Italy and UNDP hand over the Civil Service Leadership Programme to the General Personnel Council – UNDP/PAPP press release

Press Release

Italy and UNDP hand over to the General Personnel Council

the Civil Service Leadership Programme

Ramallah, 13 December 2011 – Marking its successful completion, the General Personnel Council (GPC), in cooperation with the Government of Italy and the United Nations Development Programme held a handover ceremony for the Civil Service Leadership Development programme and assets. The Government of Italy funded the USD 1.3 million programme through UNDP to train senior civil servants in managing and leading change.

The main objective of the programme is to train 1200 senior civil servants (800 in the West Bank and 400 in Gaza) in leadership and administrative competencies in order to enable them to implement the professional development plans at their workplace, discuss jointly problems and solutions, deliver better services and guide change within their organization.

During the handover ceremony, Mr. Musa Abu Zaid, Chairman of the GPC expressed his thanks to the Government of Italy and UNDP for supporting this programme and preparing Palestinian managerial leaders to rise to the needed level of responsibility and public service.

Civil Service training was carried out in conjunction with Birzeit University’s Centre for Continuing Education/Unit for Learning Innovation covering communications skills, leadership, negotiations, human resources management, financial awareness, legal awareness, policy formulation, strategic planning, conflict management and crises management.

“The Italian Cooperation support to this programme highlights the special attention given by our Country to the strengthening of local institutions, within the last 10 years”, said Mr. Silvano Tabbò, Director of the Italian Cooperation Office in Jerusalem. “The excellent outcomes of this programme would not have been achieved without the proficient collaboration with UNDP/PAPP, the expertise of Birzeit University Centre for Continuing Education (CCE) and the continuous commitment of the GPC and the civil servants themselves”, he added.

“The programme is a clear manifestation of UNDP’s role in state building and nurturing of future civil servants,” said Mr. Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative. “The skills acquired will allow them to carry out their roles effectively to support the Palestinian Development Plan,” he added.

The handover ceremony, which took place on 13 December 2011 at the GPC office in Ramallah, was attended by Mr. Musa Abu Zaid, Chairman of GPC, Dr. Silvano Tabbò, Director of the Italian Cooperation Office in Jerusalem, and Mr. Frode Mauring, UNDP Special Representative of the Administrator.

For further information, please contact:

In Jerusalem: Dania Darwish, Communications Officer, Tel. +972-2-6268229 – e-mail:

dania.darwish@undp.org, For more information on UNDP/PAPP see http://www.undp.ps .

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