Mapping for Donor Funding of the Occupied Palestinian Territories: Limited, Disorganized and Fragmented Aid Data Undermining Transparency, Accountability and Planning.

This report consists of a mapping of donor aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) from 2012-14, and where possible, 2015. The information was compiled making use of multiple databases, reports and published studies, as well as direct letters of enquiry written to over thirty major donors asking them for information about their aid package for that period. In addition to compiling the most accurate account of aid currently in existence for that period, this report provides an analysis of that data and the mapping exercise itself.

This mapping exercise presented in this report is just an initial step down a longer path AidWatch Palestine is committed to take in helping community stakeholders and aid actors – local and international, public and private – to come together to participate in critical and constructive look at the way in which Palestinian aid is given. It is an essential step towards the objective of achieving aid effectiveness for an enormous, fragmented and opaque aid process, which has failed to achieve its primary developmental aims. The ultimate aim is to achieve aid effectiveness and improve the general welfare of people living in the region, for which transparency must first be achieved first.

This report consists of a mapping of donor aid to the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) from 2012-14, and where possible, 2015.

 There is no consistent, detailed data-set which documents overall aid to the OPT. There are rather, multiple datasets, each offering only partial data and a partial impression of the aid environment. This current research survey is the most comprehensive currently in existence.

 According to the OECD, over $30 billion in aid has been spent on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip between 1993 and 2014. Of the $30 billion plus provided in aid, $20 billion was allocated between 2006 and 2014, at an average of $2.2 billion per year, or $560 per capita per year. Nearly $7 billion was allocated between 2012 and 2014. The OECD database however, is imperfect because it does not, for instance, include aid figures spent on the OPT by Saudi Arabia, one of the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) main donors. This means that the overall aid is effectively higher than the $30 billion level estimated.

 According to the PA’s Ministry of Finance, between 2012 and 2016, the PA received approximately $4.481 billion in aid, of which 39% was from Arab donors and 61% from non-Arab donors. Of that, 87% ($3.909 billion) was allocated directly to PA budget support, while only 13% ($0.572 billion) was allocated as ‘development aid’.

 According to OECD data, the top 12 donors to Palestine between 2012 and 2014 provided 89% of overall aid. The top 5 donors are; the US, the EU, UNRWA, Norway and Germany which provided a combined 70% of overall aid. The OECD databases are notable for missing substantial portions of data, such as the large sums given by Saudi Arabia and Qatar.Meanwhile, the OECD database is one of the main datasets used by Palestinian aid actors, and probably the primary one used by OECD-DAC actors.

 According to data collated from the PA Ministry of Finance, the four biggest donors to the PA Between January 2012 and May 2016 were: the EU ($981 million), Saudi Arabia ($908 million), funds channeled through the World Bank ($872 million) and the US ($477 million).