Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions’ cooperation with Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions 2006-2009

Background:
LO-Norways engagement with the Palestinians startet in the aftermath of the Oslo agreement between Israel and the PLO signed in august 1993. The formal cooperation with PGFTU started in 1995. The aim of the cooperation is: PGFTU is a strong and democratic union with considerable influence on Palestinian labour conditions and in society as a whole. Training of new cadres and recruitment of new members was a priority in the beginning. Some training on occupational health and safety has also been carried out. Later gender issues with an emphasis on women training and recruitment has been a priority as well as the youth. There has been a separate exchange programme between LO Youth and the youth in PGFTU. Delegations of local Norwegian trade unionists has regularly visited Palestine, and delegations of local shop stewards from PGFTU has visited their counterparts in Norway.

Purpose/objective:
The basis of this evaluation is to determine the performance and progress of the programme cooperation, and to gauge if results or objectives are being met.  The evaluation was also deemed necessary in order to form a basis for decisions in LO-Norway regarding possible finalising or continuation of the project. The evaluation covers the period 2006-2009.

The objectives of the evaluation were:
(i) To assess  results of the support provided to PGFTU  by LO to strengthen  capacity of the organisation; and
(ii) To assess modalities of cooperation with PGFTU and provide recommendations on areas for improvement, in particular related to monitoring and reporting on performance by PGFTU.

Methodology:
The methodology of this evaluation has included review of project plans and reports in Norwegian prepared by LO-Norway, PGFTU reports to LO-Norway and annual financial statements as well as some LO internal reports from field visits. Interviews has been carried out at the LO-Norway International Department of key persons and in Palestine with union leaders and members, workers, NGO representatives, politicians and other stakeholders.

Field interviews were conducted in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. A focus group was arranged with youth, and short meetings with a majority of the unions were held in Gaza, Nablus and at district level in Jenin. The interviews were carried out with assistance of translator, in most cases.

The full list of people interviewed is shown in appendix 3, but the main institutions and persons met can be summarized as follows:

 PGFTU (elected leadership, women representatives, selected affiliates, regional representatives, shop stewards and members)
 Democracy and Workers Rights Centre
 Palestinian NGO Network, Gaza
 Al Mezan Human Rights Centre
 Palestinian Working Women Society for Development, Gaza
 Chamber og Commerce Gaza
 Ministry of Social Affairs and Labour
 American Solidarity Centre

Key finding and results:
The findings of the evaluation exercise (summarized below) are organized into nine categories as specified in the
Terms of Reference for the evaluation.

Relevance: 
Programme cooperation has been relevant as a contribution to building institutions preparing for a Palestinian state. The future relevance of the support depends on adapting the programme into new political circumstances (two states/internal palestinian conflicts).
Efficiency: 
Despite the adverse social, political and economic situation, the operations of the programme has remained efficient.
With the exception of Gaza most of the activities has been carried out. LO-Norway has chosen to give PGFTU core funding. The advantage is that this is flexible and non-bureaucratic. The condition is that funds are spent according to plans. LO-Norway has updated information about the development within PGFTU and are able to do strategic changes in the programme when necessary.

Project results:  
The programme cooperation has some good results, especially regarding the rights of women and increased activities for women and youth. Many members and shop stewards have been trained in various topic including occupational health and safety resulting in increased knowledge and a good number of qualified trainers.  More unions have regular congresses and more leaders are being elected instead of appointed as earlier. There are more clear understanding of roles between unions and federations. A tripartite forum has been established in the West Bank giving PGFTU a possibility to have influence on labour and social policies in general. Other international donors has also contributed to positive results.

Sustainability:  
The PGFTU has increased its financial situation since the
 outstanding funds in Histadrut from fees collected from Palestinian workers in Israel has been transferred to PGFTU. PFGTU is vulnerable to changes in government, as seen in Gaza, because the organisation is considered close to Fatah and PLO.
External impact: 
The PGFTU in the West Bank has the capacity to influence the national agenda and have staged protests and strikes and engage in dialogue with PA and the employers. The PGFTU in Gaza was however not able to operate when the political regime changed.
Gender issues  
 LO-Norway has contributed to increased gender equality in PGFTU and women have been included in decision-making positions in the leadership of the unions and in the executive committee of the PGFTU. The quota system introduced has considerably increased women’s representation. PGFTU has succeeded in increasing women’s membership and engaged in organizing women dominated work places.
Internal democracy::  
 PGFTU was established in 1995 but did not succeed to arrange a congress until May 2007. The PGFTU has postponed the next congress of different reasons realted to the Israli occupation as well as interference by the Palestinian Authority. Many of the unions had election in 2007, while others are having congressens in 2010. Positive signs is that more unions elect their leaders. The PGFTU congress has been postponed to May 2011. 
Risks analysis:  
 There are risks of increasing co-option of the PGFTU by the political factions. There are also internal conflicts within factions such as within Fatah. There is a risk that these power struggles may cause conflicts within PGFTU and hamper the development of a more independent labour movement

Other findings 
Occupational health and safety is an important topic for PGFTU.
 The organisation has skilled trainers and a considerable number
 of members has been trained. LO-Norway active involvement in this work has contributed positively towards this.
                                      
                                             The youth programme has an important role to play in mobilizing
                                             youth for membership in PGFTU. While the exchange between
                                              Norway and Palestine is an important contribution towards
                                              building international solidarity and support, it is important that
                                              the programme target youth at youth-dominated work places,              
                                              increase youth influence and encouraged democratic
                                              representation.
 

Recommendations:
The evaluation team recommends for a more sustainable continuation of the co-operation between LO-Norway and PGFTU. It is further recommended that LO-Norway
consider to support earmarked project benefiting the activie unions instead of core support to PGFTU.
Recommendations include:

1. LO-Norway should balance the support to strengthening the PGFTU as a federation with creating incentives for democratising the union from below.
This may include considering support to unions that recruit members, create elected labour committees at work places, develop membership registers, negotiate
collective agreements and hold regular district elections and national congress.

2. LO-Norway have to reconsider its approach to core fund the PGFTU and rather plan for support to earmarked projects coordinated with other donors.
This may be the carrying out of national congress, international training by ICATU, ICTU, ILO and others, building membership registers, support campaigns to recruit
and organise women in the union, etc just to mention some examples.

3. LO-Norway should coordinate its support to PGFTU with other international supporters and take initiative to establish a round table for a yearly
cooperation meeting between the PGFTU leadership an major international partners.

4. LO-Norway should build on the progress in PGFTU with regards to gender mainstreaming and gender equality in the unions representative bodies and
in the PGFTU. This should be done by earmarking support to these activities.

5. LO-Norway should plan for a high-level visit to the President of the Palestinian Authority to advocate the non-interference of the PA security apparatus in the PGFTU.

6. There should be continued support to uphold minimum activities in Gaza cooperating with the remaining PGFTU unions. This however, needs to be combined with
close follow up as well as dialogue with the facto Hamas government to advocate freedom of association as an important right.

Comments from the organisation, if any:
LO-Norway finds the evaluation thorough and useful. It has also been presented to PGFTU for feedback and comments before conclusions. The recommendations
from the evaluation will be discussed with PGFTU and will form the basis for the renewed agreement for 2010-2014. We have already agreed to carry out a comprehensive
baseline study, and will also include the other recommendation in our future co-operation.