رام الله – 20/9/2022 - أصدرت المبادرة الفلسطينية لتعميق الحوار العالمي والديمقراطية "مفتاح" اليوم موازنات المواطن للعام 2022، لعدد من وزارات القطاع الاجتماعي، في إطار التعاون مع UNDP، وضمن تدخلات برنامج العدالة الاجتماعية في السياسيات المالية العامة، والهادف إلى تعزيز معايير الشفافية الدولية في السياسات المالية العامة، من أجل التأثير في السياسات العامة باتجاه تضمين معايير العدالة الاجتماعية، من خلال توفير البيانات والحقائق وتقوية الدور الرقابي لمؤسسات المجتمع المدني.

وشملت موازنة المواطن لهذا العام عدداً من الوزارات ومنها وزارة العمل، والتربية والتعليم، والصحة، والتنمية الاجتماعية، والمالية، وذلك من خلال تعميق التعاون مع مراكز المسؤولية في القطاع الاجتماعي، والنابع من أهمية موازنة المواطن كوثيقة مبسطة يتم من خلالها استعراض موازنة الوزارة لسنة مالية محددة، موزعة حسب البرامج والبنود، وأوجه الإنفاق المخطط لها، والمشاريع التطويرية لكل وزارة، مما يتيح للمواطنين تتبع المال العام وتوزيعه على مراكز المسؤولية المختلفة، وصولاً لتعزيز مشاركة المواطنين والفئات المجتمعية المختلفة في التخطيط للموازنات العامة بما يضمن الأخذ بعين الاعتبار احتياجاتهم.

وقد بينت موازنات المواطن حصة كل وزارة في القطاع الاجتماعي من مجمل الموازنة العامة والتي بلغت 19 مليار شيكل للعام 2022، حيث بلغت نسبة وزارة الصحة 12% من اجمالي النفقات العامة، بموازنة قدرها 2.1 مليار شيكل، استحوذ برنامج خدمات رعاية صحية ثانية وثالثية على النصيب الأكبر من موازنة وزارة الصحة بنسبة 76.8%.

كما بلغت موازنة وزارة التربية والتعليم للعام 2022، (3.4) مليار شيكل، بنسبة وصلت إلى 18.7% من إجمالي النفقات العامة، موزعة على ست برامج رئيسية واستحوذ برنامج التعليم الأساسي على ما نسبته 52.82% من موازنة الوزارة لهذا العام، بينما كان نصيب برنامج التعليم المهني 1.94% فقط.

أما بالنسبة لموازنة المواطن لوزارة التنمية الاجتماعية، فقد وصلت ما نسبته 4.7% من إجمالي الموازنة العامة، حيث استحوذ برنامج التمكين ومكافحة الفقر بكافة أشكاله على ما نسبته 92.7% من الموازنة المخصص للوزارة، كما (489) مليون شيكل لبرنامج التحويلات النقدية، والذي يستفيد منه 125 ألف أسرة فلسطينية في الضفة الغربية وقطاع غزة، حيث يساهم الاتحاد الأوربي بنسبة 45%، وتغطي الحكومة ما نسبته 55% من قيمة البرنامج.

وفي فتح باب التعاون مع وزارة العمل، تم اصدار موازنة المواطن 2022 للوزارة، حيث بلغت حصت وزارة العمل (78) مليون شيكل فقط، أي ما نسبته 0.45% من إجمالي النفقات العامة، استحوذ على معظمها برنامج التدريب المهني والتشغيل والتعاون بنسبة بلغت 54.7%.

ومن الجدير ذكره، أن "مفتاح" استكملت اصدار موازنات المواطن لهذا العام من خلال نشرها عبر منصة إلكترونية، كانت أطلقتها بالتعاون مع الوزارات المستهدفة، في مسعى لتعميق التعاون من أجل اصدار موازنة المواطن بشكل دوري ومنتظم من خلال استصدار قرار من مجلس الوزراء بتبني المنصة واعتمادها لنشر البيانات المالية العامة وتمكين المواطنين من الوصول إليها.

Ramallah – 19/9/2022 –MIFTAH recently released its 2021/2022 biannual expenditure reports for a number of social sector ministries, as part of its cooperation with UNDP and its social justice program interventions for public fiscal policies. The objective of this program is to promote international transparency standards in public spending policies, in order to shed light on gaps in expenditures in the social sector and their impact on public policies, to ensure standards of social justice in the development of public policies and spending plans.

The findings of the reports for the Ministries of Labor, Education, Health and Social Development, included percentages for their actual spending for the first half of 2022, in comparison to actual spending for the same period in 2021. This reflected several indicators, which showed how public spending was channeled and how committed the Palestinian government is to the financial ceilings of official institutions, in their ratification of the general budget. The reports’ findings showed several gaps in the actual spending of official institutions in the social sector.

According to the Ministry of Social Development’s biannual report, the actual spending was lower in the first half of 2022, compared to 2021. It dropped by ILS111 million from the first half of 2021, whereby the spending rate did not exceed 78% of expenditures in 2021. The report also showed a drop in actual spending in referral costs, which include cash payments to underprivileged families, during the first half of this year. It dropped from ILS461 million during the first half of 2021 to ILS349 million in the first half of 2022. It should be noted that the Ministry of Social Development only disbursed one piecemeal installment for underprivileged families during the first half of this year instead of two.

The Ministry of Education report, including higher education and research, indicated a 3.2% increase in actual spending in the first half of 2022, compared to actual spending in the same period in 2021, which stood at ILS53 million. Spending was primarily on salaries, wages and social contributions in the first half of 2022, at 88.6%, compared to 88.3% of actual spending for the education sector in the first half of 2021.

The actual spending of the Ministry of Health in the first half of 2022 was ILS1,072 million from a total of ILS7,491.5 million of actual spending in the 2022 biannual general budget, or 14.3% of total expenditures. The report also showed that actual spending on commodities and services increased during the first half of 2022, compared to 2021, where it amounted to ILS565.8 million, compared to ILS544.9 million in the first half of 2021.This clause also includes the purchase of medicines and medical referrals.

At the Ministry of Labor, actual spending for the first half of this year was ILS24.6 million of ILS7,491,5 million of the 2022 biannual general budget’s total actual spending, or 0.33% of overall expenditures. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Labor’s spending rate during the same period in 2021 was only 0.29% of overall expenditures, which indicates the ministry’s humble share of public expenditures in spite of its major role in leading the operational sector and its policies in Palestine.

MIFTAH, in cooperation with civil society institutions, is looking to release position and demand papers to present to the various social sector institutions, with the objective of influencing current spending policies employed by the government. This is in addition to providing organized and periodic access to this data on a website that includes citizens’ budgets and expenditure reports, which MIFTAH developed.

Ramallah – 20/9/2022 – This week, MIFTAH released the 2022 Citizens’ Budgets for several social sector ministries, as part of its cooperation with UNDP and its social justice program interventions in public fiscal policies. The objective of this program is to promote standards of international transparency in public spending policies, to guarantee standards of social justice in public policies through providing facts and figures and strengthening the oversight role of civil society institutions.

The Citizens’ Budgets this year included the Labor, Education, Health, Finance and Social Development Ministries, as part of cooperation with official institutions in the social sector. The value of the citizens’ budget comes from the fact that it is a simplified document highlighting the ministry’s budget for a specific fiscal year. It shows how the funds are distributed according to programs and provisions, planned expenditures and developmental projects in each ministry. This allows citizens to monitor public funds and how they are distributed to the various official institutions in order to promote the participation of citizens and various social sectors in the planning of general budgets in a way that takes into consideration their needs.

The citizens’ budget shows the share of each ministry in the social sector in the overall general budget, which was ILS19 billion in 2022. The Health Ministry’s share was 12% of overall public expenditures, with a budget of ILS2.1 billion shekels. The health care services program took the lion’s share of the Ministry’s budget, or 76.8%.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education’s 2022 budget was ILS3.4 billion, or 18.7% of overall public expenditures and distributed over six main programs. The primary education program took the lion’s share of the budget, at 52.82%, while the vocational education program only had a share of 1.94%.

As for the Ministry of Social Development, its citizens’ budget stood at 4.7% of the overall general budget, with the combatting poverty and empowerment program taking the biggest share of 92.7% of the ministry’s allocated budget. Furthermore, ILS489 million were allocated to the cash referral program from which 125,000 Palestinian families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip benefit. The EU contributed 45% of this amount while the government covered 55% of the program.

The Labor Ministry’s 2022 citizens’ budget was released, with the Ministry’s share only ILS78 million, or 0.45% of overall public expenditures. Most of this money was allocated to the vocational training, operations and cooperation program, at 54.7%.

It is noteworthy that MIFTAH completed the publication of citizens’ budgets this year by posting them on an e-platform, which it launched in cooperation with the targeted ministries, in order to strengthen cooperation and ensure periodic release of these budgets. This followed a cabinet decision to adopt and ratify the e-platform for the publication of public fiscal information and citizens’ access to it.

(September 8, 2022): On Thursday, MIFTAH hosted a group of European Union and like-minded diplomats and our Board of Directors’ Chairperson Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, and Deputy Nour Odeh briefed them on latest Israeli crimes and human rights violations in relation to recent political developments.

Firstly, we expressed the Palestinian civil society's deep concern regarding the European Union’s revival of the EU-Israel Association Council and the new gas deal, which is rewarding Israel instead of ending its impunity and holding it accountable for persistent crimes. We also discussed the new "COGAT" Directive, another Israeli attempt at demographic engineering, which will further restrict the lives and movement of Palestinians and affect European nationals and exchange programs too. Also, we stressed that while Israel is crossing EU "red lines" by advancing the E1 illegal settlement bloc intended to suffocate occupied Jerusalem, and escalating its assault on Palestinian civil society, real accountability remains nowhere to be found.

Additionally, we also talked about the ongoing ethnic cleansing and forced displacement of Palestinians which continues unabated in Masafer Yatta and Jerusalem in the occupied West Bank among other areas. Similarly, we highlighted the need for intervention to end Israeli administrative detention, which holds Palestinians indefinitely without charge or trial, including Palestinian-French human rights defender Salah Hammouri. We also highlighted the collusion of the Israeli government and settlers that tie archeological and cultural sites to a Jewish-only narrative as a pretext to facilitate the theft of more Palestinian land and resources.

Finally, the speakers appreciated the active diplomatic missions that express solidarity through field visits and statements but called for this to be translated into a change in policy in their capitals to contribute effectively to bring justice and peace.