Birzeit’s Law Institute and UNDP Agree on Anti-Corruption Assistance Project

Birzeit University’s Institute of Law signed an agreement on May 1, 2013 with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to implement a project to build capacity on fighting corruption.
The initiative will be implemented jointly by the Institute of Law (IoL), UNDP/PAPP and EUPOL COPPS. In partnership with the Palestinian Anti-Corruption Commission (PACC), the institute will deliver a long-term training program promoting principles and norms of good governance, transparency, integrity and accountability. The project will consolidate anti-corruption efforts within Palestinian society, building the capacity of anti-corruption agencies, particularly PACC staff, the Anti-Corruption Prosecution team and Corruption Crimes Court judges.
The agreement was signed by BZU President Khalil Hindi and UNDP Special Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory Frode Mauring.
The institute will pay special attention to building and empowering national institutions so that they can effectively and efficiently own and integrate enhanced training initiatives within respective capacity building exercises and departments. In general, the Institute of Law seeks to incorporate the concept of local ownership within the project components and phases. Accordingly, partner national institutions will be capable of making spontaneous decisions on planning, implementation and evaluation in order to materialize desired goals and ensure sustainable results and outputs.
The project includes training and research components, addressing a variety of theoretical and practical themes of relevance. It will train PACC staff members, including PACC legal, technical and administrative teams; prosecutors delegated to PACC along with other members of the Public Prosecution team; and judges at the Corruption Crimes Court as well as other judges. Training courses have been selected and designed in line with beneficiaries’ needs.
To ensure maximum utilization of available national resources, highly-qualified and specialized trainers will be objectively selected from among Palestinian universities, think tanks and institutions. Additionally, regional or international experts may be hired as needed. The project research team will also develop tailor-made training materials that can be developed and improved on a continuous basis in the future. These will be the hub of an integrated training curriculum that ensures sustainable training for law enforcement and anti-corruption agencies.
The project will be implemented from April through December 2013.