PALESTINIAN CENTRAL BUREAU OF STATISTICS
PCBS

NEWSLETTER - January 2000

The PCBS is one of the Palestinian National Authority's civil and formal organisations. The PCBS shoulders the task of making the Palestinian Official statistical figure available for developmental policy - makers, planners and decision-takers in various demographic, economic and social fields.

The Master Plan represents a general framework for a detailed statistical system to be developed over a specific period of time. It constitutes a solid attempt to lay the basis for a scientific and practical statistical system. The main purpose of this conference is to create a framework for PCBS' practices for the next decade and benefit from the international experience by having these newly proposed documents and framework discussed and evaluated by qualified and selected experts.

As a result of this conference we expect to obtain valuable comments from the participants on our proposed Master Plan II. According to these comments, and recommendations, the Master Plan will be revised and updated. The target group of this conference is high level Palestinian individuals such as ministries, and decision takers as well as heads of international statistical agencies and internationally well known statisticians. The Conference is planned to take place later this year in Ramallah, Palestine.

An agreement securing the 3^rd phase of the project between the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the GTZ was signed by the three parties on the 7^th October, 1999 at the PCBS office in Al-Bireh, on the third phase of the project.

The project "Support to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS)" is the first technical co-operation project implemented at the national level after the 1993 Oslo Agreement. The PCBS has to be built from scratch, starting from the recruitment of staff to developing the technical capacity to carry out economic surveys, data processing and program budgeting.

The project aims to support the PCBS in achieving the capacity to produce economic statistics in a routine and cost efficient mode by the year 2000. German Support to the PCBS provides technical and financial assistance in two main areas:

• The establishment of a system of economic statistics and national accounts.
• The setting up of an efficient administrative and management infrastructure through program budgeting and a management information system (MIS).

Dr. Hasan Abu-Libdeh, President of PCBS, travelled to Jordan on January 26^th, 2000 to sign a twinning agreement with the Department of Statistics in Jordan (DOS). This agreement aims to achieve cooperation between the two parties in methodologies that would greatly benefit both parties. The fields of cooperation agreed upon can be summarised as follows: development of statistical work in different areas, exchange of raw data, experts and publications, joint research, study visits, joint projects, public relations, international relations, management development, dissemination methodologies, etc.

The Gender Statistics Program at PCBS is preparing, in cooperation with the British Council, to hold a workshop on Gender Statistics directed to the members of the Palestinian Legislative Council. PCBS has produced a publication on "Women and Men in Palestine - Issues and Statistics" which has a great echo within the Palestinian Society.

The aim of this workshop is to provide planners and policy-makers with adequate statistics on the situation of Women and Men and to create awareness amongst policy makers and planning bodies by providing them with relevant statistical information. The Palestinian Legislative Council members (PLC), Planners, related Ministries and organisation as well as other people interested in Gender Issues are the target group of this event. It's planned to be held on February 2000.

A workshop on Access to Resources and Ownership Survey, 1999 was held on November 24^th, 1999 at PCBS. Through this survey, basic developmental indicators were obtained such as information on equal opportunities for men and women in terms of actions, decisions and rights which are reflected through their actual access to resources and ownership. Governmental institutions, private sectors, NGOs and other institutions interested in development issues participated in the workshop.

The Gender Statistics Program (GSP) at PCBS is now conducting the first ever Time Use Survey in Palestine. This survey is being partially funded by the Norwegian Government through the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD). The Survey will provide information on the Palestinian's daily life structure; their main activities, when they carry them, how and with whom. The fieldwork operations started in May 1999 and the preparation process of the report on the results is ongoing. The survey is expected to end in May 2000 and the main findings are to be published before the end of the year 2000.

PCBS is planning to implement one of the major surveys of this year " The Second Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey" (MICS II). The objective of this survey is to collect data to evaluate family planning and health programs and further assess the demographic and health situation in Palestine.

A long-term objective is to institutionalise PCBS' capability to carry out surveys and use results so that the projects can continue with diminishing external support. This survey will be implemented in cooperation with the Ministry of Health, UNICEF and UNFPA.

While a number of studies have recently been conducted on the situation of working children in the West Band and Gaza Strip, their bases of information is fragmented and incomplete. A data collection program on working children in the West Bank and Gaza Strip will cover children below the age of 14 as well as those in higher age categories.

The strategy of this program will be to build the in-country capacity to carry out a child labour survey in Palestine. The creation of a national data bank consisting of statistical data and information on institutions/organisations active in the field of child labour will be developed. This survey is implemented in cooperation with The International Labour Organisation (ILO).

• The Aid Management Department and the Censuses Directorate have finalised, in cooperation with the Department for International Development (DFID) and the UNFPA, the project document of the Analysis and Dissemination of the Census Findings. The project agreement is expected to be signed soon.
• An agreement was reached with the Department for International Development (DFID) to cover the printing costs of the Census Findings.
• An agreement was reached between the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics and CESD - Rome to fund the Tourism Project. The main purpose of this project is to collect and disseminate basic harmonised statistics on Tourism.
• The Aid Management Department is putting most of its efforts to seek funds for the Agricultural Census which is planned to take place in the year 2000.
• Negotiations on the extension of the Labour Force Statistics project for a third phase is ongoing with the Swiss Government through the Swiss Development Cooperation.