Bilateral development aid - 2018
In 2018, Polish development assistance for Palestine focused on supporting three areas: human capital, agriculture and rural development, and entrepreneurship and the private sector. As part of projects carried out by Polish NGOs, efforts were continued to strengthen agricultural cooperatives, providing conditions to generate income and create jobs, as well as caring for the local environment through using specially processed treatment water for irrigation of crops. Support for people with disabilities, both as regards rehabilitation and helping juveniles enter the labour market, was also carried over from previous years. The projects of the Office of the Polish Representative to the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah were aimed mostly at marginalized people who are in need of urgent help. These activities served, inter alia, to improve conditions in health centres and educational facilities and to provide young Palestinians with opportunities to earn an income. A large group of beneficiaries consisted of Palestinian women who were included in activities related to vocational training, growth of entrepreneurship and boosting self- -confidence.
In total, ten projects were carried out in 2018, of which three were selected in competitive calls for proposals for non-governmental organisations and seven were implemented through the Office of the Polish Representative to the Palestinian National Authority in Ramallah. Polish aid for Palestine also included scholarships for Palestinian students and payments to international institutions. Among the various UN agencies, the key partner for Poland was the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Middle East (UNRWA), which provides humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees in the Middle East in the field of education and health care. Poland has been supporting UNRWA activities continuously since 2007 by means of payments to the agency’s general budget or in reply to specific appeals related to the most urgent needs (in 2018, Poland donated PLN 2 million in multilateral development cooperation).
In 2018, the total ODA for Palestine was PLN 5.29 million.
