The Development Resource Centre

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The DSP has established a special unit for development resources which includes an up-to-date library and information center. The unit is being expanded to be a repository for written and audio-visual references, reports, and documents that examine development issues on the local, regional and international levels. When fully operational, the resource center will be capable of providing research information and data to governmental and non-governmental organizations and to individuals, whether through resources available at the center itself or through resources of Arab and international development studies centers accessible by the latest technologies.

The Resource Center works to acquire information and data, both printed (books, journals, reports) and audio-visual. The center will serve the needs of a large number of researchers, students, and individuals from government and non-government organizations interested in development issues. It will also be the main resource for researchers working on the Human Development Report.

To enrich its development library, the Center is always working on acquiring new sources of information and a database by contacting individuals, institutions, publishers, and bookshops for donations and exchange of material and ideas.

Development in Palestine: An Annotated Bibliography

The Development Studies Programme has completed work on an annotated bibliography of reference material on development in Palestine. The bibliography provides an information base for development issues in Palestine, which will enrich the Palestinian library with authoritative reference material and will facilitate the work of many researchers. The bibliography will be updated regularly.

Resource Center Library

The Resource Center continues to be enriched through a series of different activities.

The Bibliography

As stated above, titles from all sources produced in Palestine on development issues were collected and published in this Annotated Bibliography. The Center is now working on acquiring all the resources included in the Bibliography, and so far has succeeded in collecting most listings.

Creating a Network of Relations

The Center has built an extensive resource network with sixty governmental and non-governmental organizations with whom the center exchanges publications. The Center also boasts cooperative relations with 125 organizations and experts. The Center has a mailing list that includes contact information for organizations and individuals interested in development. This mailing list is regularly updated.

Acquisitions

Always working towards enriching the Center’s holdings, in November 1998, employees of the Center attended the International Book Expo in Amman, Jordan. They have also actively participated in three local exhibitions in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Gaza.

The Center contains 800 Arabic and 700 English titles on topics such as development, human development, human resources, women, civil society, NGOs, labor and the environment. The Center also has nearly the same number of reports and essays. The Center is interested in periodicals and currently contains twenty Arabic periodical subscriptions.

The Campaign to Enrich the Resource Center

This campaign was launched on the internet and in newspapers in order to reach out to the community and ask for their help in enriching the Resource Center. This is an on-going effort to increase the Center’s holdings. This is evidence of the Center’s dedication to building a comprehensive Development library, and the extent to which the Center is eager to involve the community at large in this endeavor.

The “Knowledge for All” Campaign

The Center seeks to reach out to all interested people and is currently working on a campaign that distributes DSP publications at large. The Center has managed to set up a Development Reference Section of DSP resources at six main libraries in the West Bank and four main libraries in the Gaza Strip. Publications are also distributed to all West Bank and Gaza Strip university libraries.

Abstracts

The Center works on abstracting all recent local publications relating to development issues and publishes these abstracts in Al-Baydar, the DSP’s newspaper distributed as a supplement in Al-Ayyam daily newspaper.

Integrating Human Development in University Courses

Because of its belief in the importance of the academic dimension of development, the DSP cooperates with Palestinian universities and academic centers to integrate and improve the curriculum relating to development studies in their educational programmes.

The DSP proposed to Palestinian universities and other local institutions of higher education the idea of developing courses related to, or specialized in, development. The Programme contacted the chairpersons of the Departments of Sociology, Economics, Education, Women’s Studies, Social Development, and Family Development, among others, and explained to them the above idea. Copies of DSP publications were suggested as sources of information, additional reading material, or part of the curriculum. Copies were also presented to university libraries for the benefit of students and researchers. The DSP will continue to provide such publications to all those interested.

Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 1998.

·     Cuba : from revolution to development / Ken Cole .- London: Pinter , 1998.

·     Democratization and the media / Edited by Vicky Randall .- London : Frank Cass, 

·     Economy - environment - development  - knowledge / Ken Cole London: Routledge, 1999. 

·     Effectiveness and reform of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) / Stephan Klingebiel .- London : Frank Cass, 1999. 

·     Environment and development prospects in the West Bank and Gaza Strip / Study prepared by Ramzi M. Sansur .- Geneva : UNCTAD, 1995. 

·     The Euro-mediterranean partnership : political and economic Perspectives / Edited by richard Gillspie .- London : Frank Cass, 1997. 

·     Exposed realities : Palestinian residency rights in the self rule areas, three years after partial Israeli redeployment  / Manal Jamal, Buthaina Darwish .- Bethlehem : BADIL - Alternative Information Center, 1997. 

·     From boycott to economic cooperation : the political economy of The Arab boycott of Israel / Gil Geiler .- London : Frank Cass , 1998. 

·     The future of  rural development between the adjustment of the Project approach and sectoral programme design / Hans Gsanger .- London: Frank Cass , 1998. 

·     Higher education systems in the Arab States : development of science and  technology indicators / Prepared for the UNESCO Cairo Office by Subhi Qasem .- Canada : Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) , 1998. 

·     The implementation of labor-related articles in the protocol on economic relations between the government of Israel and the PLO : a critical assessment /by Leila Farsakh .- Ramallah : Palestine Economic Policy Research Institute, 1999 

·     Jerusalem 1948 : the Arab neighborhoods and their fate in the war / Salim Tamari, editor .- Jerusalem : The Institute of Jerusalem Studies, 1999. 

·     Palestine and the European Union : a partnership for peace and economic Development / Edited by Mohammad Shtayyeh .- Jerusalem: The Centre, 1999. 

·     Perspectives on Development : the Euro-Mediterranean partnership / Edited By George Joffe .- London : Frank Cass, 1999. 

·     Research and development systems in the Arab States : development of science and technology indicators / Prepared for the UNESCO Cairo Office by Subhi Qasem.- [s.l] : Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA), 1998. 

·     The role of the state in development processes / edited by Claude Auroi.- London Frank Cass, 1992. 

·     Role of the state in poverty alleviation III and best practices in poverty reduction : Workshop papers.- Norway : Comparative Research Programme on Poverty (CROP) 1999 

·     Youth voter participation : involving today’s young in tomorrow’s democracy .- Sweden : International IDEA, 1999.