH services at the enterprise level, including establishment of OSH committees and appointment of qualified OSH supervisors.
• Developing an effective system for the management of labour disputes, both individual and collective, including establishment of a hotline service

Over the years, the ILO has been working closely with the Palestinian Ministry of Labour and the employers and workers organisations through the tripartite OSH committee, to help strengthen its ability to develop and promote a national OSH policy and programme. In 2014, and with support from ILO, a National OSH Policy and Programme was adopted by Cabinet that was based on a national OSH profile developed in 2013.

The National OSH Policy and Programme has the following objectives:

1. To reinforce and develop the policies and legislations pertaining to occupational safety and health;
2. To enhance, develop and institutionalize the institutional frameworks in a manner that guarantees the accomplishment and implementation of the policies pertaining to occupational safety and health;
3. To develop support programmes, such as training and promotion of the culture of occupational safety and health, especially in the small and micro enterprises;
4. To develop and enhance the capacities and capabilities, especially in relation to occupational health services (preventive and therapeutic) at the national and enterprises levels.

Through this DWP, the ILO will support the monitoring of the implementation of the OSH programme and the introduction of any needed adjustment to ensure that it adequately responds to the needs of new sectors and industries, and to new processes and machinery in existing industries. Furthermore, it will expand this area of work to Gaza, which was not covered in the OSH profile developed through the previous DWP.

As such, the ILO will support the Ministry of Labour and social partners in developing an OSH profile for Gaza and ensuring that its needs of the latter are integrated in the national OSH policy and programme.

To further support the implementation of the OSH policy and programme and the recently developed labour sector strategy and plan, the ILO will carry out a needs assessment of the Labour Inspection System (LIS) and Directorate at the Ministry of Labour. The assessment will inform the development of a labour inspection strategy. The strategy will mainly aim to broaden the scope of labour inspection so as to cover the application of the current and newly proposed provisions of the labour law, including in the areas of labour disputes resolution and effective governance and tripartism The ILO will also carry out a quick scan to identify the sectors and sub- sectors in Palestine that are more prone to OSH related injuries. The scan will be undertaken with the direct support of the Palestinian Employers Organizations and Trade Unions; namely FPCCIA, PFI and the Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions in cooperation with the Palestine Polytechnic University.

One key set of interventions under this outcome both in the area of OSH and LI will continue to be capacity building to the labour inspection and administration directorates and exposure of its staff to good practices in other countries through participating in study tours and regional workshops. Trainings will be organized jointly with ITC Turin and LAB/ADMIN branch and will include several topics, such as: principles, policies and strategies for labour inspection, LI planning and campaigning, detection and reporting of work accidents, LI academy, tools and methods for LI. Furthermore, the ILO will support in the development of a unified labour inspection guidelines and checklists, an automated labour inspection database, the production of detailed work accident reports and comprehensive quarterly and annual labour inspection reports against work injuries, workplace violations, sanctions and corrective actions taken.