TORONTO, January 25, 2006 -- Whatever the outcome of the Palestinian elections being held today, the region desperately needs professional civil servants who can help to govern and administer in the territories, according to York University professor Saeed Rahnema.
Rahnema, a professor of political science in the Atkinson Faculty of Liberal and Professional Studies, returned from the Middle East recently. He and a team of York University scholars and students were working to establish a new university program in public policy and administration geared towards training future civil servants in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA).
“Although we do not yet know the results of the Palestinian elections, we do know that there will be more and more need for reforms of the political system, as well as the bureaucratic system of the PNA,” says Rahnema. “There’s an urgent need for professional civil servants who are well trained and who can make a difference to the public administration of the region. Our recent visit was very successful in the direction of laying the groundwork for these types of programs.”
Today’s parliamentary election in the PNA pits the current Fatah movement, the largest constituency of the Palestine Liberation Organization, led by Mahmoud Abbas, against Hamas, the movement vying for the first time to win seats in the 132-seat legislature. Some Middle East observers are describing the race between Fatah and Hamas as too close to call.
Rahnema’s team received funding from the federal government’s Canada Corps University Partnership Program, administered by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) and financed by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). The new undergraduate program in public policy and administration is to be offered at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, and the York team is helping to design it.
The York team includes: Professors Greg Albo and Robert MacDermid, both from the Political Science Department in York’s Faculty of Arts, who are co-investigators on the project, along with York graduate students Angela Joya and Kareem Javed and undergraduate students Lamees Awweh and Ammar Hussein. The group traveled to Jordan to work with faculty and students to put together a program of training and workshops for civil servants. The new university programs will enable people to earn a Bachelor’s degree or a certificate in public policy administration. The York students also helped to prepare two cases studies, one on housing and the other on public health in the Palestinian territories.
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Professor Rahnema, a political expert on the region, is available to talk to the media about the results of the Palestinian elections.
For more information, please contact Janice Walls at (416) 736-2100 ext. 22101 or Media Relations at (416) 736-5585.
