The aid coordination structure in Palestine was first established in 1993 following the establishment of the Palestinian Authority (PA). The structure has developed over time.

From 1993 to 2005, aid coordination for Palestine was managed by donor countries through the Local Aid Coordination Committee (LACC) with an apex forum of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC). Co-chaired by the newly created UN Special Coordinator’s Office (UNSCO) and the World Bank, the LACC served as a forum for regular coordination at the operational level and for follow-up of issues between AHLC meetings.

In 2005, the aid coordination structure was modified to enhance national ownership by including the Government of Palestine (GoP) as one of the co-chairs for the LACC structure. Donors also agreed to a new structure, taking into account the GoP sectors, and creating the Local Development Forum (LDF). The LDF included the GoP as co-chair, overseeing four Strategy Groups – economic, governance, infrastructure, and social development - that focused on policy formulation, coordination of donor programmes, harmonization of donor procedures, and increased integration of donor projects with GoP priorities. This responded to the newly developed National Policy Agenda (NPA), and stakeholder ambitions for aid effectiveness triggered by the recent Paris Declaration. The LDF was supported by further sector working groups, thematic groups, and task forces.

From 2005-2017, the aid coordination structure and new Local Aid Coordination Secretariat (LACS) were jointly run by the GoP, World Bank, UN, and Norway. During this period, the Ministry of Planning and Development (MoPAD) trialled the One-Gate Policy on Aid Management and Coordination, which focussed on increasing alignment of aid resources with the NPA through increased coordination of project approval and negotiation processes. In addition, the GoP acted as co-chair to the Sector Working Groups (SWGs) and Strategy Groups, alongside a donor country representative.

In 2017, the aid coordination structure was modified to reflect aid effectiveness principles of ownership, leadership, harmonization, and alignment of aid with the priorities of the GoP. A slimmed-down structure merged the four Strategy Groups into the Donor Coordination Group – Heads of Cooperation (DCG HoCs), responsible for technical coordination, including monitoring SWG action plans. The Donor Coordination Group for Heads of Missions (DCG HoMs) was created to advise the GoP on the formulation and delivery of the NPA.

The GoP became the lead for the SWGs, DCG HoCs, and DCG HoMs, with the donor representative as deputy chair, instead of co-chair. The number of SWGs were increased to accommodate all priority sectors of the Go P and the LDF was renamed the Open Development Forum. Membership of the SWGs was diversified to include civil society and the private sector, while reducing the number of participants, to allow for more substantive discussions.

In 2019, the LACS co-chairs agreed that GoP ownership and leadership would benefit by moving daily management of LACS to the GoP, and in 2021, the PMO took over operational management of LACS (and of SWGs) and associated support for aid transparency and coordination. The PMO also launched the Aid Information Management System (AIMS), a national database of aid projects, reflecting a commitment to government leadership on behalf of all stakeholders, and the need to invest in coordination capacity.

In it’s newly published Aid Coordination and Delivery Framework, the GoP adopted the following aid coordination structure[1], under the overall coordination of the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee:

The Donor Coordination Group Heads of Mission (DCG-HOMs) was created to advise the GoP on the formulation and delivery of the NPA.  It also discusses sources, impacts of, and solutions to, issues affecting delivery of the National Development Plan (NDP) and related to aid/international cooperation and prepares themes for upcoming AHLC. It consists of Heads of Mission of main development partners and it is chaired by the Prime Minister (PM). The DAG-HOMs can call on senior Palestinian government officials as required.

The Donor Advisory Group Heads of Cooperation (DCG-HOCs) The DCG HOCs meeting is responsible for facilitating the delivery of effective aid flows in support of the Palestinian NDP. Under the leadership of the GoP, it holds the key policy and prioritisation discussions between stakeholders necessary to deliver both GoP and internationally funded activities. The DCG HOCs requests and receives reporting from the SWGs, identifies pertinent sectoral and cross-cutting issues and feeds information and technical solutions up to the DCG HOMs and the AHLC. It shares it conclusions more widely through presentations requested by and made at the Aid Coordination Platform (ACP). Key deliverables include:

• Identification of key issues (plus supporting evidence) for political level discussion and decision making at the spring AHLC
• Input into and response to the GoP Budget and associated government programme/reform agenda
• Identification of key issues (plus supporting evidence) for political level discussion and decision making at the autumn AHLC

Aid Coordination Platform (ACP) ACP is part of Palestine’s Aid Delivery and Coordination Framework (Aid Framework). The ACP supports the Aid Framework Objectives by providing a forum for sharing of information regarding aid coordination and delivery between organisations in the State of Palestine. It receives presentations on pertinent sectoral and cross-sectoral issues and solutions from the DCG HoCs, or pertinent SWGs when requested by the ACP Chair. Each year one ACP meeting will be dedicated to the Annual Aid Workshop (AAW), aiming to track and assess progress towards the Aid Framework objectives, update the practical rules and norms of the Aid Framework (the Partnership Guidelines) and complete the administrative functions necessary to keep the Aid Framework running.

Key deliverables of the ACP include:

• Presentations on topical issues (issues relevant at the current moment and context) from SWGs.
• Presentations from new donors, of newly developed donor multi-year strategies, of new initiatives, of recently released research and studies, and the start and end reports of major projects.
• Notices from GoP of key aid-related events within the government calendar e.g., status of plans and consultations, stages of the budget cycle (including presentation of the budget by the Ministry of Finance), and of progress in National Development Plan implementation.

Sector Working Groups (SWGs) SWGs bring together GoP, international and local, funding, implementing and other stakeholders with expertise in the specific sector in support of the wider Aid Framework Objectives. They report to the DCG HoCs meeting. They may also be called to provide evidence to the DCG HoCs and ACP, as needed. Each SWG is chaired by the relevant line ministry, deputy chaired by a key international partner or agency, and with an international agency serving as Technical Advisor. The 22 SWGs are responsible for annual NDP-driven sector and thematic planning, monitoring of sector program delivery, and project-level coordination and information sharing. SWG membership is restricted to a limited number of representatives from main international partners and UN agencies, GoP, private sector non-governmental organisations (NGOs), civil society organisations (CSOs), research institutions, private sector organisations, unions and similar (one of each, representing their organisation type).

The Local Aid Coordination Secretariat (LACS) provides support to ensure that the local aid coordination system in Palestine functions well and that information is shared across sectors and between coordination mechanisms. For more information about LACS please consult the “about us” section.