Palestinians pilot community-based resource distribution

Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory are the world’s largest per capita recipients of international aid, yet they have very limited influence over how that aid is used. Civil society’s dependence on international aid contributes to a host of problems, including donor-driven agendas, wasted human and financial resources, and fraudulent practices. Also, donor-dependent CSOs become accountable to their donors rather than to their local communities. Communities themselves often see very little of the aid money once the aid agency takes its administrative costs and the international NGO intermediary takes its cut. This leaves Palestinians without mechanisms for real participation, much less leadership, in their own social change and development.