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Crédits WFP/Elias Halabi
Publié sur décembre 28, 2020

Update: Social Protection for Persons with Disabilities and Older Persons in the State of Palestine


The State of Palestine’s Joint Programme (JP) for Integrated Social Protection accelerates poverty reduction, reduce inequalities and increase food security amongst persons with disabilities (PwD) and older persons (OP), while paying a specific focus to women. The JP plans to pilot integrated solutions for these vulnerable groups in Hebron governorate, where it will generate the evidence needed to scale-up nationwide.

 

Over the first nine months, the JP has reported significant progress, providing technical support to the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) to finalize the legal and policy frameworks for PwD and OP, as well as to lay the groundwork for a comprehensive statistics database for PwD. Moreover, in tandem with a local policy research institute, drafting an inception report for the costing of a revised disability law. Finally, the JP has conducted a review of the performance of a multi-dimensional approach that had been adopted by the Government to determine eligibility criteria for cash and in-kind assistance. 

 

The Joint SDG Fund has authorized all JPs to repurpose up to 20% of funding for COVID-related activities. In the State of Palestine, repurposing flexibility has allowed PUNOs to conduct a mapping exercise of social protection interventions so as to provide critical data for emergency response coordination. A rapid assessment of COVID-19’s impact on the labour market– focusing on vulnerable workers in the formal sector– has also been completed, which will assist the MoSD in updating and enhancing social protection and crisis response efforts. In view of the public health crisis, it is the ability to respond to emerging needs in this way that has enabled the JP to remain both productive and relevant over the first nine months.