{"id":209978,"date":"2013-05-22T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T19:51:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?p=209978"},"modified":"2019-03-12T19:51:45","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T19:51:45","slug":"auto-insert-209978","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/auto-insert-209978\/","title":{"rendered":"Emergency Services Support Program (ESSP) – World Bank programme update"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Support to education, health, social care, and public utility services for the Palestinian population<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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Financed entirely by eleven donors, the World Bank-administered <\/span>Emergency Services Support Program (ESSP) Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF) <\/a>provided key financing for the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) social sector emergency program. This program was successfully implemented, despite the difficult security context, and benefited the entire Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza. At the conclusion of the project, public facilities continued to operate at the same or higher levels than the 2007 baselines. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Challenge<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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The continuing volatility of the political and security situation in the West Bank and Gaza (WB&G) was a tremendous challenge.  Tight restrictions on movements of people and goods between the West Bank and Gaza because of the closures imposed by Israel contributed to a fragmentation of the Palestinian economic space, depriving many Palestinians of their livelihoods. In early 2006, Israel made the decision to suspend the transfer of domestic Palestinian tax and other revenues that it collected on behalf of the Palestinian Authority (PA). This led to a severe fiscal crisis that undermined public institutions and the delivery of essential public services by the PA.  Insufficient domestic revenues squeezed operating budgets, leaving limited resources for these services and periodic work stoppages by staff that were not paid their salaries contributed to disruptions and declines in the provision of health, education, and social welfare services. <\/p><\/div>\n

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Solution<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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The <\/span>ESSP MDTF<\/u><\/a> was a pure emergency operation with a focus on project outputs, to maintain essential operation of public education, health, social care and utility facilities.  The design of the ESSP MDTF was informed by the lessons learned from the implementation of the previous ESSPs.  However, under the ESSP MDTF, donors pooled their resources in a single trust fund, the Multi-Donor Trust Fund (MDTF). The Bank provided no resources to the Fund, but instead acted as Fund administrator.  Each donor entered into an administration agreement (AA) with the Bank, and then the Bank entered into grant agreements with the PA.  The establishment of a single trust fund reduced transaction costs for the PA and donors.  Supervision responsibility for implementation rested solely with the Bank. <\/span><\/p><\/div>\n

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Results<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n

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The assistance provided through the ESSP MDTF not only prevented a deterioration of education, health, social and public utility services in the Palestinian territories, but it also supported some expansion of service delivery despite the very difficult context.  With one exception, project targets were met or exceeded and, at the conclusion of the project, facilities continued to operate at the same or higher levels than the 2007 baselines.  Examples include:<\/p><\/div>\n

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