Tracking External Donor Funding.pdf - NDC

While the Figure 35 shows a relative stability in the
location of donor HQs in the Central West Bank,
between 2006 and 2008, the number of international
agencies with HQs in Ramallah increases by nearly
10%, mirrored by a near 10% decrease in Jerusalem over
the same period. This trend towards Ramallah from
Jerusalem, in terms of the location of Donor Agencies’
HQs, seems to have been mirrored by the percentage of
international aid received by PNGOs in the area. In
1999, 49% of PNGO budgets came from abroad, after
which it had dropped to only 21.4% in 2006. PNGOs
working in Ramallah on the other hand received 37%
and 71.4% of their funding from abroad in 1999 and
2006 respectively (MAS, 2007:76-77).
The Gaza Strip
Our team also looked into the trends of international aid
agencies HQs with respect to the Gaza Strip. As Figure
36 below shows, the number of international aid
agencies with HQs in the Gaza Strip peaked in 2001 at
nearly 12%, before declining to the present level under
5%. The gradual decline between 2001 and 2003
steepens between 2004 and 2005. Between 2005 and
2006, the year of the Israeli ‘Disengagement’ Gaza,
there is a slight rise in international presence, perhaps in
preparation for the coming elections. The following year
though there is another decline into 2007; and since then,
the number of international agencies with HQs in Gaza
has remained just under 5% 45 . It must be noted that over
the two last years of the survey Gaza remained under a
siege, which brought in a number of new international
agencies, such as those from Qatar, and forced out a
number of others who were unable to guarantee access to
their staff or work with the de-facto Hamas
Administration 46 .
The Figure below also details the number of international
agencies with field offices in the Gaza Strip. While the
number of HQs begins to decrease in 2001, the number
of Field Offices begins to increase. However, in 2004,
both the number of HQs and Field Offices begins to
decrease. Between 2007 and 2008, the number of
agencies with Field Offices in the Gaza Strip rises by
more than 5%, perhaps due to the siege requiring
agencies to maintain a permanent staff in the area to
oversee ongoing projects. In 2008 there were only two
international governmental agencies listed as being
headquartered in Gaza, compared to four INGOs.
Largely the same is true of Field Offices as well, where
26 are maintained by INGOs in comparison to 14 by
IGOs or governmental agencies.
Figure 36: International Donors and Agency with HQs in the
Gaza Strip Compared to the Number of International Donors
and Agencies with Field Offices in the Gaza Strip (1999 – 2008)
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Head Quarters
Field Offices
Source: PASSIA Directory, 2000 – 2009
45
46
While the number of international agency HQs in Gaza may be low, the amount of dependency on international aid amongst Palestinian NGOs
is quite high. In 2006, with the exception of North Gaza, the remaining four districts’ PNGOs receive the highest percentage of budget from
abroad. In Rafah and Khan Younis it is over 80% (MAS, 2007:76). This dependency on international aid amongst Gazan PNGOs is mirrored by
the Gaza Strip as a whole, where 86% of the population is ‘heavily dependent’ upon international aid (MAS, Economic and Social Monitor 13).
Those agencies receiving USAID funding, for example, are not permitted to communicate or cooperate with individuals or organizations
affiliated to the Hamas party. Since the June 2007 skirmishes resulted in the takeover of the Gaza Strip by Hamas, the line between ‘affiliated’
and ‘unaffiliated’ to Hamas has blurred significantly. Despite this, a number of agencies, even those receiving USAID funds, have continued
working in the Strip and many are planning to increase their activities in the wake of the war on Gaza that began in the closing days of the
period studied.
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