Briefing Note: Assessing decent employment situation and perspectives in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank – FAO

01 September 2024

Recommended Actions:

The ongoing conflict continues to have heavy repercussions on the lives and livelihoods of people in the Gaza Strip and a major impact on the socioeconomic fabric of the West Bank. This includes severe and long-lasting repercussions on the Palestinian labour market, which was already unable to adequately meet the needs of the population before the conflict.

Considering the uncertainty of the context in the OPT and the strong dependence of its labour market on Israel, FAO’s support to the OPT should combine the delivery of humanitarian aid with economic stabilization and job-preservation interventions in the agrifood sector, depending on the security situation and needs in the different parts of the territory.

The recommended actions foresee partnering with various development partners, such as ILO, UNCTAD, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and others, international and local civil society organizations and the private sector. FAO should also work with PA institutions to amplify the relief provided to the population, and in accordance with the relevant United Nations resolutions, the Road Map for Peace, the Annapolis Conference Joint Understanding and the Paris Conference.

At operational level

In the immediate term:

• Continue to assess the incomes and job prospects of the OPT to determine all the obstacles to creation of decent employment in order to strengthen and adapt assistance to the Palestinian people in line with available resources and operational activities.
• Support the rapid inclusion of internally displaced people and refugees in labour markets and educational opportunities, including by facilitating the recognition of educational credentials (if education attainments were hampered by the conflict), and leverage e-learning solutions when available.
• Provide income support through the facilitation of social payments and cash+ interventions that help in the rehabilitation of strategic agricultural infrastructure damaged by the conflict both in the Gaza Strip, once the fighting will allow, and the West Bank.
• Support economic stabilization measures in selected areas of the West Bank through development of the private sector, local employment partnerships and entrepreneurship training, in particular for women and youth (immediate, medium term and long-term interventions).
• As the conflict has a destructive impact on the socioeconomic environment and can increase the risk factors associated with child labour, actions should also provide emergency support to ultra poor households via their inclusion in social protection schemes and/or cash+ interventions.

In the medium term:

• Strengthen innovation on subjects related to agrifood systems in technical and vocational education and training centres and agricultural colleges for enhanced opportunities in both self-employment and waged work.
• Strengthen entrepreneurship and micro- and small-business start-up management skills and mentorship to enhance self-employment opportunities in agrifood systems.
• Strengthen the local private sector to enable an increase in the number of jobs in the agrifood sector.

At Institutional level

In the short, medium and long term:

• Strengthen the ability of the PA and its ministries to deliver decent employment programmes that generate jobs for young women and men in rural, peri-urban and urban areas within the OPT, in particular in the agrifood system.
• Create an enabling environment for improved integration of women and youth in the OPT labour market for agrifood systems.
• Support the development of innovative partnerships across the private and public sectors and stimulate private-sector investment to create decent employment in agrifood systems.
• Enhance social cohesion while supporting the systematic inclusion of youth in national dialogues and policy and strategic processes related to agrifood systems.