The Palestinian Territories have a uniquely fragmented geography, characterized by the isolation of Gaza from the rest of the world, and the man-made barriers to mobility within the West Bank.
... See More + The internal mobility restrictions imposed by Israel, unique to the West Bank, play an important role in explaining spatial variations in outcomes within the West Bank. This is strikingly analogous to the role of Gaza's external barriers in explaining the divergence between the West Bank and Gaza. These have consequences for poverty and economic development. Detailed analysis using a series of labor force and household surveys were undertaken as part of the West Bank and Gaza poverty and inclusion assessment, coping with conflict? The analysis revealed that over the last decade, internal and external barriers have been associated with tremendous constraints to growth and investment, which is evident in high rates of unemployment, especially in Gaza and among women and youth. Poverty mapping relies on household survey and census data, making the most of the strengths of each, and compensating for their weaknesses. Certain key data requirements must be fulfilled to be able to construct a poverty map. Survey data must include detailed consumption data, which is the basis for calculating poverty estimates, for instance at the national and the regional level. However, the survey usually covers only a representative sample of the population. This tradeoff between sample size and the cost and time needed to collect quality consumption data implies that surveys cannot typically be used to calculate reliable poverty estimates for more disaggregated areas. This is because, at such lower levels of disaggregation, for instance, the community or village, the number of observations in the survey is too small to produce statistically reliable estimates. The census on the other hand covers the entire population and can therefore be reliable even at lower levels of aggregation. However, the census usually covers only basic information like demographics, education and employment but not detailed information on consumption.
See Less -
Seventy percent of West Bank and Gaza's population is under the age of 30, and their share will continue to grow in the years ahead. The aspirations and ambitions of this large and growing population of children and youth have the potential to define the future of the West Bank and Gaza.
... See More + This assessment seeks to contribute to the understanding of factors driving the choices of young men and women at this critical juncture of their lives, with a particular emphasis on the roles that changing gender norms and the conflict environment are having on their aspirations for education, jobs, and forming families. Young Palestinians are moving into adulthood in a world surrounded by roadblocks and barriers, and gripped by soaring unemployment and uncertainty about what their futures may hold. Still, this generation remains optimistic and ambitious. They are pursuing high school and college degrees, and hanging on to expectations for better jobs and better lives than was possible for their parent's generation. In the face of such bleak prospects, why? What is driving these youth's aspirations for high levels of education and good jobs? To provide a broad context for the youth's testimonies, this report first takes stock of developments affecting the West Bank and Gaza over the past decade. In this period, the Palestinian territories witnessed two major episodes of conflict: the second intifada beginning in 2000 and the crisis in Gaza in 2007. Both episodes had severe and wide-ranging economic repercussions, and were accompanied by restrictions on internal and external mobility of people and goods. As a result, in the last decade, the West Bank and Gaza has witnessed economic volatility without parallel (even in comparison to countries affected by large financial crises), massive spikes in poverty, and some of the highest rates of unemployment in the world. Young people's unemployment rates are even higher, and much more so for young women. The youth's focus groups indicate that traditional gender norms remain very strong in their society, and mainly seem to be reinforced by the difficult conflict environment. Men's status as the breadwinners means that boys, especially from poor families, are likely to withdraw from school sooner than girls in order to take up income earning roles; and the weak economy intensifies these pressures.
See Less -
