Outcome PAL_D_2.1

National policies promote decent work and economic opportunities for women in Palestine

The reform of the current labour legislation from a gender perspective continued to be a key priority under the Ministry of Labour&rsquo;s agenda as a result of the national dialogue created through the UN Women &ldquo;Promoting Women&rsquo;s Equal Access to Economic Opportunities and Decent Work&rdquo; project jointly implemented with ILO. More women are practising their rights to freedom of association and their right to organize and bargain collectively: 87 work committees were established at the enterprise level in various sectors, 32 of them in the private schools and kindergarten sector and the total number of women workers members of the PGFTU reached 2,613 as of early 2021, compared with a number of 1,750 in 2019. Work Committees in the place of work and the representation of more women in trade unions are vital steps towards enhancing voice and representation of women whereby more inclusive bi-partite labour relations between Workers and Employers can be realized and improved working conditions and wages at sector or enterprise level can be negotiated. Additionally, the NCWE was revitalized and designed a new 3-year strategic plan that was submitted to and endorsed by the Minister of Labour in March 2021, with the ILO technical guidance and facilitation. The capacity of the Ministry of National Economy&rsquo;s ( MoNE ) team was enhanced on the development of gender responsive programmes and services that are in favour of women&rsquo;s needs and priorities. T echnical support was provided by UN Women ( through the secondment of a n expert at the M inistry), also UN Women enhanced the capacity of the MoNE Gender Unit (GU) t eam to measure the extent to which gender is mainstreamed in <span style="user-select:text;-webkit-user-drag:none;-webkit-tap-highlight-color:transparent;background-image:var(--urlSpellingErrorV2,url('data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz4KPHN2ZyB3aWR0aD0iNXB4IiBoZWlnaHQ9IjRweCIgdmlld0JveD0iMCAwIDUgNCIgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4xIiB4bWxucz0iaHR0cDovL3d3dy53My5vcmcvMjAwM

National policies promote decent work and economic opportunities for women in Palestine

Several poliy tools, policies and procedures were developed and implemented by national actors (MoNE and MoF). A policy is developed and implemented on legislative procedures related to registration and formalization of Micro, Small and Very Small (MSE&rsquo;s) led by women, youth and persons with disabilities. This resulted in reducing the registration fees for MSE&rsquo;s, led by the Ministry of National Economy (MoNE). A policy tool is developed to propose revising the procurement procedures in the National Procurement Law by the MoNE. The tool proposes providing priority conditions for women-led MSE&rsquo;s to participate in the governmental procurement processes and tenders in Palestine. The MoNE provided its proposal to the National Central Bidding Committee on the adoption and implementation of the tool developed on procurement practices. Since the governmental tenders contribute by 12 per cent to the GDP in Palestine, the proposed tool will enhance women&rsquo;s economic participation. A Women Economic Empowerment (WEE) Fund is established at the national level, providing business development services for women MSE&rsquo;s in the West Bank and Gaza, by the MoNE, with the leadership of an Advisory multi-stakeholder board. In total, a first group of 90 women business owners had access to in-kind grants. The women business owners are from underserved and remote locations in Palestine, including at risk communities. An E-Souq platform is established by the MoNE, comprising of women-led businesses in the handicrafts and ICT sectors. It serves as an online database for women-led MSE&rsquo;s and will enhance women&rsquo;s access to services provided by MoNE and other national actors. The establishment of this platform strengthened the coordination efforts between MoNE and national partners in the WEE sector, including ministries, civil society, chambers of commerce, private sector etc. Amendments to the draft Value Added Tax (VAT) Law, on article 61 on tax exemption ceilings in favour of MSE&rsquo;s, are proposed and approved by the Council of Ministers in August 2022, led by the Ministry of Finance (MoF). The new version of the draft Law, based on proposed amendments is being reviewed for adoption by the Palestinian Government through beginning of 2023. The proposed amendments contribute to benefitting the MSE&rsquo;s who have less access to services, mostly affected by the Pandemic and mostly disadvantaged. Since most of these businesses are led by women, youth and persons with disabilities, the proposed amendments take into consideration these businesses&rsquo; vulnerabilities. Partners gained knwoledge and skills on policy making from a gender equality perspective. This was achieved through UN Women capacity buidling and coaching programmes co-designed with the partners, based on a needs assessment conducted for the purpose of these interventions. Based on the needs assessment findings, the training and coaching programme was deisgned and implemented.