The Emergence of a Palestinian Globalized Elite Donors, International Organizations and Local NGOs Sari Hanafi and Linda Tabar Institute of Jerusalem Studies Muwatin, The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy Jerusalem 2005 * The research for this work was carried out with the aid of a grant from the International Development Research Center, Ottawa, Canada. * This book is published as part of an agreement of cooperation with the Chr. Michelson institute - Norway. Copyright © 2005 by The Institute for Palestine Studies and Muwatin, The Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy All rights reserved ISBN 9950-332-00-1 Cover photo by Alyana Cazalet Designed by PALITRA Graphic Design Printed in Palestine by Studio Alpha Summary Acknowledgments 4 Abbreviations 9 INTRODUCTION 14 1. The Intifada and Palestinian NGOs and Their Limited Roles 15 Leadership of the Intifada 16 Defining ‘Development’ in the Midst of an Anti-Colonial Struggle 19 The Role of the Witness: Raising Palestinian Rights in the International Arena 22 2. The Conceptual Framework 23 Globalization, Aid and Transformations of the Social Field of Action 27 3. This Book 30 PART I CONCEPTUALIZATION OF THE MEETING OF GLOBAL/LOCAL AGENDAS AND THE PALESTINIAN CONTEXT 33 Chapter I. Conceptualizing Global and Local Agendas 34 1.1. Restructuring of Aid Channels, Scope and Function 35 1.2. New Partners and New Policy Priorities 37 New Orthodoxies 38 Recognition of Dialectics of Reform and Refashioning Within the Paradigm 39 1.3. The World Bank: Economic Fundamentals and Social Agenda 41 Good Governance 41 Towards a Concern for Social Costs? 42 Comprehensive Development Framework 43 Coordinating Public Goods 44 Long-term Cooperation 45 1.4. IMF, World Bank and UN Agencies 46 Relief versus Development 47 1.5. Donor Policies: Conditionality and Motivations 48 Motivation of the Donors: Ideas and Knowledge or Interests? 50 Donors in the Palestinian Context: Support for the Peace Process 52 Donors and the Idea Construction of Reality 55 Donors and the Hegemonic Pattern 57 Chapter 2. Donor Assistance to Palestinian NGOs: an Overview 60 2.1. Historical Review 61 Arrival of Western Funding for NGOs 63 2.2. Funding Distribution: Sectoral and Sub-sectoral Profile 65 2.3. Distribution of Funding by District 67 2.4. Supply/Availability Compared to Needs Assessment: Relative Sectoral Symmetry, but … 68 2.5. Donor Community Profile 72 PART II AGENDA SETTING 85 Chapter 3. Donor Agenda Setting 86 Three Sectoral Case Studies: Women, Human Rights and Health 3.1. Introduction 86 The Meeting of the Global and the Local 87 Loyalty, Exit and Voice 88 The Sociological Perspective: Decoding/Re-encoding 89 Aid Channels: A Complex Encounters 90 3.2. The ‘Women and Development’ Discourse and Short-term Interests and Long-term Dilemmas: Donor Priorities, Systems of Representation and Donor Intervention in Palestine: Histories Intersecting the Palestinian Women’s Movement 91 The Case of Income Generating Projects 93 Oslo, Good Governance and the Advocacy Paradigm 100 Women’s Empowerment in Palestine 108 Donor Priorities: Practical over Strategic Interests 113 Conclusion 115 3.3 Health Agenda: a Model of Exit 119 Global Health Agenda 120 Medicalization of Politics: a New Repertoire of Social Action 122 Donor Health Policy in Palestine 124 Reproductive Health Agenda in Palestine 125 Reproductive Health Projects in Palestine: The Case of USAID 129 The Absence of a Universal Insurance Health Policy 133 Conclusion: The Choice of ‘Exit’ by the Health NGOs 135 3.4. Human Rights Agenda in Palestinian Territories: A Model of ‘Voice’ and Resistance 137 Historicizing and Contextualizing the Human Rights Agenda: Conclusion: Palestinian Human Rights Organizations, Introduction 137 Human Rights Global Agenda 138 Positivism But Also High Politicization 140 Individual Rights at the Expense of the Collective 147 Palestinian Human Rights Organizations: Resisting Agenda 149 Genesis of the Idea of Human Rights in Palestine 149 Human Rights Organizations, Culture and Social Movements 153 a ‘Voice’ Model 155 Chapter 4. Agenda Setting and Negotiations 158 4.1. Introduction 158 4.2. Agenda Setting: Donor Criteria for Funding a Project 161 Political Eligibility 161 Sectoral Eligibility 162 Professional Eligibility 163 Patterns of Interaction 164 4.3. Defining the Negotiation Space 166 Setting the Rules of the Game 167 Responsiveness of the Society 168 Unresponsiveness 168 Distortion of Equilibrium 169 Structural Parity 168 Investing in the Space for Negotiations 172 Flexibility as a Form of Negotiations 179 4.4. Changing Organizational Forms 180 Emergence of Techno-bureaucrat Expert Actors in the International Community 180 Project versus Core Funding 189 Advocacy versus Services 191 Donors and the Creation of Mega-NGOs 196 4.5. Conclusion: Is There an Epistemic Community? 199 Chapter 5. From the Global to the Local: the Position of PNGOs in their Society 202 5.1. Introduction 203 5.2. The Provision of Social Services 204 What Type of State? 205 The Neo-liberal Model: Internal Push Factors 208 What System of Public Goods? 210 5.3. Social Change: General framework 213 Underlying Assumptions of Donor Support to NGOs 215 Social Change in the Project Framework: the Case of the Model Parliament 219 Professionalization of NGOs and the Effect of the Aid Channels 223 5.4. Some Constraining Factors of Social Change 225 Internalization of Professional-Activist Dichotomy 178 NGOs Reflect the Power Relations in Society 226 Signs of Distinction 227 NGOs and Charismatic Leadership 228 Board Meetings and Constituency 230 5.5. Towards an Alternative Vision: New Possibilities 233 Developing Autonomy 234 Alternative Organizational Structures 237 Social Capital and Voluntarism 239 Islamic Organizations: Do They Constitute a New Model? 242 5.6. Conclusion: Elite Formation and Emerging Trends in Palestine 244 Social Capital or Social Movement? 244 An Emerging Globalized Elite 247 Classification of NGO Formations 251 PART III TRANSNATIONAL NETWORKING 255 Chapter 6. Networking: A Multi-Leveled View 256 6.1. Introduction 256 Locating Transnational Networks: Perspectives in the Literature 257 Transnational Movement or Transnational Networks? 259 The View from the South 260 A Multi- leveled View of Networking 261 Different Types of Networks 262 6.2. Grassroots Transnationalism: Seattle as Example 266 Capitalism, Local and Global Relations and Transnational Networks 267 Inside the Network, NNGOs, SNGOs and the Tensions Within 271 Success of Seattle Protests: “The Post-Modern Prince” 276 Considering Another View: Transnational Networking Within New Global-Local Relations 278 6.3. UN Conferences 281 Women’s Summit in Beijing 283 Nairobi: an Alternative Social Vision 287 Beijing: Reasserted State Paradigm 288 Palestinian Women in the Global Arena: the Beijing+5 World Conference 293 Concluding Remarks on Women’s Conferences 297 Durban World Conference against Racism: a Moral Victory 300 6.4. Regional Networks 306 The Mediterranean Development Forum – MDF 3 307 The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership: Barcelona Process 310 The Euro-Med Civil Forum: The Human Rights Forum at Stuttgart 312 6.5. Sub-Regional Networks: the Arab level 318 AISHA, an Arab Women’s Network 319 Arab Network for NGOs (Shabaka) 322 Bunian: a Regional Project for NGOs 324 Chapter 7. Networking: the Structural Aspects 326 7.1. The Network as a Structured Experience 327 Participation in the Network: Who Selects? 327 The Rules of the Game 331 NGOs, GOs and the Role of the Mediator 333 7.2. From the Global to the Local? 336 Absence of Local Networking 338 Dissemination at the Local Level 339 Structural Dependency? 340 7.3. Conclusions: The Emerging Space of Struggles and Contest 341 PART IV CONCLUSIONS 349 Chapter 8. Conclusions 350 8.1. Agenda Setting 351 8.2. Networking 353 8.3. Donors and Palestinian NGOs during the National Transition: The Case of the Second Intifada 354 Short-term Relief 357 ANNEX 360 Methodology, Theoretical Framework and Field Work 360 Methodology, Theoretical Framework 360 1- The organizational approach 360 2- The Institution as a stabilization of power relations 361 3- The sociological intervention approach 362 Field Work 362 Methodology and Sampling 364 Bibliography 367 References in Arabic 391 Acknowledgments The authors express their gratitude to the Palestinian Institute for the Study of Democracy - Muwatin (Ramallah) and to the International Development Research Center (IDRC) (Ottawa-Canada) for their valuable support for the project of this book. Special thanks to all of those who provided their advice and suggestions, and spent time discussing the ideas in this book, especially May Jayyusi, Rema Hammami, Salim Tamari, Jochen Hippler, Jamil Hilal, George Giacaman, Dina Craissati, Izzat Abdel Hadi, Mounir Kleibo, Fritz Fröehlich and Anita Vitullo. 11 Abbreviations American Near East Refugee Agency ANERA American Remittances to Europe CARE Canadian International Development Agency CIDA Danish International Development Agency Danida Department for International Development of the British DFID Government Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine DFLP Economic and Social Council of the UN General Assembly ECOSOC Environmental Development of the Third World ENDA Friedrich Ebert Stiftung FES Gender and Development GAD General Union of Palestinian Women GUPW High Commission for Refugees HCR International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC Inter-governmental organizations IGOs International Monetary Fund IMF International NGOs INGOs Logical Framework