Bethlehem, December 12, 2012:- Good Governance (GG) Department researchers of the Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) held an introductory meeting with the new Municipal Council in Al Ram city as part of the Pro-Poor Integrity (PPI) Program in Al-Ram Municipality.

This meeting came as part of the GG Department efforts to introduce the new elected council with the local PPI Integrity committee erected in Al-Ram. The committee, GG staff, and the new Council met together to discuss the PPI program in Al-Ram; its approach and activities for the past three years and their further plans for the remaining duration of the program.

At the meeting, GG staff emphasized the readiness of the PPI and of ARIJ to support and collaborate with the new council. “We have been working closely in Al-Ram with the council and the local community through the PPI program and we look forward to maintain this relation” Said Mona Ishaq, Head of GG at ARIJ.

The Mayor welcomed the partnership and the joint work that was done, hoping it will improve service delivery standards in Al-Ram for the benefit of the local community. The mayor also thanked the PPI Program for choosing Al-Ram to be a targeted city for adapting the PPI approach.

Pro-Poor Integrity (PPI) Program uses a social accountability approach to improve the way services are delivered, especially to the poor and most marginalized in Al-Ram. PPI’s approach is a community driven, collaborative problem-solving approach, focusing on integrity problems and solutions in public service delivery. PPI’s approach focuses on building capabilities, increasing responsiveness, increasing accountability and collecting evidence in public service delivery.

Everyone at the meeting was fully aware that Al-Ram falls under geopolitical calcifications of Areas (B) and (C) (Oslo phase agreement classifications), which makes service delivery challenges and setbacks greater in number and scope. The primary topic of this meeting is to plan for a televised public hearing with high-profile Palestinian Officials. The organizers are hoping that such event will create a momentous needed to create solutions responding to the burden of service delivery in Al-Ram.

This meeting is the second meeting of its kind. Jericho committee and GG staff had a similar introductory meeting with the new Jericho Municipal Council last week. The Integrity committees and GG staff are planning two further meetings in Nablus and Hebron to the same affects. The two meetings were an acknowledgement from the committee to highlight the vitality for a strong partnership and a collaborative relation between the new Municipal Councils and PPI committees.

“We are all citizens of Al-Ram; council and committee members, the challenges of service delivery in Al-Ram are hard to tackle, especially due to their geopolitical nature. However this will never deter us from working ceaselessly to solve them. ” said Fadwa Khader, of the committee members.

Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem (ARIJ) / Society Founded in 1990, the is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting sustainable development in the occupied Palestinian territory and the self-reliance of the Palestinian people through greater control over their natural resources. ARIJ works specifically to augment the local stock of scientific and technical knowledge and to introduce and devise more efficient methods of resource utilization and conservation, improved practices, and appropriate technology. 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Public Relations Department | Applied Research Institute – Jerusalem | ARIJ|
Tel: +972 2 2741889 ext. 431| Fax: + 972 2 2776966| pmaster@arij.org