Ramallah, 23 November 2021 – Under the auspices of His Excellency the Prime Minister, Dr Mohammad Shtayyeh, an agreement in the amount of Euro 10 million to support the “Investment Programme for Resilience” (IPR) was signed by Germany through KfW and UNDP today. The contribution will raise the total funds from Germany to the project to Euro 29 million.

In his opening remarks, H.E. Prime Minister Shtayyeh said: “Thanks to Germany, the taxpayers, the government, the KFW, and indeed to UNDP for their spirit of cooperation on a number of projects that are vital to our people. These projects are a lever for the economy for us to strengthen our people's steadfastness and provide them with better service on the one hand, and to achieve the political goal that we aspire to, which is to end the occupation and build our independent Palestinian state on the other.”

The IPR supports Palestinian communities to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, mitigate the medium to longer-term socio-economic effects in the areas of health and employment, and enhance access to sustainable and quality services.

The additional contribution will focus on strengthening access to socio-economic services and enhancing social engagement in marginalized communities across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip. Interventions will include the rehabilitation, construction, and expansion of small-scale infrastructure, capacity development of entities to manage and operate the targeted facilities, and the organization of locally designed and implemented social cohesion activities.

“The IPR is a success story, showing quick and flexible reaction to needs. After the immediate support of urgent health requirements last year, we are now supporting communities to cope with the medium and long term implications of Corona”, Mr Michael Herold, Acting Head of the German Representative Office stated. “The IPR will also contribute to creating hundreds of short-term employment opportunities through construction works and long-term sustainable jobs for the operation and management of the new services provided, providing income and perspectives for Palestinians,” he continued.  

UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator, Yvonne Helle, highlighted that UNDP’s transformative resilience approach is a key component in the sustainably of this programme and its impact on the lives of tens of thousands of people. “UNDP values its strong partnership with the Palestinian Government and Germany. This new contribution will strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian population and enable us to deliver transformative impact and build a better future together”.

In its first phase, IPR focused on addressing short-term needs brought about by COVID-19. Around 1,150 health workers (skilled and un-skilled) were deployed in 119 health facilities across the State of Palestine, generating approximately 246,261 workdays. Urgent medical equipment was also provided to some of the health facilities to enhance the health sector’s preparedness and response capacity to COVID-19.

IPR builds on Germany’s partnership with UNDP since 2002 through the Employment Generation Programme (EGP) in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip for which Germany has provided more than 100 million Euro so far.

For further information, please contact:

German Representative Office in Ramallah

Hanna Ilge Tel.  +972-2-2977647 – e-mail: wz-2@rama.diplo.de. For more information on the German Representative Office see https://ramallah.diplo.de/.

KfW - German Development Bank

Fida Abdel-Latif Tel. +970-2-2400730 – e-mail: Fida.Abdel-latif@kfw.de  KfW Office Ramallah / Al Bireh. For more information on KfW Development Bank see http://www.kfw-entwicklungsbank.de.

United Nations Development Programme

Dania Darwish, Communications Specialist, Tel. +972-2-6268229 – e-mail: dania.darwish@undp.org. For more information on UNDP/PAPP see /sites/g/files/zskgke326/files/migration/arabstates/www.ps.undp.org.