In Palestine, mobility restrictions, recurrent violence, displacement, unemployment, and asset loss, are major factors contributing to both the West Bank and Gaza's escalating poverty, persistent humanitarian needs, and increasing psychosocial distress. Even though poverty levels in the West Bank aren't as high as in Gaza, they're still substantial. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority has put in place a substantial cash transfer program for poverty relief.
Palestine's National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP), which started in 2010, aims to provide financial protection and dignity to vulnerable populations through unconditional monthly cash transfers. The program seeks to reduce vulnerability and ensure basic income security for its beneficiaries. Managed by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the NCTP is a key poverty-targeted social safety net costing around 1% of Palestine’s GDP, with substantial international funding.
It emerged from the 2009 merger of the TIM/PEGASE-funded Relief and Social Services Program and the World Bank's Social Safety Net Reform Project, which introduced a poverty-based targeting approach that broadened eligibility to include low-income families, the elderly persons over 65 years old, persons with severe disabilities, and children under three. In the West Bank, the program currently reaches 31,000 households, though limited funding leaves nearly 10,000 eligible families on the waiting list. In Gaza, however, poverty targeting is not applied due to extreme deprivation that renders standard metrics inadequate. Beneficiaries receive monthly cash payments ranging from ILS 250 to ILS 600 (about $1,106 annually), along with additional support such as health insurance, food aid, school fee waivers, and emergency cash. Despite its reach, the program faces logistical challenges, with frequent disruptions to payment delivery caused by ongoing conflict.
The Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) manages the program using a centralized social registry system. An online dashboard consolidates existing data from the social registry and information gathered through intake forms. This system contains detailed socioeconomic data collected through household-level surveys and case management tools. The MoSD identifies eligible beneficiaries based on vulnerability criteria such as age, income level, disability severity, and the absence of alternative income sources. Beneficiaries are also selected according to a consumption-based proxy means test formula (PMTF) that estimates the welfare of each applicant household. This way, the government is able to assess a household's poverty level by looking at a set of easily observable characteristics (like assets, housing conditions, demographics, etc.) rather than just income to determine their eligibility and the amount of money to be received. In the West Bank, local directorates support the registration process, data collection, and beneficiary identification.
As outlined in the criteria above, the NCTP primarily benefits the following groups:
- Low-income families living in poverty
- Elderly individuals (aged 65 and above)
- Persons with severe disabilities
- Children under 3 years of age
Due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the NCTP is currently interrupted in the region. The NCTP previously provided assistance to 70% of households in Gaza before October 2023 and cash transfers were distributed using e-wallets, with the goal of moving towards universal coverage, starting with the elderly, persons with disabilities, and children under three years old.
Palestine’s Ministry of Social Development already operates different components of cash transfers for elderly individuals and persons with severe disabilities and is planning to roll out child allowance from 0-3 years under the NCTP. These provide 250 ILS per month (payments have become monthly since the last quarter of 2024), but have some limited coverage. About 108,000 poor and vulnerable families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip received cash support four times a year through the programme in 2018. As of 2023, coverage was as follows:
● 28,000 elderly individuals, including 17,000 in Gaza, receive the benefit.
● 39,000 households (15,000 in the West Bank and 24,000 in Gaza) with persons with disabilities receive the benefit.
● 8300 children under 3, including 6000 in Gaza and 2300 in the West Bank.
Regarding financial resources, significant fiscal constraints limit the government's ability to expand programs. While the government is expected to cover 40% of the total cost of the National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP), the ongoing economic crisis has significantly reduced its actual contribution. As a result, the program has become heavily dependent on external donor support. The European Union currently provides a fixed annual contribution of $33 million, complemented by additional funding from the World Bank to sustain the core components of the program.
Nevertheless, a substantial funding gap persists, particularly in relation to scaling up the program to meet growing needs. The volatility of external funding—including potential delays, reductions, or shifts in donor priorities—poses a critical risk to the program’s continuity and expansion. These challenges cannot be offset through domestic resources alone, given the national budget’s limited flexibility.
The governance of Palestine's National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) is characterized by a collaborative institutional framework, led by a national government ministry and significantly supported by various international organizations.
Here are the key institutions and their roles:
● Palestine's Ministry of Social Development (MoSD):
○ Lead National Authority: The MoSD is the central government body responsible for the overall management and implementation of the NCTP.
○ Program Delivery and Monitoring: It directly oversees the delivery of cash transfers and monitors their effectiveness.
○ Social Registry Management: The MoSD maintains and utilizes the National Social Registry, a centralized system containing detailed socioeconomic data. This registry is crucial for identifying and verifying potential beneficiaries.
○ Case Management: It employs case management tools to monitor beneficiary information.
○ M&E Implementation: The MoSD has an established Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) component within the program, focusing on verifying beneficiary eligibility, tracking payment disbursements, and collecting field-level data.
○ Staff Training: Benefits from technical assistance to train its staff for program sustainability and expansion.
○ Data Verification: Actively involved in data verification processes, particularly in Gaza, with external technical assistance.
○ Policy Direction: Drives the effort to strengthen government ownership and systematize the program into a fully integrated, country-owned model, aligning with national commitments like the 2030 Sprint.
● International Labour Organization (ILO):
○ Central Technical Partner: Provides crucial technical assistance across various program themes.
○ Tool Development: Assists in developing tools to enhance the program's sustainability and expansion.
○ Capacity Building: Offers training to MoSD staff.
● European Union (EU):
○ Primary Financial Supporter: Provides significant financial backing for the core cash transfer programs, indicating a major external funding source.
● UNICEF:
○ Data Sharing: Collaborates on data sharing for cash programs, particularly in Gaza.
○ Cash Response: Provides direct cash response in certain contexts.
○ Technical Support (along with World Bank and WFP): Supports reforms related to the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
● World Bank:
○ Technical Support (along with UNICEF and WFP): Supports reforms in respect of the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
○ Financial Supporter: Provides significant financial backing for the core cash transfer programs, indicating a major external funding source.
● World Food Programme (WFP):
○ Technical Support (along with UNICEF and World Bank): Supports reforms in respect of the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
● UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA):
○ Data Analysis Collaboration: Collaborates with the MoSD on social registry data and beneficiary data analysis, contributing to evidence-based decision-making.
These institutions collectively form a governance structure where the MoSD acts as the central implementing and coordinating body, heavily relying on the technical expertise and financial contributions of international partners, especially for expansion and resilience against external shocks. The reliance on the MoSD's National Social Registry by these partners underscores its foundational role in the program's operations and beneficiary identification.
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
About the Palestinian Social Registry
The National Social Registry is a system used by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development to create a fair and inclusive social safety net. Its main goal is to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable individuals and families seeking assistance, ensuring they receive the support they need.
The Registry standardizes how the Ministry and its partners work with all service applicants, aiming to provide equitable access to support programs. It goes beyond just income to identify poverty, using a range of indicators. These include financial status, access to physical and mental healthcare, education quality, housing conditions, and other essential needs. By understanding these multiple dimensions of poverty, the Registry helps the Ministry effectively pinpoint and deliver aid to the poorest and most marginalized populations in Palestine.
Findings: The NCTP contributes to children’s right to survival; it helps households cope with economic hardship and meet children’s basic needs, such as being able to buy more nutritious food, paying some school- and health-related costs and, importantly, contributing to household debt repayment, which is a major source of stress in Gaza and the West Bank. The provision of health insurance as a complementary entitlement for beneficiaries means that households with people (including children) who have a disability or a severe or chronic illness, are able to cover most of the economic costs related to their care – support that is greatly valued by the families concerned. As such, the PNCTP contributes to meeting many essential household needs that affect children directly, and contributes to improving their emotional and mental wellbeing in an extremely pressured and challenging situation.
Findings: Overall, the studies’ findings highlight that beneficiaries recognise the PNCTP as an important component of their coping repertoires and that, especially for female headed households, it is often the primary source of support. A number of important programme design features also stand it in good stead for making ongoing and future inroads into poverty and vulnerability reduction. These include: the successful merging of cash transfer programmes into a single national programme under an overarching national social protection policy; the development of a single registry/computerised database for all beneficiaries that has the potential to be shared at all levels and across agencies; the establishment of a poverty-focused targeting mechanism that has been found to have a good level of inclusion of extremely poor people; and the twinning of cash transfers with other forms of social assistance, including food aid, basic service fee waivers and social health insurance coverage.
Findings: In the survey, 76% of participating households reported that it covers the extreme poverty gap by 30% or less, while 24% reported that it covered the gap by more than 30% (but less than 70%). The most recent consumption data (2017) from the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) indicate that 29.2% of individuals in the Ocuppied Palestinian Territory and 53% in the Gaza Strip are living below the poverty line even when the value of the assistance they receive is taken into account. When assistance is taken out, poverty percentages increase to 33% overall and 59.8% in the Gaza Strip. Assuming that in the absence of assistance other factors remain unchanged, it can be concluded that assistance reduces poverty overall by 11.5%, and by 11.4% in the Gaza Strip, while extreme poverty rates are reduced by 20% (from 21% before assistance to 16.8% with assistance).
Findings: The cash transfer program provides crucial survival support to many vulnerable and poor households in Palestine in the current fragile political and economic situation. It is particularly helpful for people whose physical mobility is restricted such that employment is not accessible. Women, who are often hit harder due to existing gender norms such as restrictions on remarriage, tend to find it difficult to cope with the economic hardship and raising children or taking care of others in their families. Such female headed households are benefiting particularly from the cash transfer and food assistance program. Further, unifying the scattered social assistance programs in National Development Plan, building a centralised database (computerised single registry system) and merging the cash transfer social assistance with food assistance, basic services, fee waivers and social health insurance will result in efficient targeting which will accentuate the benefits of social assistance in Palestine.
The implementation of Palestine's National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) offers several valuable lessons for social protection interventions in fragile and constrained environments:
● Foundational Role of Centralized Systems: A well-managed centralized social registry, like that operated by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), combined with digitized payment systems, is critical for efficient beneficiary identification, targeting, and reliable delivery of cash transfers.
● Importance of Sustained and Predictable External Funding: The program's ability to maintain operations and achieve scale-up, particularly in areas with high vulnerability like Gaza, is heavily dependent on consistent and substantial external financial support. Significant funding gaps and the volatility of donor contributions pose a constant challenge to continuity and planned expansion, underscoring the need for diversified and predictable funding mechanisms.
● Need for Continuity and Shock Responsiveness: To maintain vital assistance during crises and adapt to changing vulnerabilities, there is a need to integrate a shock-responsive component. The program aims to resume cash transfers in Gaza and implement this component to ensure the continuity of cash transfers, including in the West Bank.
● Adaptive Data Collection: Continuity through partnerships is key, which was demonstrated by the fact non-governmental entities used the existing social registry and database during the latest conflicts. Effective expansion, especially to new geographic areas or underserved populations, requires continuous and robust data collection efforts to ensure the comprehensive and up-to-date nature of the social registry.
● Importance of National Ownership and Collaborative Governance: A key priority for the NCTP is to strengthen government ownership and integrate current efforts into a fully country-owned model, guarantying national sovereignty from the budgeting to the execution. Strong national government ownership and a collaborative governance framework, involving robust technical and financial support from international partners (e.g., ILO, EU, UNICEF, World Bank, WFP, ESCWA), are essential for program implementation, capacity building, and driving long-term sustainability.
SDG 1 - No Poverty
- Target 1.2 - By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Indicator 1.2.1 - Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age.
- Indicator 1.2.2 - Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Target 1.3 - Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
- Indicator 1.3.1 - Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims, and the poor and the vulnerable.
- Target 1.a - Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
- Indicator 1.a.1 - Total official development assistance grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country's gross national income.
- Indicator 1.a.2 - Proportion of total government spending on essential services (education, health and social protection).
SDG 2 - Zero Hunger
- Target 2.1 - By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
- Indicator 2.1.1 - Prevalence of undernourishment.
- Indicator 2.1.2 - Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).
SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
- Target 10.2 - By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
- Indicator 10.2.1 - Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of the median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.
SDG 17 - Partnerships for the Goals
- Target 17.9 - Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation.
- Indicator 17.9.1 - Dollar value of financial and technical assistance (including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation) committed to developing countries.
SDG 1 – No Poverty
- Target 1.2 – By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Indicator 1.2.1 – Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age.
- Indicator 1.2.2 – Proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
- Target 1.3 – Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable.
- Indicator 1.3.1 – Proportion of population covered by social protection floors/systems, by sex, distinguishing children, unemployed persons, older persons, persons with disabilities, pregnant women, newborns, work-injury victims, and the poor and the vulnerable.
- Target 1.a – Ensure significant mobilization of resources from a variety of sources, including through enhanced development cooperation, in order to provide adequate and predictable means for developing countries, in particular least developed countries, to implement programmes and policies to end poverty in all its dimensions.
- Indicator 1.a.1 – Total official development assistance grants from all donors that focus on poverty reduction as a share of the recipient country’s gross national income.
- Indicator 1.a.2 – Proportion of total government spending on essential services (education, health and social protection).
SDG 2 – Zero Hunger
- Target 2.1 – By 2030, end hunger and ensure access by all people, in particular the poor and people in vulnerable situations, including infants, to safe, nutritious and sufficient food all year round.
- Indicator 2.1.1 – Prevalence of undernourishment.
- Indicator 2.1.2 – Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity in the population, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES).
SDG 10 – Reduced Inequalities
- Target 10.2 – By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
- Indicator 10.2.1 – Proportion of people living below 50 per cent of the median income, by sex, age and persons with disabilities.
SDG 17 – Partnerships for the Goals
- Target 17.9 – Enhance international support for implementing effective and targeted capacity-building in developing countries to support national plans to implement all the Sustainable Development Goals, including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation.
- Indicator 17.9.1 – Dollar value of financial and technical assistance (including through North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation) committed to developing countries.
In Palestine, mobility restrictions, recurrent violence, displacement, unemployment, and asset loss, are major factors contributing to both the West Bank and Gaza’s escalating poverty, persistent humanitarian needs, and increasing psychosocial distress. Even though poverty levels in the West Bank aren’t as high as in Gaza, they’re still substantial. Therefore, the Palestinian Authority has put in place a substantial cash transfer program for poverty relief.
Palestine’s National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP), which started in 2010, aims to provide financial protection and dignity to vulnerable populations through unconditional monthly cash transfers. The program seeks to reduce vulnerability and ensure basic income security for its beneficiaries. Managed by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the NCTP is a key poverty-targeted social safety net costing around 1% of Palestine’s GDP, with substantial international funding.
It emerged from the 2009 merger of the TIM/PEGASE-funded Relief and Social Services Program and the World Bank’s Social Safety Net Reform Project, which introduced a poverty-based targeting approach that broadened eligibility to include low-income families, the elderly persons over 65 years old, persons with severe disabilities, and children under three. In the West Bank, the program currently reaches 31,000 households, though limited funding leaves nearly 10,000 eligible families on the waiting list. In Gaza, however, poverty targeting is not applied due to extreme deprivation that renders standard metrics inadequate. Beneficiaries receive monthly cash payments ranging from ILS 250 to ILS 600 (about $1,106 annually), along with additional support such as health insurance, food aid, school fee waivers, and emergency cash. Despite its reach, the program faces logistical challenges, with frequent disruptions to payment delivery caused by ongoing conflict.
The Ministry of Social Development (MoSD) manages the program using a centralized social registry system. An online dashboard consolidates existing data from the social registry and information gathered through intake forms. This system contains detailed socioeconomic data collected through household-level surveys and case management tools. The MoSD identifies eligible beneficiaries based on vulnerability criteria such as age, income level, disability severity, and the absence of alternative income sources. Beneficiaries are also selected according to a consumption-based proxy means test formula (PMTF) that estimates the welfare of each applicant household. This way, the government is able to assess a household’s poverty level by looking at a set of easily observable characteristics (like assets, housing conditions, demographics, etc.) rather than just income to determine their eligibility and the amount of money to be received. In the West Bank, local directorates support the registration process, data collection, and beneficiary identification.
As outlined in the criteria above, the NCTP primarily benefits the following groups:
- Low-income families living in poverty
- Elderly individuals (aged 65 and above)
- Persons with severe disabilities
- Children under 3 years of age
Due to the ongoing conflict in Gaza, the NCTP is currently interrupted in the region. The NCTP previously provided assistance to 70% of households in Gaza before October 2023 and cash transfers were distributed using e-wallets, with the goal of moving towards universal coverage, starting with the elderly, persons with disabilities, and children under three years old.
The implementation of Palestine’s National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) offers several valuable lessons for social protection interventions in fragile and constrained environments:
● Foundational Role of Centralized Systems: A well-managed centralized social registry, like that operated by the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), combined with digitized payment systems, is critical for efficient beneficiary identification, targeting, and reliable delivery of cash transfers.
● Importance of Sustained and Predictable External Funding: The program’s ability to maintain operations and achieve scale-up, particularly in areas with high vulnerability like Gaza, is heavily dependent on consistent and substantial external financial support. Significant funding gaps and the volatility of donor contributions pose a constant challenge to continuity and planned expansion, underscoring the need for diversified and predictable funding mechanisms.
● Need for Continuity and Shock Responsiveness: To maintain vital assistance during crises and adapt to changing vulnerabilities, there is a need to integrate a shock-responsive component. The program aims to resume cash transfers in Gaza and implement this component to ensure the continuity of cash transfers, including in the West Bank.
● Adaptive Data Collection: Continuity through partnerships is key, which was demonstrated by the fact non-governmental entities used the existing social registry and database during the latest conflicts. Effective expansion, especially to new geographic areas or underserved populations, requires continuous and robust data collection efforts to ensure the comprehensive and up-to-date nature of the social registry.
● Importance of National Ownership and Collaborative Governance: A key priority for the NCTP is to strengthen government ownership and integrate current efforts into a fully country-owned model, guarantying national sovereignty from the budgeting to the execution. Strong national government ownership and a collaborative governance framework, involving robust technical and financial support from international partners (e.g., ILO, EU, UNICEF, World Bank, WFP, ESCWA), are essential for program implementation, capacity building, and driving long-term sustainability.
Conditional cash transfer (CCT); Social registry; Disability benefits; Child and family support/benefits; Social pension; Social care services; Emergency cash transfers in fragile and humanitarian contexts
International Labor Organization
Palestinian Ministry of Social Development
The governance of Palestine’s National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP) is characterized by a collaborative institutional framework, led by a national government ministry and significantly supported by various international organizations.
Here are the key institutions and their roles:
● Palestine’s Ministry of Social Development (MoSD):
○ Lead National Authority: The MoSD is the central government body responsible for the overall management and implementation of the NCTP.
○ Program Delivery and Monitoring: It directly oversees the delivery of cash transfers and monitors their effectiveness.
○ Social Registry Management: The MoSD maintains and utilizes the National Social Registry, a centralized system containing detailed socioeconomic data. This registry is crucial for identifying and verifying potential beneficiaries.
○ Case Management: It employs case management tools to monitor beneficiary information.
○ M&E Implementation: The MoSD has an established Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) component within the program, focusing on verifying beneficiary eligibility, tracking payment disbursements, and collecting field-level data.
○ Staff Training: Benefits from technical assistance to train its staff for program sustainability and expansion.
○ Data Verification: Actively involved in data verification processes, particularly in Gaza, with external technical assistance.
○ Policy Direction: Drives the effort to strengthen government ownership and systematize the program into a fully integrated, country-owned model, aligning with national commitments like the 2030 Sprint.
● International Labour Organization (ILO):
○ Central Technical Partner: Provides crucial technical assistance across various program themes.
○ Tool Development: Assists in developing tools to enhance the program’s sustainability and expansion.
○ Capacity Building: Offers training to MoSD staff.
● European Union (EU):
○ Primary Financial Supporter: Provides significant financial backing for the core cash transfer programs, indicating a major external funding source.
● UNICEF:
○ Data Sharing: Collaborates on data sharing for cash programs, particularly in Gaza.
○ Cash Response: Provides direct cash response in certain contexts.
○ Technical Support (along with World Bank and WFP): Supports reforms related to the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
● World Bank:
○ Technical Support (along with UNICEF and WFP): Supports reforms in respect of the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
○ Financial Supporter: Provides significant financial backing for the core cash transfer programs, indicating a major external funding source.
● World Food Programme (WFP):
○ Technical Support (along with UNICEF and World Bank): Supports reforms in respect of the national social registry, linkages, referrals, and M&E systems in the West Bank.
● UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA):
○ Data Analysis Collaboration: Collaborates with the MoSD on social registry data and beneficiary data analysis, contributing to evidence-based decision-making.
These institutions collectively form a governance structure where the MoSD acts as the central implementing and coordinating body, heavily relying on the technical expertise and financial contributions of international partners, especially for expansion and resilience against external shocks. The reliance on the MoSD’s National Social Registry by these partners underscores its foundational role in the program’s operations and beneficiary identification.
Palestine’s Ministry of Social Development already operates different components of cash transfers for elderly individuals and persons with severe disabilities and is planning to roll out child allowance from 0-3 years under the NCTP. These provide 250 ILS per month (payments have become monthly since the last quarter of 2024), but have some limited coverage. About 108,000 poor and vulnerable families in the West Bank and Gaza Strip received cash support four times a year through the programme in 2018. As of 2023, coverage was as follows:
● 28,000 elderly individuals, including 17,000 in Gaza, receive the benefit.
● 39,000 households (15,000 in the West Bank and 24,000 in Gaza) with persons with disabilities receive the benefit.
● 8300 children under 3, including 6000 in Gaza and 2300 in the West Bank.
Regarding financial resources, significant fiscal constraints limit the government’s ability to expand programs. While the government is expected to cover 40% of the total cost of the National Cash Transfer Program (NCTP), the ongoing economic crisis has significantly reduced its actual contribution. As a result, the program has become heavily dependent on external donor support. The European Union currently provides a fixed annual contribution of $33 million, complemented by additional funding from the World Bank to sustain the core components of the program.
Nevertheless, a substantial funding gap persists, particularly in relation to scaling up the program to meet growing needs. The volatility of external funding—including potential delays, reductions, or shifts in donor priorities—poses a critical risk to the program’s continuity and expansion. These challenges cannot be offset through domestic resources alone, given the national budget’s limited flexibility.
Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics
About the Palestinian Social Registry
The National Social Registry is a system used by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Development to create a fair and inclusive social safety net. Its main goal is to identify and prioritize the most vulnerable individuals and families seeking assistance, ensuring they receive the support they need.
The Registry standardizes how the Ministry and its partners work with all service applicants, aiming to provide equitable access to support programs. It goes beyond just income to identify poverty, using a range of indicators. These include financial status, access to physical and mental healthcare, education quality, housing conditions, and other essential needs. By understanding these multiple dimensions of poverty, the Registry helps the Ministry effectively pinpoint and deliver aid to the poorest and most marginalized populations in Palestine.