Tracking External Donor Funding.pdf - NDC

In the Central West Bank, Ramallah and Bireh are
home to over 130 PNGOs who have almost doubled
their reliance upon international aid between 1999 and
2006, from 37% to over 71%. In Jerusalem, both the
number of PNGOs and their percentage of reliance on
external aid decreased. Jericho, the least active
governorate in terms of PNGO activity and external
aid, moves from 9 to 17 PNGOs between 1999 and
2006, while the dependence of these organizations
remained steady around 8% of their total budgets.
In the Southern West Bank, both Hebron and
Bethlehem have seen an increase their number of
PNGOs, as well as increased the dependence of these
organizations on external aid. However, reliance on
external aid is much higher in Bethlehem (63.3%) than
in Hebron (35.6%) and has increased more
dramatically between 1999 and 2006.
In the Gaza Strip, the number of PNGOs increased
dramatically throughout all of the governorates
between 1999 and 2006. Furthermore, all of the
PNGOs operating in the Strip derive at least half of
their budgets from external donors. In Khan Younis
and Rafah, the dependence on external donors is the
highest in the WB&GS at over 80%.
3.8.3 Geographic Distribution of External Donor
HQs in the WB&GS
The location of the HQs of external donors was
gathered through a mapping of ten years of PASSIA
Directories 42 . External NGOs and Governmental
donors are located overwhelmingly in the Central West
Bank, in Ramallah and Jerusalem, with no presence in
Jericho. According to our sample, nearly 84.5% of
International agency HQs are in the Central West
Bank, as opposed to only 5.6% in the North, 5.3% in
the South and 4.6% in the Gaza Strip (see appendix for
full 10 year statistical layout). On a regional basis, this
remains virtually unchanged over the 10 year period.
represent the political centers of Israelis and
Palestinians. As such, international agencies gravitate
to where the decision makers are. Though this is
natural in the case of Governmental donors, the same
holds true for INGO ones as well.
The concentration of international agencies in the
Central West Bank raises interesting questions
concerning PNGO access to external aid.
Can these agencies be accessed as easily by
PNGOs located outside of these cities and
surrounded by a series of checkpoints and
obstacles; or are the more ‘cosmopolitan’ elite
urban PNGOs in Ramallah and Jerusalem given
an advantage by their proximity to donors
In 2006, PNGOs with HQs in Ramallah and Bireh
received 71.4% of their funding from external sources.
This is in stark contrast to more marginalized cities in
the Northern or Southern West Bank. PNGOs located
in Hebron, for example, receive only 35.6% of their
funding from abroad; while those located in Tulkarm
receive only 20.2% 44 . It should be noted that the
percentage of funding from external sources of PNGOs
in Ramallah and Bireh has nearly doubled since 1999
(MAS, 2007:76-77).
Secondly, do donors prefer to work with NGOs in
the Central West Bank due to the much greater
freedom of movement and access they enjoy in the
region that makes oversight easier and more
efficient
As you will see below, 69.6% of external aid
partnerships are made with PNGO headquartered in the
Central West Bank. According to our previous
mappings, PNGOs working at the national and seminational
levels are also overwhelmingly located in
either Ramallah or Jerusalem.
In Palestine, where projects and programs are
undertaken amidst a military occupation, restrictions on
movement are levied upon local and international aid
workers alike. The overwhelming presence in
Ramallah and Jerusalem, where access and movement
to international workers is facilitated by a series of
specialized checkpoints, is understandable for reasons
of comfort and efficiency 43 . Furthermore, the two cities
42
43
Full data on the results of this survey can be found in the
appendix. Surveyed PASSIAs were from 2009 to 2000, with
each year representing the data from the year before.
Due to the DCO and the access to ‘settler routes’, such as
Hizme, international aid workers can move more easily
between Jerusalem and Ramallah than any other major city
centers within the WB&GS. Once inside of Israeli-controlled
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Jerusalem, international workers have better access to the
entirety of the West Bank. For example, the typical drive time
from Jerusalem to Bethlehem can be just ten minutes. Due to
checkpoints and the destroyed or diverted transportation
network of the WB&GS, a drive from Ramallah to Bethlehem
can take hours.
In those communities where external aid to PNGOs is relatively
lower, the organizations tend to rely much more heavily on
local aid and revenue-generating activities (MAS, 2007:68).
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