The success of public administration reforms is contingent on contextual factors including the state of public governance, public finance, organisational culture, and geo-political developments. This section analyses the context for public administration reform in the Palestinian Authority.
OECD Public Governance Reviews: Palestinian Authority
Strengthening Public Administration for Better Outcomes
Abstract
Public administration reforms never happen in a vacuum and their success is strongly influenced by contextual factors that can be conducive or unfavourable to the reform process, or sometimes even both. These factors relate to the broader governance situation, public finance, organisational culture, and geo-political developments. The context for public administration reform in the PA is particularly challenging for several reasons; some of which can be addressed by the PA directly, and for others, coping mechanisms can mitigate their impact on reform.
Parliamentary elections have not been held in the PA since 2006. The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) – the PA’s Legislature – was first suspended, and then officially dissolved in 2018. To date, the PLC remains inactive, and legislation is being issued by the President by decrees that have power of law under Article 43 of the Basic Law. The institutional environment for legislative initiatives on public administration reform is also absent given that parliamentary debates on reform priorities are unable to take place; as such, there is limited space to hold the PA accountable on its reform policies and overall governmental action. Citizens are unable to express reform priorities through democratic representation. This democratic deficit is tangible, with the PA ranking 109 out of 167 entities on the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index 2021 (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2022[1]).
This situation is exacerbated by a shrinking space for Civil Society Organisations (CSO) in the Palestinian Authority, which traditionally have played a significant role in service delivery and articulating reform priorities. The space for CSOs to operate is increasingly being challenged from new and different angles, including financial, political, and cultural pressures (European Commission, 2019[2]). Palestinian and international CSOs operating in areas under the control of the PA are subject to the terms of the "Law of Charitable Associations and Community Organisations" from 2000 (Law 1/2000) as well as a growing number of more recent restrictive legislative and policy measures. These new measures have increased the administrative burden for CSOs, requiring more steps in the registration process, complex financial procedures, administrative obstacles to setting up a bank account and/or receiving and transferring funds. During the OECD’s fact-finding missions, civil society organisations in the PA denounced the politicisation of the registration process and considered these increased administrative burdens as disabling, as they further divert their energies away from service delivery and advocacy work in an already difficult operating environment.
As identified in the OECD Review Rule of Law and Governance in the Palestinian Authority: Delivering Better Policies and Legislation for People (OECD, 2022[3]), the Palestinian Authority is making efforts to engage stakeholders in the rule-making process. In 2018, the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) issued Guidelines on Public Consultations based on the OECD Practitioner’s Guide for Engaging Stakeholders (OECD, 2011[4]) (Palestinian Authority, 2018[5]). While the guidelines strongly encourage ministries to follow the outlined procedures, they are not considered legally binding. As such, these efforts are deemed insufficient by civil society, which regards its own impact on agenda setting and policy formulation as restricted.
An additional challenge relates to the stability of the public budget. PAR efforts often aim to render service delivery more cost-effective and reform priorities can therefore take budgetary considerations, such as staff costs and potential economies of scale, into account. Budgetary projections over the mid-and long-term can underpin the deliberations on reform priorities and their impact. Yet, the budgetary situation in the PA is unstable in part due to the structural and contextual factors, thus rendering the overall PAR planning process unstable as well. The PA is also relying on international aid for much of its funding, however these funding sources remain uneven. As a result, the overall finances of the PA are faltering (International Monetary Fund, 2023[6]).
Over the years, the PA has created multiple institutions and committees within its public sector, including bodies working in the areas of public administration reform. This fragmentation of public institutions represents both an opportunity and a challenge for PAR. Conflicts of power between these bodies persist, leading to inefficiencies in co-ordination, spending, and service delivery. Despite the separation of powers stipulated in the Basic Law, overlapping mandates are common, and ambiguities in the legal texts often lead to inefficiencies, misinterpretations, and mandate creep. Although fragmentation in PAR creates opportunities for a more streamlined and co-operative approach, the Palestinian public sector faces barriers to reform, such as resistance to change, which is a common point in public sectors across various OECD and MENA countries. As noted by the World Bank’s assessment of the PA’s wage bill and public employment (World Bank, 2022[7]), the PA’s public employment as a percentage of total employment is with an average of 17 percent on par with the global average of 18 percent, and lower than the average in MENA which is 25 percent. However, the average share of public employment in total is higher than the average in comparator economies of lower-middle income countries and fragile and conflict affected states where the equivalent figure is 14 percent for both (see Figure 1.1). However, analysis shows that its wage bill is larger than other comparable economies (see Figure 1.2). Between 2011-2018, the PA’s wage bill averaged 14 percent of GDP and 46 percent of central government expenditure. The equivalent figures for the MENA region were 11 and 30 percent respectively. Similarly, for countries affected by fragility, conflict and violence, the averages were 8 and 29 percent. On average, the PA spends more on its wage bill as a share of GDP and expenditure than countries such as Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. The high personnel cost of the PA thus underscores the imperative of public administration reform.
2011-2021 average
Source: Ministry of Finance, ILO stat as mentioned in the (World Bank, 2022[7]).
2011-2018 average
Note: Expenditure figures used are a mix of central or general government, depending on data availability.
Source: Ministry of Finance, Worldwide Bureaucracy Indicators as mentioned in the (World Bank, 2022[7]).
Another challenge hampering PAR efforts relates to public integrity issues. The Palestinian National Cross-Sectoral Strategy for Integrity and Anti- Corruption 2020-2022 (Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, 2020[8]) refers to the toleration of some integrity issues by considering them socially acceptable. In 2021, the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC) received 886 complaints, with favouritism being among the most common forms of corruption (Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission, 2020[8]). This slows down reform efforts and endangers successful public administration reform as they protect vested interests and bureaucratic processes. Strengthening institutional oversight, merit-based Human Resources processes and integrity management can therefore bolster public administration reforms. Despite these challenges significant efforts have been made by the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission and the State Audit Administrative Control Bureau to combat this issue, while further work has been pursued by the GPC to strengthen accountability and transparency through the implementation of the Code of Conduct for civil servants.
Furthermore, as argued in the OECD Review Rule of Law and Governance in the Palestinian Authority: Delivering Better Policies and Legislation for People (OECD, 2022[3]), sound policy planning and development is a precondition for policy implementation and PAR. PAR will not be successful unless there is a critical capacity to develop sound policy options and plans. On this matter, the Palestinian Authority can be more responsive, efficient, and effective in policy development and make the policy development process more transparent, accountable, and inclusive. To achieve this, the Palestinian Authority is encouraged to streamline its legislative planning processes, strengthen quality insurance practices for legislative proposals, and bolster its capacity for policy formulation and legal drafting. The availability and use of data and evidence for problem identification and assessment can also be improved, as well as the tools and methods for problem identification, stakeholder consultation, and policy design. Well-embedded legislative planning and development can thus be instrumental in translating political commitments and priorities into medium- and long-term strategies and operational action plans that directly guide the work of government (OECD, 2020[9]).
Lastly, despite uneven official development assistance (ODA), an active donor community can support reforms in various sectors, depending on their expertise and objectives. Donors can even support the PAR agenda-setting and prioritisation process with support to the PAR structures and with technical interventions that span across the PA, such as regarding support on data collection and on results and reporting frameworks. While donors can offer technical support, they cannot substitute the decision-making process and therefore need to ensure that there is sufficient absorption capacity for technical interventions. To ensure effectiveness, donors should further co-ordinate their efforts, a point that has been repeatedly made by various stakeholders. Donor coordination is indeed crucial for supporting public administration reform efforts as it ensures the efficient use of resources and avoids duplication of efforts. It also fosters a unified strategy, enhancing the impact and sustainability of the reforms.
References
[2] European Commission (2019), “JOINT EUROPEAN ROADMAP FOR ENGAGEMENT WITH CIVIL SOCIETY IN PALESTINE”.
[6] International Monetary Fund (2023), West Bank and Gaza: Report to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/CR/Issues/2023/09/12/West-Bank-and-Gaza-Report-to-the-Ad-Hoc-Liaison-Committee-539149.
[3] OECD (2022), Rule of Law and Governance in the Palestinian Authority: Delivering Better Policies and Legislation for People, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/68ffa992-en.
[9] OECD (2020), Policy Framework on Sound Public Governance: Baseline Features of Governments that Work Well, OECD Publishing, Paris, https://doi.org/10.1787/c03e01b3-en.
[4] OECD (2011), “Regulatory Consultation in the Palestinian Authority: A Practitioners’ Guide for Engaging Stakeholders in Democratic D”.
[8] Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission (2020), “The National Cross-Sectoral Strategy for Integrity and Anti- Corruption: 2020-2022”.
[5] Palestinian Authority (2018), “Guidelines on Public Consultation”.
[1] The Economist Intelligence Unit (2022), “Country Report: Palestine”.
[7] World Bank (2022), Wage Bill and Employment Diagnostic : Key Drivers and Policy Recommendations, https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099320012152224196/pdf/P17870707ee3d60d0b5460a16a39379461.pdf.