Palestinian Maintenance Fund Concludes Its Participatory Workshop Series in Ramallah to Strengthen Women’s Access to Justice and Legal Services

Palestinian Maintenance Fund Concludes Its Participatory Workshop Series in Ramallah to Strengthen Women’s Access to Justice and Legal Services
Ramallah – The Palestinian Maintenance Fund (PMF) concluded its series of workshops held across a number of West Bank governorates with an expanded participatory workshop in Ramallah and Al-Bireh Governorate, entitled “Exploring Cooperation between the Palestinian Maintenance Fund and Partner Institutions to Strengthen Women’s Access to Justice and Legal Services.”

The workshop aimed to consolidate field-based experiences and strengthen coordination among relevant institutions to ensure that women, children, and other groups entitled to maintenance can effectively access their rights, while contributing to stronger social protection and the rule of law.

The workshop was supported by Sawasya 3: The Joint Programme to Enhance Access to Justice, implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UN Women, and UNICEF, and brought together senior representatives from government and judicial institutions, social protection actors, and civil society. The workshop was attended by the Governor of Ramallah and Al-Bireh, the Minister of Women’s Affairs, the Minister of Social Development, the Minister of Labour, the Sawasya 3 Programme management, the Director General of the Palestinian Maintenance Fund, and representatives of justice, social protection, and civil society institutions.

The workshop emphasized that taking these consultations to the governorates was not a protocol-driven exercise, but rather a deliberate effort to listen to the practical experiences of institutions and citizens and identify challenges and gaps that may not be fully visible within theoretical frameworks or legal texts. This field-based approach provides an important foundation for developing solutions that are more responsive to realities on the ground and for strengthening pathways to justice.

Participants stressed that protecting rights and advancing social protection are shared responsibilities that require coordinated institutional action, particularly in the areas of judicial enforcement, facilitating access to legal services, referral mechanisms, information exchange, and connecting beneficiaries with protection and economic empowerment programmes. Such coordination is essential to ensuring more comprehensive and responsive services for those facing the greatest barriers to accessing their rights.

The workshop brought together representatives of the Office of the Chief Justice, the High Judicial Council, the Judicial Police, the Ministries of Justice and Social Development, and the General Department of Legal Affairs at the PMF, among others. Discussions focused on judicial enforcement pathways, field-level coordination mechanisms, and the challenges women face in accessing and securing their rights, alongside opportunities to strengthen legal aid and facilitate relevant procedures.

The specialized sessions also addressed poverty reduction and economic empowerment, including ways to strengthen the link between maintenance and economic empowerment programmes for families, as well as advancing social protection and inclusion. Discussions further explored more effective strategies for collecting outstanding maintenance payments and recovering funds owed to the PMF, as public funds enjoying legal priority, thereby contributing to the sustainability of the Fund’s services and strengthening its capacity to meet its obligations towards beneficiaries.

In this context, the PMF emphasized the importance of drawing on the knowledge and experience generated through the field workshops to inform the development of policies and legislation and address gaps identified through practice, including those related to the personal status framework. This approach contributes to strengthening the protection of women, children, and families while supporting social stability and cohesion.

The concluding workshop provided a platform to consolidate the outcomes of the consultations held across the governorates and translate them into shared priorities for action. This process supports the institutionalization of cooperation between the PMF and its partners, the development of stronger coordination, referral, and enforcement mechanisms, and improved access to justice and services, while reinforcing accountability and the rule of law.

The workshop concluded with a set of recommendations, most notably strengthening coordination and networking between the PMF and relevant institutions and developing unified referral pathways among Sharia courts, enforcement departments, the Judicial Police, and the PMF. Participants also recommended expanding early referrals to the Legal Aid, Economic Empowerment and Poverty Reduction, and Protection and Inclusion Programmes. Other recommendations included establishing a National Social Registry and developing secure data-sharing mechanisms among competent institutions to support the verification of eligibility, residence, and assets, while safeguarding the confidentiality of beneficiaries’ data. Participants further called for strengthening enforcement procedures and pursuing those who fail to repay amounts disbursed by the PMF, including through the effective use of available enforcement measures. The recommendations also included strengthening protection and economic empowerment opportunities for women entitled to maintenance, expanding legal aid from the initiation of proceedings through the enforcement stage, and broadening partnerships with the Palestinian Bar Association, human rights organizations, and the Ministries of Women’s Affairs, Labour, and Social Development, with the aim of developing a more integrated response to the needs of women and other groups entitled to maintenance.

The workshop concluded with an emphasis that meaningful partnership goes beyond coordinating efforts; it requires integrated responsibilities and the translation of field-based knowledge into practical policies and approaches. In this way, the PMF and its partners seek to contribute to making justice more accessible, social protection more inclusive, and services more responsive to the needs of citizens.