Democracy and Governance Program: Civic Participation Program (CPP) Project Profile

The program seeks to ensure a more vibrant and robust democratic dialogue between the government and citizens of the future Palestinian state. CPP will award more than 160 grants to support over 75 Palestinian civil society organizations (CSOs) in the West Bank and Gaza. The program focuses on four main components: civic participation, CSO capacity building, coalition building, and special opportunity grants. CPP builds the Palestinian CSOs' viability and promotes civil society's institutional development throughout the West Bank and Gaza. The project works to strengthen the key functional areas of CSOs and infuse democratic practices in internal governance and operational structures. CPP assists CSOs in generating public value through effective service delivery, which in turn enables them to engage and demand government institutions to adopt democratic practices in their operational systems and decision-making processes. The program enhances and promotes transparency and democratic practices within and between CSOs, and empowers CSOs to mobilize people and take a more proactive and effective role in public discourse and decision making. The program provides grants to support initiatives that raise public awareness, increase civic participation, and respond to the changing political, economic, and social context. This includes support for elections, the Palestinian Legislative Council in the case of its reinstatement, and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as it evolves during the lifetime of the program. CPP assesses CSO capacities and provides training and coaching to strengthen their operational and programmatic functions. The program has achieved several successes, including awarding 10 Civic Participation Grants to support a diverse array of initiatives, awarding seven Windows of Opportunity Grants for non-partisan citizen participation activities, creating an advisory committee for CPP, and supporting nine CSOs to improve their internal organizational capacities. Additionally, the program has supported nine CSOs to promote political participation through activities that enhance citizens' engagement in the public discourse, and supported two CSOs to implement advocacy campaigns on minimum wage and civil service laws. The implementing partner for the program is Catholic Relief Services, and the project duration is from September 30, 2010, to September 30, 2013. The total estimated cost of the program is $17,934,743.