It is universally acknowledged that a well-designed policy, outlining what a government hopes to achieve, is a precondition for coherent and transparent law making. As such a clear and cohesive policy becomes a centre of gravity in any nation’s legislative process.

In an effort to raise awareness on the benefits of using structured processes for policy and law making in Palestine as well as to identify areas that require enhancement, a series of workshops on ‘Policy Development and Legislative Drafting’ has been organised jointly by the European Union through EUPOL COPPS and the Office of the EU Representative in Jerusalem.

A clear process must be in place
“Whereas policies express the will of politicians and their governments, legislation brings the policies to life. An effective, transparent, predictable and participatory process establishing a link between policy making and legislative drafting is therefore indispensable. Activities must be planned and sequenced, and this is the focus of our workshops”, says the Mission’s Ministerial Legal and Administration Expert Martin Kulisek.

The three one-day workshops, targeting policy and legislative experts, focused on the link between policy and legislative drafting. In this respect, roles and responsibilities within Palestinian institutions and between them were discussed, as well as the benefits of public consultation, even more so needed in the absence of a functioning Legislative Council.

In addition, to define the scope of assistance of future EU support, the workshop participants contributed to identifying processes within or related to their institutions that require further enhancement.

OECD experts shared their knowledge
Two workshops took place in Ramallah on 9 and 10 April 2019, addressing the policy and legislative experts from all Palestinian ministries. A separate workshop, on 11 April, was specifically designed to address legal and planning experts from the Palestinian security sector.

The workshops were orchestrated and delivered by two experts from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Mr Timo Ligi, Senior Adviser on Policy Development and Mr Goran Forbici, Expert in Evidence-based Policy Making and Consultation.

Top Photo: OECD Senior Adviser on Policy Development Timo Ligi explaining the principles of the Policy Making cycle during one of the workshops that took place on 9, 10 and 11 April 2019 at the Carmel Hotel in Ramallah.
Bottom Photo: Participants in the "Policy Development and Legislative Drafting" workshop listening to Mr Ligi who has extensive international experience from international projects on policy development and regulatory impact.