Social Development Sector Strategy 2017-2022.

This Social Development Sector Strategy is a cross sectoral nationwide document that in six years aims to support and develop a resilient, cohesive, solidary, productive and innovative Palestinian society that provides dignified life for all its members, unleashes their potentials and believes in rights, equality, justice, partnership and inclusivity, as for the statement of the Vision. This community change process also entails caring for and promoting economic, social and political inclusiveness of marginalized groups, particularly children, girls, women, people with disabilities, older women and men, youth, as well as Palestinians living in marginalized areas.
The Strategy has set three strategic objectives that are closely interlinked with the National Policy Agenda 2017-2022 and the Sustainable Development Goals 2030, namely (i) alleviating poverty; (ii) removing all forms of social marginalization and exclusion in the Palestinian society; and (iii) consolidating social cohesion.
Poverty alleviation aims to alleviate the multidimensional poverty, hunger, deprivation, improve the food status of the marginalized and vulnerable households and strengthen the poor families and all their members, regardless of gender, age and disability, to secure the basic needs of life, food, clothing, housing, convenient medical care, education, transportation and social relations services. This objective also seeks to reduce poverty associated with inability to earn adequate income to achieve all the requirements of the whole family; food, health, education etc., so as to achieve sustainable development and a decent life for all.
Second strategic objective involves the elimination of all forms of negative discrimination in social, economic, cultural, sport and political rights against the marginalized groups, including the poor, women, children, youths, senior citizens and people with disabilities and in their access to resources, social, political and economic participation, for reasons related to discrimination on the basis of religion, color, gender, disability, age or geographical location or political beliefs.
Social cohesion objective includes the strengthening of family cohesion and unity, and aims to create solidarity in the community and promote volunteer work, social responsibility and the development of fair and inclusive economic policies for the marginalized and the poor, through a process of social development.
Since the social development sector is closely linked to a wide range of other sectors - such as health, education, agriculture, economy, security, justice, infrastructure and culture - the strategy is generally connected with other national priorities, outlined in the National Policies Agenda, and especially with the priority No.7 dealing with Social Justice and the Rule of Law which includes (a) poverty reduction through the development of economic and social empowerment programs for the poor and the marginalized; (b) providing social protection; (c) citizens’ access to justice; and (d) Promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women and other interventions to remove all forms of gender discrimination.
Being focused on poverty alleviation, the Strategy directs its effort to reduce poverty - translated in effective measures to protect the poor and vulnerable groups, men and women, against shocks, crises and disasters, development of social, health and education services, national agreements with private companies to adopt models of social responsibility to combat poverty and care for marginalized group - also towards rural strata of society.
To enable more inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems, the document envisages the necessity of increasing an active social, economic and political participation for the marginalized groups leading to (i) the establishment of agricultural cooperatives for women and youth, and building the capacity of cooperative societies; (ii) policies and legislation to encourage the marketing of products of small producers and approve specifications specializes in traditional industries and women-run food industries; (iii) establishment of popular markets for women-made products, in collaboration with civil society organizations; and (iv) granting tariff exemptions for associations.
As for the Governance, this Policy aims to (i) raise the capacity and efficiency of the services providing organizations and the development of their human resources and to establish terms of reference for the institutions and transparent and clear institutional arrangements; and (ii) develop monitoring and evaluation systems so as to enhance accountability, transparency and governance of the sector and ensure effective and efficient performance. However, there is a need for the Council of Ministers to approve a number of legislation and regulations, relevant to the targeted groups or relevant to the work of the Ministry of Social Development.