Our Projects | GCT Consulting & Training

2017

Project

Result-Oriented-Framework for the 2017-2020 European Joint Strategy in support to Palestine.

ECORYS is an international company providing research, consultancy and management services. It specializes in economic, social and spatial development and aim to deliver real benefit to society through the work we do. We are one of the oldest researches and consulting companies in Europe. They have proudly celebrated our 85th anniversary in the summer of 2014.During the '90s, ECORYS expertise proved important with regards to the growth of the EU and reformation processes in countries in Middle and Eastern Europe. To be able to cope with globalization and in order to stay competitive, NEI developed into a pan-European company. Offices were established in Brussels and Moscow.It is worth to mention that the Global objectives to contribute to:Enhance policy dialogueImprove EU development cooperation programming and project design.However, the specific objective to this assignment was to enhance monitoring of the European Joint Strategy in support to Palestine.

ECORYS Nederland B.V, funded by EU

West Bank- East Jerusalem, and Ramallah

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2017

Project

External Evaluation and Strategic Plan Formation to The Jerusalem Legal Aid \& Human Rights Center (JLAC).

The Jerusalem Legal Aid and Human Rights Center (JLAC) is one of the key and major players in the fields of Human rights and legal aid. JLAC’s mission is to combat all forms of human rights violations regardless of perpetrating authority, through; facilitating access to justice, lobbying and advocacy, mobilizing social capital, and high professionalism. JLAC is providing its services now through 4 main offices in Jerusalem, Ramallah, Nablus and Salfeet. With the end of JLAC’s current Strategic Plan (2013-2017), it seeks to undertake an external evaluation of its operations and programming, in order to inform the development of a new strategy for JLAC’s work, address shortcomings, identified during the evaluation process, and build on existing strengths. The general objective of this assignment was to evaluate JLAC’s programming and wider institutional role of service delivery, as well as measure the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact, structures, internal environment and sustainability towards the formation of new Strategic Plan (2018- 2022) which considers the identified strengths and shortcomings.More specifically, the assignment was aimed to:Measure extent to which the programming objectives align with the needs of the beneficiaries and donor strategies;Assess programmatic achievements (i.e. expected vs. obtained results);Measure manner of economic viability employed in achieving objectives Evaluate extent to which programming contributes to the attainment of overall development goals Examine to which degree the programming yields lasting positive changes continuing past the intervention;Identify gaps, challenges and obstacles, institutional/programmatic strengths and weaknesses;Examine reporting accuracy to what extend it reflects successes and weaknesses;Conclude lessons learnt and draw recommendations for institutional/programmatic improvements.To this end, JLAC has contracted GCT to undertake this assignment in line with its requirements and expectations.

The Jerusalem Legal Aid \& Human Rights Center (JLAC)

West Bank

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2017

Project

Endline Survey /Study for “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Small Scale Farmers in the West Bank “Project.

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries in order to find practical and innovative ways for protecting people from poverty.One of Oxfam’s development interventions in the OPT is a three-year pro-poor market development Program entitled “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FFV) Small Scale Producers in the West Bank”. This project merges two existing projects in the West Bank which are a) Access to markets project and b) Its overall objective is to enhance productivity of women and men farmers and improve relations with the market and service providers, thus contributing to better connect the supply side with the demand side. This will be achieved by facilitating a process which should enhance the capacities and abilities of key actors to play their role along the selected Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) value chains.Specifically, the main objectives of the assignment are to: Document pre-intervention levels of the project indicators as defined in the log frame;Document pre-intervention levels of the project assumption and risks as identified in the log frame;Review and sharpen Program performance indicators through an evidence- based, participatory research and facilitation process, based on the baseline findings;Provide a broad assessment of the Program’s relevance and outline the project M&E steer on the basis of analysis of baseline data;Provide Recommendations for improvement of project log frame and MEAL system;Provide Recommendations for possible strategies / actions for greater impact.The final results of this baseline study will serve as the pre-intervention status description against which the follow-up assessments (Midterm, and End - line survey) will be compared during and after the end of project’s operation years.

Oxfam GB, Occupied Palestinian Territory

West Bank

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2017

Project

Market Penetration Study Europe

The Palestinian Market Development Program (PMDP), is funded by UK Department for International Development (DFID) and European Union (EU) in-cooperation with the Ministry of National Economy and .implemented by DAI Europe over a period of five years in the OPT, with offices both in Ramallah and Gaza.The program has been designed to improve market systems and improve the competitiveness of the Palestinian private sector. PMDP aims to improve private sector competitiveness through technical assistance and matching grants. Additionally, PMDP will work on strengthening trade and investment linkages as well as linkages with the Palestinian Diaspora to play an active role in economic development in the OPTs.Program key outputs:Output 1: Improved Private Sector Skills and Innovation - Provide matching grants and technical assistance to firms or consortia – under a competitive process, which specifically help firms to innovate and develop their Products/services, improve processes and enter into new markets.Output 2: Address Market System Failures in Specific Sectors - Undertake market analysis and facilitation to address market system failures by identifying how specific market systems operate, Identifying what factors drive underperformance, and facilitate improved performance and value chain integration and sharing of knowledge and best practice.Output 3: Strengthening Trade and Investment Linkages with International Markets - Provide technical assistance to key market institutions to encourage and support foreign and local investment in Palestine. The objective of this assignment is to conduct a business development study in order to allocate European consulting firms/ training institutions willing to cooperate with GCT. B2B meetings will be organized.

PMDP implemented by DAI Europe in cooperation with of the Ministry of Economy

West Bank

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2017

Project

Feasibility Study for Establishment of a Recreational City in Bethlehem Governorate.

The MDP is a multi-phase national program which is implemented by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). Its first phase was spanned over a three years period from 2010 to 2013 targeting all 134 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has provided municipalities with a combination of technical assistance and annual performance-based grants for priority sub-projects to improve municipal finance and municipal planning. The second phase of MDP (Phase II) is planned to support municipalities - over the short-term- in improving their municipal management practices for better municipal transparency and service delivery. It is designed to address the core issues in municipal service delivery, including: poor management practices that compound an already severe budgetary crisis, lack of local budgets for capital investments, and low revenue generation. Accordingly, it will emphasize on mechanisms to improve service delivery, citizen engagement, revenue generation and municipal responsiveness.Within the frame work of windows 4 of MDP and as a delegated implementation agency, MDLF was intended to use part of the Grant to hire a consulting firm to perform Feasibility Study for Establishment of Multi-Story Shopping Mall in City of Ramallah.The overall objective of this assignments was to collect and analyze information to provide insight into market demand and available opportunities on Shopping Malls Sector in Palestinian Territories, in addition to inform the respective municipality with a better understanding of this sector, as well as identify the viability of the Mall by studying and documenting the available opportunities, and the lessons learned from similar projects at the national and international level.

Al-Hajjeh Real Estate and Investment

West Bank- Bethlehem

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2016

Project

Feasibility Study for Establishment of Food Processing/Manufacturing Factory in Village of Kufr Ra’ee.

The MDP is a multi-phase national program which is implemented by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). Its first phase was spanned over a three years period from 2010 to 2013 targeting all 134 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has provided municipalities with a combination of technical assistance and annual performance-based grants for priority sub-projects to improve municipal finance and municipal planning. The second phase of MDP (Phase II) is planned to support municipalities - over the short-term- in improving their municipal management practices for better municipal transparency and service delivery. It is designed to address the core issues in municipal service delivery, including: poor management practices that compound an already severe budgetary crisis, lack of local budgets for capital investments, and low revenue generation. Accordingly, it will emphasize on mechanisms to improve service delivery, citizen engagement, revenue generation and municipal responsiveness.Within the frame work of windows 4 of MDP and as a delegated implementation agency, MDLF was intended to use part of the Grant to hire a consulting firm to perform establishment of Food Processing/Manufacturing Factory in Village of Kufr Ra’ee)”.The overall objective of this assignment was to collect and analyze information to provide insight into market demand and available opportunities on food processing/manufacturing Sector in Palestinian Territories, in addition to inform the respective municipality with a better understanding of this sector, as well as identify the viability of the Factory by studying and documenting the available opportunities, and the lessons learned from similar projects at the national and international level.

Funded by VNG International; Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF), for the benefit of Kufr Ra'ee Municipality.

West Bank- Jenin

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2016

Project

Feasibility Study for Establishment of Multi-Story Shopping Mall in City of Ramallah.

The MDP is a multi-phase national program which is implemented by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). Its first phase was spanned over a three years period from 2010 to 2013 targeting all 134 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has provided municipalities with a combination of technical assistance and annual performance-based grants for priority sub-projects to improve municipal finance and municipal planning. The second phase of MDP (Phase II) is planned to support municipalities - over the short-term- in improving their municipal management practices for better municipal transparency and service delivery. It is designed to address the core issues in municipal service delivery, including: poor management practices that compound an already severe budgetary crisis, lack of local budgets for capital investments, and low revenue generation. Accordingly, it will emphasize on mechanisms to improve service delivery, citizen engagement, revenue generation and municipal responsiveness.Within the frame work of windows 4 of MDP and as a delegated implementation agency, MDLF was intended to use part of the Grant to hire a consulting firm to perform Feasibility Study for Establishment of Multi-Story Shopping Mall in City of Ramallah.The overall objective of this assignments was to collect and analyze information to provide insight into market demand and available opportunities on Shopping Malls Sector in Palestinian Territories, in addition to inform the respective municipality with a better understanding of this sector, as well as identify the viability of the Mall by studying and documenting the available opportunities, and the lessons learned from similar projects at the national and international level.

Funded by VNG International; for the benefit of Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF), for the benefit of Ramallah Municipality

West Bank- Ramallah

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2016

Project

Midterm Survey /Study for “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Small Scale Farmers in the West Bank “Project

Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations working together with partners and local communities in more than 90 countries in order to find practical and innovative ways for protecting people from poverty.One of Oxfam’s development interventions in the OPT is a three-year pro-poor market development Program entitled “Improved Access to Markets for Female and Male Fresh Fruits and Vegetable (FFV) Small Scale Producers in the West Bank”. This project merges two existing projects in the West Bank which are a) Access to markets project and b) Its overall objective is to enhance productivity of women and men farmers and improve relations with the market and service providers, thus contributing to better connect the supply side with the demand side. This will be achieved by facilitating a process which should enhance the capacities and abilities of key actors to play their role along the selected Fresh Fruit and Vegetable (FFV) value chains.Specifically, the main objectives of the assignment are to: Document pre-intervention levels of the project indicators as defined in the log frame;Document pre-intervention levels of the project assumption and risks as identified in the log frame;Review and sharpen Program performance indicators through an evidence- based, participatory research and facilitation process, based on the baseline findings;Provide a broad assessment of the Program’s relevance and outline the project M&E steer on the basis of analysis of baseline data;Provide Recommendations for improvement of project log frame and MEAL system;Provide Recommendations for possible strategies / actions for greater impact.The final results of this baseline study will serve as the pre-intervention status description against which the follow-up assessments (Midterm, and End - line survey) will be compared during and after the end of project’s operation years.

Oxfam GB, Occupied Palestinian Territory

West Bank

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2016

Project

End-line Survey for “Project for Sustainable Tourism Development Through Public-Private Partnership in Palestine- (PSTP)” – Phase 2.

The “Project for Sustainable Tourism Development Through Public-Private Partnership in Palestine Phase 2 (PSTP)"has been implemented by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA) and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from June 2013. The main goal of the project is to contribute to developing tourism in Palestine; hence, enhancing the quality of life from social and economic perspectives through community-based tourism (CBT) by involving local communities as main partners and in the same time beneficiaries. Promoting tourism in Palestine to the international market is another pillar of the project. Based on the successful experience and the lessons learned from Phase 1 of the project (2009-2012), the project will aim to achieve three main objectives: 1) Boosting tourism promotion in Palestine 2) Strengthening CBT activities in Jericho 3) Introducing CBT modeled in Jericho to other five areas.By the end of the project duration, JICA was intended to conduct an End-Line survey to measure the key indicators of the project.The ultimate objective of this assignment (End-line survey) was to update the tourism situation in the areas of project and collect its impacts/effect on tourism and the community as well. Specifically, the survey was aimed mainly to collect and analyze the:Statistical data and update information on overview of the tourism sector in Palestine and the six target areas of Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Al -Bireh, Nablus, and Tulkarem;Institutional development and human resource development by the Project;Baseline data on the indicators of the overall goal of the Project.The End line survey will serve also the assessing of the change of tourism situations from the beginning of PSTP (first phase) in 2009 to its end (second phase) in 2016 by comparing the figure with the baseline survey in 2012.

Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

West Bank (Jericho, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah, Al -Bireh, Nablus, and Tulkarm)

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2016

Project

Institutional Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Training for Water and Wastewater Unit within JSCPD in West Bethlehem .

The World Bank considered one of the key active donors in the Palestinian water and wastewater sector. In August 2012, it has approved the provision of around ($US 3,650,000) through its State and Peace-building Fund to finance a new development project entitled “Water Supply and Sanitation Improvements for West Bethlehem Villages” is supposed to last for 36 months.The project aimed mainly to improve, through a pilot project, the delivery of water and the planning of wastewater services in targeted five rural communities (Battir, Nahhalin, Husan, Wadi Fukin, Walajeh) that are marginalized due to mobility restrictions in West Bethlehem region. That in response to problems facing these rural communities which including among others: environmental and human health issues due to the pollution of springs.To this end, PWA is intend to contract with consulting firm to undertake an assignment entitled “Institutional Capacity Assessment and Institutional Development Training- Water and Wastewater Unit within JSCPD in West Bethlehem”. The main objective of this assignment is to assess the current capabilities and needs of the JSCPD and principally its new established water and wastewater unit (WWU) in terms of (institutional & administrative, technical and financial) aspects, with respect to its ability to sustainably plan, manage, operate and maintain water and sanitation system and services. This assignment will contribute in achieving the overall objective of the project under the Capacity Building Component, which represented by the improvement and enhancement the capacity of JSCPD/ WWU to plan, manage, operate, and maintain water and wastewater system and services, as measured by the preparation of a business plan (a tariff structure that aims at full recovery of O&M costs, and a tariff collection rate of at least 80%), in order to reduce reliance on subsidies.

Funded by World Bank JSCPD, Palestinian Water Authority.

West Bank - Bethlehem

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2015

Project

Business Plan for Baby Herbs (Micro Herbs) Production Project for Daraghmeh Company.

The Compete project is a five years project launched in mid-2012, funded by USAID and implemented by DAI. This project aims mainly to strengthen the competitiveness and export potential of key sectors in Palestinian economy by building on the work of previous private-sector USAID projects in the West Bank and Gaza, with a particular focus on accelerated growth in the Agriculture, Tourism, ICT, Stone & Marble industries. One of the key economic sectors targeted by Compete project is Agriculture sector. In Palestinian economy Agricultural remains a dominant sector representing a major component of the economy’s GDP and employing a large percentage of the population. Besides it is considered as a major earner of foreign exchange and supplies the basic needs of the majority of the local population.Under this sector, the project is focused on transforming the Palestinian agribusiness into a globally competitive industry by working closely with local partners and agribusiness team to implement a range of activities to support this sector. Additionally, the project contributes to providing technical assistance and support to Palestinian agricultural companies, including the fresh herbs and vegetables companies, to strengthen their capacities and the used techniques to increase productivity and their market share.One of these companies is Daraghmeh for Agricultural Products & Medical Herbs based in Tubas governorate. It was established in 2013 in Al- Fara – Tubas as a part of Al- Khirasan Farms for producing herbs, agricultural products and exporting them abroad. Nowadays it produces normal fresh herbs, and is planning to start producing baby herbs (Micro Herbs), as a new business line. Within this context and to support the company in moving with this new line to increase its productivity and market share, a new full business plan is needed with clear recommendations for improvements and potential strategies for effective implementation of the intended new business. .

Funded by USAID Compete Project; implemented by Development Alternatives Incorporated (DAI) ; for the benefit of Daraghmeh Company for Agricultural Products \& Medical Herbs.

West Bank- Tubas Governorate

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2015

Project

Feasibility Study for Establishment of Al-Dahrieh International Football Stadium.

The MDP is a multi-phase national program which is implemented by the Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF). Its first phase was spanned over a three years period from 2010 to 2013 targeting all 134 municipalities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, and has provided municipalities with a combination of technical assistance and annual performance-based grants for priority sub-projects to improve municipal finance and municipal planning. The second phase of MDP(Phase II) is planned to support municipalities - over the short-term- in improving their municipal management practices for better municipal transparency and service delivery. It is designed to address the core issues in municipal service delivery, including: poor management practices that compound an already severe budgetary crisis, lack of local budgets for capital investments, and low revenue generation.The French Development Agency (AFD) has contributed to the 1st cycle of Phase II of the Municipal Development Program (MDP) with a 1M€ grant. This grant mainly serves to finance technical assistance and capacity building services to a few pilot municipalities across West Bank and Gaza to enhance their capacities to design and manage Local Economic Development (LED) approaches/projects. In that matter, MDLF shall support the packaging and emergence of pilot LED projects, as well preparing to play the role of a mediator/facilitator between the private stakeholders and qualified municipalities. Within the frame work of AFD grant and windows 4 of MDP, MDLF is intend to use part of the grant to contract with consulting firm to undertake an assignment entitled “Feasibility Study for Establishment of - Al-Dahrieh - International Football Stadium”, for the benefit of Al-Dahrieh municipality. The main objective of this assignment was to conduct feasibility study for establishment of -Al-Dahrieh - International Football Stadium, to help the municipality to decide whether to proceed with this LED project or not, and if this project will be feasible to catalyze economic activities not just in its surroundings but also throughout the city.Within this context, the study will focus on the project impacts on the different key aspects of local development (economic, financial, urban and social) at the individual, local and national level. As a result of the study, the municipality will be provided with logical justifications enriched with evidence - based research to proceed with the project or not. Furthermore, this study will examine the expected impacts on the mid and long term of the project to assess the degree of project success be a viable and sustainable financial, urban, economic model.

Funded by AFD ; MDLF, for the benefit of Al- Dahrieh Municipality.

West Bank-Hebron

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