The President of the Association of Palestinian Local Authorities "APLA", Abdelkarim Al-Zubeidi participated in the opening of the Transitional Ceremony of the Local Governance Reform Program "LGRP" from Phase 2 to Phase 3, implemented by GIZ in partnership with the Ministry of Local Governance "MoLG", APLA, the Municipal Development and Lending Fund "MDLF" and other organizations. The event took place in Ramallah with the participation of the Minister of Local Governance, Eng. Majdi Al-Saleh, and the Head of Development Cooperation at the German Representative Office, Peter Wolform.
Al-Zubeid, during his speech, glorified the partnership between APLA and GIZ, who have always supported and aided APLA in various aspects of shared interests, especially issues related to enhancing the capacities of local authorities and activities related to the Technical Hub Project. In addition, he expressed his pride in the establishment and institutionalization of the Technical and Legal Support Unit, the development of an online portal for the unit to support the Technical Hub Project and provide permanent spaces for exchanging experiences and expertise.
Al-Zubeidi expressed his appreciation of the role of local authorities in Palestine being one of the components of building the state, due to the role it plays in order to enhance the level of services provided to the citizens and enhance their steadfastness and resilience. He noted the importance of the participatory relations between APLA, MoLG and MDLF, which is based on complementarity in serving the local governance sector.
Al-Zubeidi announced that APLA works on planning for joint work with the LGRP-GIZ over the next phase, which is focused on completing the efforts it started over the past years, especially the themes of the Technical Hub Project and the Technical and Legal Support Unit. In addition, designing interventions related to APLA's efforts for localizing SDGs and supporting local authorities to adopt and implement these goals at the local level in line with the national priorities and the priorities of the local governance sector, in partnership with all stakeholders.