The SGF is part of the second phase of the Human Rights and Good Governance Secretariat that the NDC is managing which is funded jointly by a pool of donors including Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and Netherlands, for 12.6 million dollars for three years. The project aims at protecting and strengthening the human rights and good governance situation and supports the organizations working in this sector in the occupied Palestinian territories.
The signing ceremony was attended by Ms. Terry Boullata, representative of the Swiss Development Cooperation, Mr. Ziad Sharia of the Representative Office of the Netherlands, Mr. Ghassan Kasabreh, NDC Director, Ms. Jamileh Sahlieh, NDC Grants Manager in addition to beneficiary NGO representatives.
In his welcoming remarks, Mr. Ghassan Kasabreh, NDC Director, stressed that the Human Rights and Good Governance Secretariat aims at improving and empowering these two sectors in the occupied Palestinian territories through three mechanisms: channeling of funds, strategic development and activating the dialogue on policies in these two sectors. He also pointed out the NDC will announce core funding grants in January and in March will announce small grants facility within this program.
NDC has signed in late July 2010, as part of the second phase of this program, grants implementation agreements for 7.7 million dollars with 28 NGOs to support their programs in the human rights and good governance sectors.
It is worth mentioning that NDC has finished the first phase of this program which has started in 2008. NDC was selected by the Swiss Development Cooperation (SDC) (on behalf of Switzerland and 3 other donor countries, namely Denmark, Netherlands and Sweden) to establish and manage a Human Rights and Good Governance NGO Secretariat in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. An amount of 6.5 million USD was allocated to implement this program over a period of 18 months and supported 40 NGOs.