USAID COMPETE PROJECT MONTHLY PROGRESS …pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00N7HM.pdf · TEXTILE AND GARMENT ... The Project willsupport the ... system and adopting new technologies as well

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USAID COMPETE PROJECT MONTHLY PROGRESS REPORT November 1- 30, 2016

The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. It was prepared by DAI. October 2016

USAID COMPETE PROJECT MONTHLY REPORT

November 1 - 30, 2016

DAI Contract Number: AID-294-C-12-00001 The author’s views expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Agency for International Development or the United States Government. It was prepared by DAI.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................ II

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 3

CHAPTER TWO: KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS ........................................................................... 4

WEST BANK .......................................................................................................................................................... 4

AGRIBUSINESS ...................................................................................................................................................... 4

ICT ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4

STONE & MARBLE ............................................................................................................................................... 5

GAZA KEY HIGHLIGHT ..................................................................................................................................... 5

CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY OF PROGRESS BY SECTOR ............................................ 8

WEST BANK ........................................................................................................................ 8

AGRIBUSINESS .................................................................................................................................................. 8

ICT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 14

STONE AND MARBLE .................................................................................................................................. 17

TOURISM .......................................................................................................................................................... 19

CROSS CUTTING .......................................................................................................................................... 20

GAZA ................................................................................................................................... 22

AGRIBUSINESS ................................................................................................................................................ 23

FISHING............................................................................................................................................................. 26

ICT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 28

FURNITURE ..................................................................................................................................................... 31

TEXTILE AND GARMENT ................................................................................................. 32

TOURISM .......................................................................................................................................................... 35

ANNEX A: UPCOMING EVENTS NOVEMBER 2016 ......................................................................... 37

USAID COMPETE PROJECT MONTHLY REPORT, NOVEMBER 1 – 30, 2016

ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AAUJ Arab American University of Jenin

B2B Business to Business

BOQ Bill of Quantities

COP Chief of Party

DQA Data Quality Assessment

EDF Environmental Documentation Form

Geo-MIS Geographical Management Information System

GLOBALGAP Global Good Agricultural Practice

ICT Information and Communications Technology

iOS Internet Operating System

M&E Monitoring and Evaluation

MOA Ministry of Agriculture

MOTA Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities

NIS New Israeli Shekels

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

PCRHTS Palestinian Commission for Restaurants, Hotels and Tourist Services

PCARD Palestinian Center for Agricultural Research & Development

PIP Palestinian Internship Program

PITA Palestine Information Technology Association

PMEP Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

PPIS Plant Protection Inspection Service

PPSQ Plant Protection safety and Quality

PSI Palestine Standards Institute

FY5/Q1 First quarter of Project Fiscal Year Five

RFP Request For Proposal

RFQ Request for Quotations

SME’s Small and Medium Enterprises

SOW Scope of Work

TAMIS Technical and Administrative Management Information System

USAID United States Agency for International Development

USDA United States Department for Agriculture

WIU Palestinian Wood Industries Union

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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

USAID through its Compete Project (Compete) is pleased to present its monthly report for the period of Novermeber 1 – November 30, 2016. The report includes November achievements and progress against interventions detailed in the Project’s Year Five Work Plan which run until the 28th of November, 2016 - for both the West Bank and Gaza. While the program in the West Bank is a continuation of the previous years’ activities in selected value chains and is mainly focused on concluding those respective development objectives, in Gaza the Compete Project is expanding programming after many years of limited development amongst a totally isolated economy. USAID through its Compete Project aims to support the Palestinian private sector in strengthening its competitiveness and expansion into new local, regional, and international markets in the key sectors essential to the future prosperity of the Gazan economy. The Project will support the agribusiness, fishing, ICT, furniture, textile and garment, and domestic tourism sectors. The West Bank program as planned is focused on building the production capacity of firms to grow locally and expand regionally and internationally. Our focus is on addressing key market failures that will open the horizon for new value chains. Sectors targeted in Year 6 include Agirculture, ICT/Technology, Stone and Marble and Tourism. In reviewing this information, the following report is organized into three sections and includes two appendices. Chapter Two, following this introduction, presents the key accomplishments and details of each technical sector, disaggregated by region. Chapter Three includes discussing activities’ progress for each sector during the past month as compared to the workplan and their respective indicators. Finally, the appendices outline upcoming events of note.


CHAPTER TWO: KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS

WEST BANK

AGRIBUSINESS Progress of Grapes Program Following the announcement of the grapes program, the Compete Project received 797 applications from interested farmers and companies which represent more than 2800 dunums of planted vineyards. The Project contracted two agronomists who completed the capacity building program and tasked them with follow up. By the month of November 569 dunums of land were provided with “T” and “Y” hanging systems benefiting 188 farmers.

Demonstration Site for Deir Sharaf TWW Launched In November USAID’s Compete Project began implementation with the Municipality of Nablus and Water Users Association of Deir Sharaf. Purchase orders were accordingly signed with the vendors for irrigation systems [pumps, mainlines, a water reservoir, lateral irrigation pipes], as well as tree seedlings and fencing. Compete is currently working on establishing a 140 dunum demonstration site to introduce and adapt the practices of wastewater reuse for irrigated agriculture in Deir Sharaf.

ICT SAP YPP Launch The USAID Compete Project, in coordination with the Office of the Quartet and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MITT) will be supporting a group of apprentices to be placed in companies after completing a two month long SAP training. The training of fresh graduates will take place from the end of November until the end of January 2017. SAP conducted a rigorous selection process with 18 apprentices identified. Companies who wish to take on apprentices will be able to apply through the Firm Level Assistance Program and USAID Compete will support the apprentices for a four month initial period. SAP Big Data Training in Jordan During the month of November, SAP training took place in Amman, Jordan which introduced Palestinian and Jordanian startups on Big Data technology and SAP’s platform named HANA. Startups will be able to use this application to meet the needs of larger clients who require Big Data solutions, or the startups may create applications that SAP will the go on to market to their clientele of more than 350,000 users. The training took place on November 6th, 2016. eGov MOU Signing with MITT This month an MOU was signed between MITT and USAID through its Compete Project which seeks to improve “eGov” services to reduce the burden of operational necessities, such as registrations, for Palestinian companies. Currently, the government relies largely on separate IT systems and manual operations, lagging behind most of the world using quicker technology-based systems. In partnership with the Palestinian IT Association (PITA), and in collaboration with the Office of the Quartet, Compete seeks to develop e-services and encourage policy changes to improve these resources for Palestinian companies and citizens, leaving more time to focus on growth. This partnership will result in many benefits such as improving services for Palestinian citizens, and most importantly developing the ICT sector to develop advanced solutions.

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USAID Supported EXPOTECH 2016 and Startup Pavillion USAID through its Compete Project co-sponsored the EXPOTECH Palestine Technology Week 2016 - a major one week-long event held annually - which exposes the Palestinian ICT sector and provides a platform for discussing state of the art technological trends locally and globally. USAID’s support encouraged the platform to dedicate floor space to startups and companies with the creation of a startup pavilion. The conference featured more than 50 entrepreneurs from the West Bank and Gaza, as well as 20 start-ups, as exhibitors.

STONE & MARBLE Training for PPU Professors with National Instruments (Cross-cutting with ICT) Following signing an agreement with National Instruments (NI) a workshop took place in Amman - Jordan for PPU professors on National Instruments software and hardware with a weeklong training session. USAID’s Compete Project entered a partnership with National Instruments (NI) - a US-based firm developing automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software - to fill this gap and build the capacity of local universities around machine design and manufacturing to improve the competitiveness of value chains of key sectors on the Compete Project. The Project identified Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) in Hebron as its academic partner for this project.

Grant Signing with Company for Jenin Company USAID through its Compete Project signed a grant with Tala Assaf to cost-share the procurement of an antique production machine which will use excess stone waste from quarries. This intervention is intended to increase the company’s production capacity, add new products, and assist them to expand into the local and Israeli markets.

TOURISM Signing LOA with Diamond Hotel for an Hotel Management System In November the Compete Project signed an LOA with Diamond Hotel to support them in installing of an HMS system. USAID support is expected to help Diamond hotel to increase their reservations and revenue per available rooms, streamline hotel management from reservations to maintenance, and enhance their operations.

GAZA KEY HIGHLIGHT

AGRIBUSINESS Cross Cutting - As part of Compete’s plan to address water challenges affecting the agriculture sector, a specialized wells project has been designed, whereby solar system will be used to operate these wells replacing the inconsistent electricity supply and costly fuel. The project will include up to 40 wells supported by solar systems. Forty-four (44) potential beneficiaries have been shortlisted to receive support, to date forty-three (43) have been vetted, all visited by Project staff, and 18 approved. The vendor has been pre-selected and implementation is pending CLA approval for material and equipment entry to Gaza. Compete designed the Agronomists Capacity Building Program to assist firms in implementing good agricultural practices, quality management system and adopting new technologies as well as in having better management and documentation system. The five agronomists started in August 2016 and their contract will end in January 2017. Fresh Herbs - As part of the scalability high-value production patterns program, vendors have been identified to supply 100 dunums of farmed land with agricultural inputs to support the fresh herbs


sub-sector. To date, 15 LOAs have been signed covering 75 dunums; 50 dunums have been fitted with agricultural inputs and 25 dunums are in the process of being upgraded. Vegetables – To enhance post-harvest facilities, five exporters were identified and approved to establish cold storage facilities to enable export. To date, the Project supported one approved exporter Husny Shihadeh with two refrigeration units. The capacity of the storage facilities is 1,060 tons. The purchase order was signed with Husny Shihadeh and panels were installed as well as the refrigerating system. Four other companies have been identified for support with cooling rooms and have been approved by the FLAP Committee. In order to introduce new production patterns, a scalability program for the production of high-value patterns for vegetables using netting was designed and 65 LOAs have been signed with farmers. To date 234 dunums were installed with netting. Compete’s cost share covers 153 dunums. The second phase of netting, including 51 farmers approved for the second phase, will commence in March 2017. Strawberry Value Chain – Compete intends to strengthen the strawberry sector in Gaza through introducing new strawberry production patterns for up to 100 dunums of single span high greenhouses. This project has received interest from 197 farmers of which 93 completed full applications and submitted to FLAP. By end of Year 5, 85 LOAs were signed with farmers, and eighty five (85) dunums of greenhouses were installed in Gaza for the farmers receiving support from Compete which includes netting for shade. In October as a follow on program Compete decided to assist 28 farmers out of the 85 with plastic roof covers and steel fasteners. The purchase order was issued in November 2016.

FISHING At Al Bahar onshore fish farm the Project installed aerators improving production quality and an electricity generator ensuring an uninterrupted power supply. Compete is also supporting Al Bahar fish farm in expanding their facilities, during the month of November progress has been made in preparing land and infrastructure. In addition, the panel approved an application from Al Salmi Fish Farm, which specializes in the Tilapia variety of fish, to expand their production capacity. Fish Fresh sold 1.7 tons of Sea Bass, a new variety produced in Gaza, by November with greater quantities of fish from the expansion pools commencing by December 20, 2016.

INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY By the end of this reporting period, Compete has received 100 ICT applications for firm level assistance from Gaza. Nine applications were approved, Dalata Code, Gaza Gateway, MTC and Unit one. The Project signed a grant with Gaza Gateway to conduct capacity building for the institution to enable them to become a platform for employment in Gaza especially in the areas of outsourcing and localization.

TOURISM In the Gazan tourism sector, the Project received 43 applications with assessments underway. Four LOAs were signed by the end of October with Roots Hotel, Al Salam Restaurant, Castillo and Level Up. Following the completion of the institutional assessment conducted for Palestinian Committee for Hotel, Restaurant and Touristic Services, and based on the results and recommendation,

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Compete supported PCHRTS with their website which was finalized as well as the installation of accounting and membership software. Training on the system is ongoing. The Project completed the activity through equipping and furnishing their office and customizing the associations’ internal control manual.

TEXTILE AND GARMENT The Project received eighty-nine (89) applications to date. The Project has so far signed ten (10) technical LOAs supporting companies with new technology and workforce development. The Project is also supporting the companies in an advisory capacity to reconnect clients with their historical markets and support the development of their internal operational environment.

FURNITURE On the institutional level, an assessment of WIU has been completed. The purpose of this assessment was to obtain baseline information on the unions’ operating environment, identify the strategic and operational challenges facing the union and eventually enable the Project to determine the type of technical assistance and capacity building support needed for the unions. Compete will support the WIU in revising the union strategic plans, governance policies operational plan, monitoring system as well as the accounting system in addition to hiring one accountant to manage the system.


CHAPTER THREE: SUMMARY OF PROGRESS BY SECTOR

WEST BANK

AGRIBUSINESS

Enhancing Market Access Firm Level Technical Assistance – Compete has seen significant progress due to its new initiative to provide technical assistance to exporting and non-exporting firms in the agribusiness sector to increase financial, management, and marketing capacity. All firms undergo an assessment and, if selected, receive targeted support under three components: technical assistance, provision of equipment and inputs, and workforce development. Other sectors (ICT, Tourism, Stone and Marble) also follow this process. The Project has received, since September 2015, 1145 applications through FLAP for support in the Agribusiness Sector - of these 312 have been approved.

Al Hathnawi In November Al Hathnawi Company was visited by Consul General Donald Blome and was given a site tour by Mr. Al Hathnawi on the production facilities which received an upgrade with USAID support. Al Hathnawi General Trade Company, a seed and spice packing company upgraded their production facilities with Compete support to stimulate the local market by providing new products: herb and seed oils. As a result, over 100 local suppliers are benefiting from Al Hathnawi’s need for large quantities of local produce for raw materials. USAID is also supporting the company to adopt ISO22000 food safety standards. With USAID support, the GAP assessment has been completed and Al-Hithnawi Company is has adapted the system with the support of the service provider and is waiting for an external audit to be conducted towards certification.

Al Hathnawi employees are now able to produce quality oils from an advanced oil distillation machine procured by USAID.

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Haifa Company for Agricultural Marketing Haifa company for Agricultural Marketing is a private shareholding firm founded 2014, marketing Palestinian agricultural products in more than 13 different countries. Haifa Company is establishing a 1,500 square meter packing facility to store and pack different products, with the basement used as a cool storage facility for fresh herbs. In July, Compete signed an in-kind grant to support Haifa Company in purchasing various pieces of equipment necessary for the packing house. In August a generator was delivered which will ensure that the machines procured will be operational around the clock. The Project’s support includes stainless steel storage tanks for olive oil, filtration units for olive oil, semi-automatic filling machines, a PH testing station, shrink wrapping machines, vacuum sealing machine, laser printing/labeling machine, and an automatic packing machine for dry foods. All of the equipment has been delivered and all production lines are operational. Haifa Company will procure, as part of their cost share, stainless steel work-tops, a fork-lift truck, pump trucks, and air conditioning units.

Arabbeh Oils Company

Compete provided Arabbeh Oils Company with an in-kind grant, signed in July 2016, to purchase a harvesting machine, sieving machine, and gravity separator (also known as a thyme separation machine). In order to have a full production line, Arrabeh Company will purchase a drying machine as their contribution under this grant. Having a full production line will increase their intake of raw materials from local farmers, improve the quality of products on offer, and increase production and sales. The company has invested in the construction of a new facility to house the machines which are expected to be delivered in January 2017. Daraghmeh Company

Daraghmeh Company is currently involved in the production of fresh herbs within 120 dunums of green houses, in addition to 300 dunums of open fields planted with vegetables. The company is planning to expand their fresh herb production, enabling them to cultivate baby fresh herbs. A grant was signed in April 2016 with Daraghmeh as part of the Project’s baby herb program (Micro-herbs) to develop a baby herb farm. The cooling room and packing house were installed during August 2016 and production units, including sowing lines, will be installed by December 2016 for the baby herbs production unit to begin operating. Jerashi Company Compete supported Jerashi Company with a grant to start the first flexible packaging factory in the West Bank using pouching technology. The Jerashi Company installed the new equipment that is now operational and is enabling them to print on plastic, opening up new business opportunities. This is the first time such a service is available for local clients. During the month of July, Jersahi Company reached out to Compete’s beneficiaries to network and to offer their services. Al Qasrawi and Siniora are now among their clients. The company has also been in the process of adapting to ISO22000 systems. An internal audit has been conducted with the external audit expected to take place in December 2016. Mushroom House Mushroom House is a newly established company owned by three women and a man. They plan first to produce mushroom mycelium and then mushrooms. Currently mushroom farmers in the West Bank face difficulties due to their dependency on the seed mycelium that must be imported from Holland where delays in shipment negatively affect production. Compete is filling the gap in the value


chain by specifically targeting the missing joints in the chain: a lab, sterilization unit for compost and mycelium production. The lab will not only provide mycelium for Mushroom House, but will also supply other local mushroom growers. The equipment was delivered and installed and Mushroom House began operations to produce compost in house, a three stage process, in which by September 30th they were in the first stage of producing phase 1 compost. The remaining steps include the preparation of phase 2 compost, preparation and production of Mycelium, preparation of the cultivation rooms of phase 3 compost, and finally cultivate and sell the white budded mushrooms. Mushroom House has invested $120,000 as a cost-share contribution and has created 7 new jobs. At present Mushroom House is looking to finalize deals with local banks and/or investors to complete their work. Qitaf Company- Jiftlek Qitaf cultivates dates which they currently sell to Palestinian, Israeli, French, and Turkish clients. Qitaf plans to expand their farming projects to produce more varieties, and reach the British, South African, and Far East markets. Future plans of procuring, packing, and marketing seedless grapes will require Qitaf to acquire GLOBALGAP and FSSC 22000 Food Safety System Certification. An agronomist was hired from the agronomist program to support adapting systems. FSSC 22000 is based on ISO 22000 standards and ensures the visibility of food safety management up and down the supply chain. Compete is supporting Qitaf to acquire both systems. Based on GLOBALGAP assessment results, Qitaf is adapting their systems in order to be aligned with international standards. Qitaf completed both phases of an external audit in November 2016 and successfully passed – providing the company with FSSC Certification.

Al Zaraoun Al Arab Al Zaraoun Al Arab produces, packages, and markets dates. The Project supported Al Zaraoun in adopting GLOBALGAP and FSSC 22000 systems to achieve certification. During the harvesting season these systems are planned to be operational and Al Zaraoun will be compliant with GLOBALGAP and FSSC 22000 systems. The company has also hired an agronomist who graduated from the Agronomist Program on a full-time basis. In October the system has been completed and adapted. The company is awaiting an external audit to become certified. Supporting Facility and Service Upgrades Compete is strengthening targeted export ready and non-export ready subsectors by assisting with resource upgrades on a cost-share basis that would otherwise limit the sector’s ability to grow.

Al Salam Al Salam was supported by the Project with a peeling line for potatoes as part of a frozen french-fries factory. Encouraged by the Project’s cost-share mechanism of $200,000, the company invested more than US $2 million in an advanced complete production line. The equipment has been delivered and installation is underway and is expected to be completed in December 2016. The factory, with Project support, also upgraded their laboratory for food safety and quality with new testing machines.

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Al Salam Company has significant cool storage and production capacity for french fries. They hope to purchase new potato varieties [industrial potatoes] grown in Tubas by farmers and companies supported by USAID. Once at their production site, the new French fries production line procured with USAID support will greatly enhance production quality and quantity.

Strengthening High Value-Added Products, Services, & Technologies Launching Pilot Projects – Compete is assisting high value-added subsectors in launching pilot programs with new technology and/or new crops to increase productivity and meet market demands. The Project had previously scaled up the strawberry sub-sector and more recently, based on assessment results had launched two programs to scale up the baby cucumber subsector and the grapes subsector. For updates regarding the baby herb pilot production, see update above under FLAP – Daraghmeh.

Baby Cucumber Subsector USAID is supporting farmers and aggregators across the baby cucumber value chain. Having assisted Kufr Dan Cooperative in developing post-harvest facilities for sorting and storing, the capacity to take on more produce from farmers is now higher. The Project announced the scalability program, upon which it received one-hundred and one (101) applications. The Project supported 78 farmers in two phases and installed netting across 120 dunums. The roof insect netting that replaces the plastic cover will increase the productivity by one ton per dunum. The farmers produced a total of 368 tons between August and September.

Currently, the Compete Project is considering working with 20 farmers in Tulkarem to create a new cluster of baby cucumbers for the pickling industry as well as to supply baby cucumbers as fresh produce for export. The cluster may be supported through a cooperative with a sorting and packing line.

Grape Subsector Compete is looking into the feasibility of introducing seedless grape value chains, and introducing high value production patterns in the Southern West Bank. Towards this aim, the Project designed and developed a program to enhance and support the grape value chain in the West Bank centered


on the Hebron and Bethlehem governorates. The program seeks to address some of the key challenges along the grape value chain. Five of these challenges will be addressed in this program; lack of seedless varieties, low quality and lack of high value production patterns, weak processing facilities, market access and limited international brand awareness. By the end of October 797 applications to the program were received. Site visits were conducted to 512 farmers and 188 were approved. By November 569 dunums of land were provided with “T” and “Y” hanging systems benefiting 180 farmers for “T” systems and 8 farmers for “Y” systems. Strawberry Scalability Program – USAID through its Compete Project is assisting the strawberry subsector in increasing productivity, improving strawberry quality, and meeting export standards. During early 2014, strawberry farmers worked on a cost share basis to upgrade their infrastructure and received training to support the upgrades, enabling increased production rates, improved quality, and an earlier harvest season this year.

USAID through its Compete Project is working to scale-up strawberry production in the West Bank by replicating the demonstration farm models developed by the Project in early 2015 to introduce new technologies using hanging and computerized irrigation systems. Compete is sharing its findings publicly and presenting a business opportunity for West Bank farmers and investors.

By the end of September seventeen farmers from Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas had joined the Projects’ Strawberry Scalability Program bringing the total area of land under the production of high quality strawberries to 64 dunums. Participating farmers in Jenin and Tulkarem, have received computerized irrigation systems and other related agriculture inputs, including PVC gutters, polystyrene containers, and soil. It is worth mentioning that one farmer, who joined the program in May, Sana Jalamneh, is a graduate of the Projects’ Agronomist Capacity Building Program through which her interest in strawberry farming took hold. In November the Consul General Donald Blome visited Sana and was impressed with her achievements.

A screenshot from a short film produced by the US Consul General where the Consul General Donald Blome and representatives from USAID and the Compete Project visited Sana Jalamneh, an agronomist and strawberry farmer. Introducing New Water Sources / Enhancing Access to Quality Water – USAID is USAID is pursuing treated waste water (TWW), a previously untapped resource in the West Bank,

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as a solution to water shortages which is the largest impediment for agricultural production. Reuse of TWW is one of the few feasible means of increasing water resources and offers significant opportunity to introduce new crops for export. Compete has been working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) to address the challenge of access to quality water for agricultural irrigation; particularly in Area C. Deir Sharaf Demonstration / Pilot Project

Compete is currently working on establishing a 140 dunum demonstration site to introduce and adapt the practices of wastewater reuse for irrigated agriculture in Deir Sharaf. In January, several meetings were held with Nablus Municipality and Deir Sharaf Water Users Association in order to agree on initial designs and considerations and the beneficiary list (farmers) who will irrigate their agricultural products with the reclaimed water. Twenty-five farmers from Deir Sharaf were identified and vetted to participate in a pilot project utilizing a combined 140 dunums of land – all 25 farmers signed agreements with the farmers’ cooperative. In November USAID’s Compete Project began implementation with the Municipality of Nablus and Water Users Association of Deir Sharaf. Purchase orders were accordingly signed with the vendors for irrigation systems [pumps, mainlines, a water reservoir, lateral irrigation pipes], as well as tree seedlings and fencing.

Tapping Unused Water Resources – USAID through its Compete Project is beginning to work sector-wide with stakeholders, local authorities, and key actors to help them access and maximize the use of current water resources. This will increase irrigation to improve both the quality and quantity of agricultural products, transforming the Palestinian agribusiness sector into a globally competitive industry. The Project will identify underutilized wells and transfer excess water to nearby areas including Area C, mainly in Tammoun.

Tammoun Project

The Tammoun Project aims to transfer water from wells located in Ras Elfaraa and Al Nasarieh to the Al Baqea’ah plain to irrigate 4,500 dunums. Following the favorable results of the assessment report conducted in earlier stages, the preliminary designs were completed and submitted to CA for necessary approvals. The Project is awaiting feedback from the CA on the preliminary design. Currently, the Project is following up with the CA to expedite the approval process.

Planned Programs for the Next Period • Grape Program implementation • Deir Sharaf Demo Implementation • Baby cucumber new cluster in Tulkarem


ICT

Enhancing Market Access Firm Level Technical Assistance Program

New applications were received for FLAP in October but processing was delayed until an extension was granted. As the extension for Year 6 was granted - the Compete Project will begin processing and reviewing these new applications in November and December. Blue Company for Technology and Development Blue Company for Technology & Development was founded in 2007 and provides website development services in the local market. The company created an application called Marsad that monitors advertising campaigns for media companies to make sure they are adhering to contractual obligations. Compete and Blue hired a qualified consultancy firm to conduct market research for the UAE market for the online media monitoring tool product. After the successful completion of the market research, Blue hired a qualified consultancy firm to develop a business plan for the company’s intervention in the UAE. Compete’s assistance facilitated expansion in international markets for Blue and increased the company's profitability. By providing targeted technical assistance to allow Blue Company for Technology & Development to enter select international markets, USAID through its Compete Project is assisting in the ICT Sector’s growth and is leveraging more international exposure for Palestinian IT talent. The report on the Gulf market is being finalized and the activity will be completed in December 2016.

Fostering Strategies to Improve Human Resources and Services Developing New Sector Services – USAID through its Compete Project is developing new value chains in the market capacity to introduce services and tap the highly-skilled ICT workforce within the Palestinian software sector.

eGovernment to Improve Business Services This month an MOU was signed between MITT and USAID through its Compete Project which seeks to improve “eGov” services to reduce the burden of operational necessities, such as registrations, for Palestinian companies. Currently, the government relies largely on separate IT systems and manual operations, lagging behind most of the world using quicker technology-based systems. In partnership with the Palestinian IT Association (PITA), and in collaboration with the Office of the Quartet, Compete seeks to develop e-services and encourage policy changes to improve these resources for Palestinian companies and citizens, leaving more time to focus on growth. This partnership will result in many benefits such as improving services for Palestinian citizens, and most importantly developing the ICT sector to develop advanced solutions. The Palestinian government endorsed the commencement of these 10 online public services as part of its efforts to shift to e-Government services.

An assessment and business analysis was completed for ten e-services to determine the best business model. A position paper was developed and presented to the council of Ministers. Compete hired a firm to produce RFP’s for the e-government services and purchase orders have been signed. The Compete Project also conducted interviews with final candidates for the Project Manager who will lead the initiative from within the Ministry (MTIT) – the recruitment process is in the final stages.

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Supporting Enablers and Service Providers to Address Impediments Creating a Technical Transfer Company IBDAA (Component B) - USAID through its Compete Project is bridging a gap between academia and the private ICT sector through the establishment of a new tech transfer company. Compete has partnered with four local universities to create the first technical transfer company (IBDAA) to promote research and development activities between the private sector and academia to help solve market failures and spur innovation among Palestinian youth. The four universities leading this initiative are, The Arab American University (AAUJ), Najah National University (ANU), Polytechnic University (PPU), and Al-Quds University. The four universities established and registered IBDAA as a company to run and manage a program that supports innovative project ideas that offer creative solutions to industrial problems and that capture market opportunities. IBDAA submitted their final deliverables and report and the activity will close out. However, the Project provided an extension for a sub-grant to INTILAQA Company until mid-December to support their product/service development. SAP Big Data Training During the month of November, SAP training took place in Amman, Jordan which introduced Palestinian and Jordanian startups on Big Data technology and SAP’s platform named HANA. Startups will be able to use this application to meet the needs of larger clients who require Big Data solutions, or the startups may create applications that SAP will the go on to market to their clientele of more than 350,000 users. The training took place on November 6th, 2016. SAP Launches YPP Apprenticeship Program The USAID Compete Project, in coordination with the Office of the Quartet and Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications (MITT) will be supporting a group of apprentices to be placed in companies after completing a two month long SAP training. The training of fresh graduates will take place from the end of November until the end of January 2017. SAP conducted a rigorous selection process with 18 apprentices identified. Companies who wish to take on apprentices will be able to apply through the Firm Level Assistance Program and USAID Compete will support the apprentices for a four month initial period. USAID Support to EXPOTECH 2016 and Startup Pavillion USAID through its Compete Project co-sponsored the EXPOTECH Palestine Technology Week 2016 - a major one week-long event held annually in the West Bank and Gaza – which exposes the Palestinian ICT sector and provides a platform for discussing state of the art technological trends locally and globally. USAID’s support encouraged the exhibition in Ramallah to create a startup pavilion and dedicate floor space to startups and companies. EXPOTECH 2016 focused on supporting start-up firms in the West Bank and Gaza in particular which are developing outsourcing software services and products, and finding ways to link them with the resources, investment, talent, and markets needed to make their businesses a success. Compete beneficiaries contributing to the event range from individual firms to associations. Other participants included PICTI, IBDAA, Centers of Excellence, and various investment funds. The conference featured more than 50 entrepreneurs and businesses from the West Bank and Gaza, as well as 20 startups, as exhibitors, for which Compete’s assistance covered the cost of their participation in terms of rent and booth construction to incentivize their participation.


Startup Support Initiative USAID’s Compete Project is planning on launching a startup support program. This program should provide small scale technical assistance packages to support; startup exposure, user acquisition, and branding graphics. So far the Project has finished consultations with stakeholders in the West Bank and Gaza and is now working on submitting a concept note. Initial design of the program has been completed and was presented to the Project Panel where the thought process was to cluster startup companies and simultaneously provide small scale technical assistance packages for multiple companies.

Planned Programs for the Next Period • FLAP applications processing. • Implementation of eGov initiative. • SAP YPP Apprenticeship Program

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STONE AND MARBLE

Enhancing Market Access Firm Level Assistance Program Al-Haramein Company Al-Haramein is a stone producer located in Hebron’s Industrial Zone specializing in stone slabs and building stone. Currently they sell to Israeli and Jordanian markets and are looking to expand into the Gulf market. One of their main challenges is the high cost of electricity. The Project is supporting investment in solar equipment after a solar assessment found that it is a viable option for this company. The assessment provided detailed engineering specifications for the project. In the upcoming year Compete will support the installation of a solar system as a pilot project, a first in the Palestinian stone sector. To date bids have been received from vendors for the solar system. An internal evaluation of bids and a technical meeting with a solar consultant was conducted. EDF procedures have been completed. A meeting in December has been scheduled to go over the bids that came in for the solar panel and meet with service providers.

Al Omraniyeh Group Company for Jerusalem Stone Previous support to Al Omraniyeh included supporting their participation at trade shows. The Project is supporting the company with ISO9001 adaptation of the forms and procedures is scheduled to be completed by December 2016. Project support also included developing a comprehensive product data sheet. The company hired four young graduates who started work in June 2016. Three of the employees are women, as Al Omraniyeh is keen to open up more opportunities to women who have traditionally been underrepresented in the sector. The new employees assisted Al Omraniyeh in developing a comprehensive product data sheet [which was completed in October 2016] aiming to showcase a wide range of products and help them reach global markets; four contracts were signed to date. In November the ISO forms were readied and training on ISO systems are ongoing.

Antique Stone Compete supported Antique Stone Company through an in-kind grant under a cost-share scheme to procure new equipment that will transform stone pieces into aged antique stone in a variety of colors and patterns. The company, based in Jenin and established in 2014, will be upgrading their outdated equipment and renovating the whole production facility. USAID’s Compete Project started the procurement process, has ensured the project is environmentally sound, and expects that the machine will be delivered and installed in early 2017. Creative Business Solutions Compete is supporting Creative Business Solutions (CBS) with an in-kind grant that will support the company to create new products using stone waste. The company plans to produce artificial interior decorative stone, light weight concrete and exterior decorative stone. In order to achieve this, the company requires updated machinery and technology, which they will place in a new facility they are establishing to produce these products. From an environmental perspective, CBS’s project is considered a game changer in the industry and a pilot for other companies within the industry to replicate. The grant is expected to increase employment, sales and the number of new products using stone waste.


Compete started the procurement process, and an Environmental Documentation Form (EDF) was sent for USAID approval.

Verona Marble and Industrial Investments Company

Compete had recently supported the Company with a study on the Russian market in addition to supporting marketing activities that include the development of a new logo and a high-end website. Currently Verona Marble Company is working with the service provider to finalize the company’s new logo and finalize work on the new website. Moreover, the Project will purchase one online market study for the Canadian market; pending results, Verona may be expanding and purchasing new market studies. USAID Compete approved further support to the company including their participation in the Italian Marmomacc trade show which took place during September. The Marmomacc trade show in Italy is one of the leading global events for the natural stone industry.

Planned Programs for the Next Period • Reviewing new FLAP applications.

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TOURISM

Enhancing Market Access Firm Level Assistance Program

Diamond Hotel A privately owned hotel located in Bethlehem seeking 4 star ranking and expected to open its doors in August this year. The hotel has 94 rooms, 2 halls and one restaurant, 4 employees and is currently recruiting full staff. Diamond Hotel applied for USAID support to install a hotel management software system, and the FLAP committee approved their application to install the software which will help them control the hotel operations, take fast decisions especially during the peak season, and provide accurate reporting, including drill down data and sources. USAID support is expected to help Diamond hotel to increase their reservations and revenue per available rooms, streamline hotel management from reservations to maintenance, and enhance their operations. An LOA was signed in November and the procurement process is underway.

JTT

JTT is a private ownership company, established in 2003, operating in inbound tourism and ticketing and is focused on pilgrimage market targeting the EU market. The company has 10 full time employees, and brings 14,000 inbound pilgrims a year, with a maximum capacity to bring 25,000/year JTT applied for USAID support to develop a new website and promotional materials to serve the Company’s existing and potential clients. The FLAP committee approved their application on cost share basis and will support them in their new logo development and in designing their brochure and high end website to enhance the company’s digital presence, provide price offers based on the selected tours, calculate the tours cost, offer online and payment solution to be fully integrated with the currently operating management software. Based on a request by the beneficiary to resubmit to bidders and affirm their ability to integrate the new system with JTT’s current operating system. The procurement process was underway in November with requisition and evaluation of bids – ready to award in December.

Laila Tours and Travel

Laila Tours have been providing quality tours and pilgrimages to the Holy Land, Jordan, and Egypt since 2006, and also provide outbound ticketing services for residents and visitors to the Holy Land. USAID Compete is supporting Laila Tours by deploying new systems to manage and improve their financial capacities and sales plans. The Project recently approved a third round of assistance, this time focusing on supporting website development to enable online payment and booking solutions. Procurement for the website development has been finalized and the service provider selected. Work on the website was underway and is expected to be finalized by December.

Strengthening High Value-Added Products, Services, & Technologies Rehabilitating Urban Sites and Upgrading Tourism Infrastructure - Working to build the full “destination eco-system” for key tourism sites in the West Bank, Compete has improved several tourism sites and trails including urban rehabilitation works in important historical locations in Bethlehem, Burqin, Bethany, Battir, Beit Sahour, and Jericho.


The current rehabilitation program includes 4 areas, Burqin, Battir, Beit Sahour and Hebron. Compete signed a contract with the Centre for Cultural Heritage Preservation (CCHP) to develop the designs for building restoration and the urban rehabilitation projects in Battir, Bait Sahour, Burqin, and Hebron. CCHP completed all the designs for the implementation phase, six companies were shortlisted and the qualifying companies will implement renovation works. Procurement documents were prepared and RFPs issued, and proposals submitted for the rehabilitation of Burqin Historic Center, and the restoration of two historic buildings in Beit Sahour that will be used as a handicraft village, and an Information Center. The Compete Project and CCHP are currently addressing a request by USAID for an engineering review for all designs. Upon gaining all needed approvals contracts will be awarded for these three interventions to start the implementation.

Fostering Strategies to Improve Human Resources and Services

Develop/ upgrade a commercialized tourist infrastructure Tourism – USAID through its Compete Project is working to develop commercial visitor infrastructure. The Project supported Bethlehem Municipality with the procurement of a large tent that would allow the Municipality to organize events any time of year and under any kind of weather. Compete completed the procurement process and signed the contract with the identified vendor Installation of the structure took place in October.

Planned Programs and Events for the Next Period • Follow-up on the implementation of West Bank approved applications • Full installation of the Bethlehem Tent

CROSS CUTTING

Palestinian Construction Guide The company provides services to the construction sector in general and is identifying the Stone and Marble industry as one of the major target sectors for their services. Some of these services include connecting companies with clients, advertising, and business service support through a website and online services. The Project is supporting the company through the ICT and Stone and Marble Sector, and has approved support to upgrade their website so that they will be better equipped to provide essential services to subscribed companies. In addition, marketing personnel will be hired through this intervention. Work on the advanced website has progressed beyond the half-way point and is ongoing.

Private Sector-Academia Technology Innovation Program A training and introductory workshop for PPU professors on NI software and hardware took place in November in Amman, Jordan. The training provided the participants, who are set to become the trainers within this program, with knowledge on National Instruments software and hardware applications. Over the course of the Project, USAID’s Compete Project has discerned that across sectors, there is consistent, demand for high-quality machinery and equipment to increase efficiency of production of goods for local and export markets. Local technical universities do not yet have the

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resources or capacity to foster world-class training and opportunities for rising engineers to learn state-of-the-art tools to address real world problems. The private sector typically turns to international imports for new and innovative equipment to address efficiency challenges across the production value chain, and for the replacement of trademarked spare parts for this equipment, at high cost. USAID’s Compete Project entered a partnership with National Instruments (NI) - a US-based firm developing automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software - to fill this gap and build the capacity of local universities around machine design and manufacturing to improve the competitiveness of value chains of key sectors on the Compete Project. The Project identified Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU) in Hebron as its academic partner for this project. While NI has agreed to provide technical training, mentoring and certifications, Compete will fund and facilitate the full operation through the lifetime of the extended Project. Key sectors that could benefit include agriculture, tourism, information and communications technology (ICT), stone and marble, food processing, and machine producers. Additional consideration will be made for the development of a maker’s or fabrication lab in partnership with local universities, to achieve the same goal of workforce development to sustainably address local industry challenges.


GAZA

The aim of USAID’s Compete’s Project support in Gaza is for the Palestinian private sector to strengthen its competitiveness and expand into new markets locally, regionally, and internationally in key sectors essential to the future prosperity of the Gazan economy. Since September 2015, the Project focused on the design of major transformative initiatives in the agriculture, fishing, ICT, and tourism sectors. From January 2016 onwards the Project has made progress in accelerating the roll out of programming and activities aimed at addressing years of limited development in an isolated economy. Firm Level Technical Assistance – The Firm Level Technical Assistance Program in Gaza was officially launched on September 8, 2015. Compete continued to receive and assess new applications under FLAP. To date, 1485 applications were received since the beginning of the Gaza program [September 2015 – November 2016]. The pipeline is distributed as follows:

Sector Program Approved Cases Rejected Cases Totals

Ag

FLAP 9 222 352 Strawberry Single 85 105 197 Strawberry Roofs 30 0 30 Fresh Vegetables 65 138 203 Fresh Herbs 15 0 196 Fresh Vegetables Expansion 51 10 124

Wells Program 13 5 44 Ag Totals 268 480 1146

Fish 5 5 24 Furniture 20 2 75

ICT 9 32 96 Tourism 5 27 36 Garment 20 0 84

Totals 327 546 1485

Visits and Meetings November 2016

• In late November, the Procurement Officer is visited Gaza to follow up on Gaza procurements and meet with vendors and beneficiaries. He is expected to return in early December.

• In November, 3 members of the Gaza office visited Jericho to attend the Year 6 work planning retreat.

• Basel Abu Daka traveled from the Gaza office to Israel to attend two 3 day training workshops - one on water salinity and the other on Treated Waste Water practices.

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AGRIBUSINESS

In Gaza’s agribusiness sector, new production patterns were introduced to the strawberry value chain in FY 2016, as USAID installed 85 dunums of single span greenhouses. The objective of this intervention is to transform the sector to become competitive by increasing the yield and enhancing the quality. Furthermore, the new production patterns will enable crop diversification and overcome the serious export hurdles faced by the strawberry sector, due to the sensitivity of the crop, at the border crossings such as delays and cooling chain interruptions. This season over 25 dunums were planted with strawberry and the remainders were planted with other greenhouse vegetables. USAID also installed six dunums of computerized hanging strawberry systems as pilots to reshape the production capacity of this value chain. Netting was installed for 65 vegetable farmers in Gaza, covering more than 234 dunums with new production patterns, which will enable farmers to prolong the production season to meet the gaps in supply for the Gulf market. USAID also established 40 dunums of herbs cultivated under new technology to scale up herb production for export. To build the sustainable capacity of the agribusiness sector in FY 2016, USAID supported the creation of cold chain facilities with four exporters and identified 40 wells to be operated by solar energy to support growth in new developed production areas. Exports valued at $127,400 materialized as an early result of export development programming in these value chains. Cross Cutting: Enhance Access to Water and Alternative Energy Sources As part of the Project’s plan to address water challenges affecting the agriculture sector, a specialized wells project has been designed to use solar system on 40 wells replacing the inconsistent electricity and the costly fuel. The Project identified 60 potential beneficiaries with fully-licensed wells. Forty-three of these have been shortlisted and vetted to receive support. The CLA has approved the implementation for 8 well systems by the end of the year. A vendor has been pre-selected to start work in November 2016. Field visits have been conducted for 8 wells to validate information and 7 comply with the proposed activity. To date 13 beneficiaries have been approved to receive support and LOAs will be signed in December 2016.

This initiative will provide alternative energy options to enable 300 farmers working in the three export sub sectors [strawberry, herbs, and vegetables] to cultivate over 2000 dunums. The Solar water Pump System will enable farmers to: • Have stable and continuous electricity to operate the wells • Reduce input costs (Fuel/electricity) and thus produce at competitive prices • Have sustainable water for irrigation thus enhancing the quality of produce • Compete in export markets

Enhance Capacity and Skills of Agribusiness Workforce The Project designed the Agronomists Capacity building Program in Gaza to assist firms in implementing good agricultural practices, quality management system and adopting new technologies as well as to adopt better management and documentation systems. Five agronomists were trained and began work in August of 2016 and their contracts will end in January 2017. In September follow on training was conducted by the Project’s Agriculture Specialist for the agronomists on fresh herbs and strawberry farming and production.


Fresh Herbs The USAID Compete Project conducted meetings with two Israeli export companies, Arava Export Growers and Viva Farmers, both showed great interest in buying Gaza herbs production for export. The estimated demand by the two companies is about 300 dunums [600 tons]. The market research confirms the growth potential and viability of this value chain and the current 30 dunums of cultivated land offer high potential for a scalability program to increase the production by at least 100 dunums by the coming seasons. To date, 15 LOAs have been signed covering 75 dunums; 50 dunums have been fitted with agricultural inputs. For the second stage 25 dunums are receiving inputs. An additional 25 dunums will be identified in December 2016. The farmers are growing two new varieties – thyme and coriander – in addition to the remaining components of a full fresh herbs basket including mint, chives, tarragon and basil.

Vegetables Introduce New Production Patterns The Compete Project aims to support tomato and pepper farmers to export to the Gulf market. In order to achieve this, the quality of produce must increase. The Compete Project plans to introduce netting to increase the production period and improve quality and also enhance post-harvest packing houses and cooling rooms to ensure optimal storage of vegetable products prior to shipment. For example, farmers need to replace plastic covers of greenhouses with netting, which will ensure higher yields and better quality due to improved ventilation. The Gulf market is more lucrative in the summer period, as summer is the off season for the Gulf region. For farmers to be able to produce in the summer period they need to change their current pattern of production. To date the Compete Project signed LOAs with 65 farmers covering 234 dunums to join the vegetable subsector high-value production patterns program. Netting was installed across 234 dunums benefiting 65 farmers so far. Upon the high demand from farmers to expand the program, on 16 June 2016, Compete announced a second phase with an additional 200 dunums. In response the Project received 144 new applications, and with interested applicants from the first phase, making a total of 193 applications. Of these 82 were vetted and compliant covering 288 dunums and 51 farmers were approved by the committee covering 188.6 dunums. The second phase for netting will commence in March 2017. Establish Vegetable Industries Abu Hashish Company-Pickling Company - Compete plans to support Abu Hashish in developing a new line of packaging process to enhance the quality of products. The production processes of the pickles at the company are very primitive, where all the processes are carried out manually. The production is marketed in local market directly to the retailers and groceries in buckets of 20 liter. The total investment is $296,000. Compete will support this factory with business plan to know the feasibility of developing new production line. The business plan is in the procurement process. Green Field - Green Field Company has been established in 2012 in Gaza as a food processing company, potatoes in particular. Green Field produced in 2013 produced 3 tons of potato chips and they planted 15 dunums of red ”industrial” potaoe for this purpose, the project of the chips were collapsed due to the war of 2014. Currently, the company diverted to more lucrative productions

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including mainly fresh and frozen French fries and frozen strawberry, where 60 tons of French fries and 20 tons of frozen strawberry were produced and sold only to restaurants. Compete is in the process of conducting a needs assessment benched marked against HACCP to insure food safety compliance and determine the exact needs for upgrading the production facilities. Enhance Post-harvest The Project identified and approved working with five export companies that buy from participating farmers, storing around 8,560 tons. A fifth has withdrawn as they did not comply with USAID requirements. The cold storage facilities will ensure products collected by participating farmers will be refrigerated and the cold chain maintained enabling export. Also, recently joining the project is Yousef Alqedra and Hamdi Al Jerjawi which the Project aims to support through providing each with a cooling room storing 3,000 tons per facility. Bawasel Al Wifaq – Compete plans to support Bawasel Al Wifaq Company in providing cooling facilities, storing around 700 tons. The cold storage facilities will ensure products collected by participating farmers will be refrigerated and the cold chain maintained enabling export. The procurement process is ongoing. A contract will be signed in December, 2016 pending vetting. Hamdi Al Jerjawi – Compete plans to support Hamdi Al Jerjawi Company in providing cooling room, storing around 3,000 tons. The cold storage facilities will ensure products collected by participating farmers will be refrigerated and the cold chain maintained enabling export. The grant will be signed once finalizing the procurement process. Husny Shihadeh and Sons Company for General Trading - Husny Shihadeh, was provided with a cooling room, which will benefit a large number of farmers in Gaza. The aim of this grant is to assist Husny Shihadeh Company via purchasing two refrigeration units for their proposed cooling rooms. Supporting this activity will address the currently limited access to export markets (especially Israel and the West Bank) and the widespread lack of cold chain facilities throughout Gaza, thus strengthening existing high-value agricultural subsectors. The capacity of the cold storage facilities is 1,060 tons. A purchase order was signed with Husny Shihadeh and the panels and refrigeration system installed and is fully operational. Mahmoud Hamdan and Partner for Vegetables Trade [Abu Tayem] - Compete plans to support Abu Tayem Company in providing cooling room, storing around 800 tons. The cold storage facilities will ensure products collected by participating farmers will be refrigerated and the cold chain maintained enabling export. A grant was signed and the procurement process is ongoing. Yousef Alqedra – Compete plans to support Yousef Alqedra Company in providing cooling room, storing around 3,000 tons. The cold storage facilities will ensure products collected by participating farmers will be refrigerated and the cold chain maintained enabling export. The grant will be signed once finalizing the procurement process.


Strawberry Value Chain The USAID Compete Project intends to strengthen the strawberry sector in Gaza by introducing high value modes of production through technology, equipment and inputs, providing support to marketing firms, upgrading post-harvest facilities, introducing new processing facilities, and upgrading existing farms. Strawberries can be grown in open fields, single high span greenhouses, or in multi span greenhouses; last season all the strawberries in Gaza are planted in open fields. The findings of a financial analysis conducted by Compete have shown that single span high greenhouses are more cost effective and will produce a greater return over the multi span greenhouse patterns. Furthermore, the single span high greenhouse patterns allow easy reallocation in case the soil deteriorates on the plot on which it is installed. Compete has started the implementation phase of introducing new strawberry production patterns for up to 100 dunums of single span high greenhouses; this intervention will increase the yield per dunum from two tons (open field) to four and a half tons (single span high greenhouse). To date, USAID installed 85 dunums of single span greenhouses. The objective of this intervention is to transform the sector to become competitive by increasing the yield and enhancing the quality. Furthermore, the new production patterns will enable crop diversification and overcome the serious export hurdles faced by the strawberry sector, due to the sensitivity of the crop, at the border crossings such as delays and cooling chain interruptions. This season over 25 dunums were planted with strawberry and the remainders were planted with other greenhouse vegetables. In October as a follow on program Compete decided to assist 28 farmers out of the 85 with plastic roof covers and steel fasteners. The purchase order was issued in November 2016. Computerized Hanging Strawberry Pilot Project The Project has completed a pilot project that aims to ensure the feasibility of hanging strawberry farms in relation to Gaza’s specific economy and climate. Eid Ahmad Deeb Siyam and Mahmoud Ahmad Saled Ikhlil added three dunums each to the strawberry pilot project. The hanging systems for the two farms were installed and the seedlings process commenced with the seedlings planted in August for the next season which started in September. Results will be captured and shared in the FY6Q1 quarterly report.

FISHING USAID through its Compete Project continues to support scaling up the fishing sector in Gaza by building the capacity and scaling up onshore fish farms and supporting the development of offshore fish farms. In Gaza’s fishing sector, the Project designed projects for Fish Fresh that will scale up production, including aerator installation, and result in 1 million extra fish - 350 tons per annum produced. To provide onshore fish farms with inputs to enable them to make use of this increased capacity, fingerling hatchlings need to be in a consistent supply. Compete supported the creation of fingerlings hatchling lab at Kuhail fish farm, with 400,000 fingerlings produced. Scaling-up Onshore Fish Production Fish Fresh Fish Fresh is the biggest onshore fish farm in Gaza, established in 2011 in the Khan Younis district. The company specializes in producing Denis fish (Sea Bream), with a production capacity of approximately

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140 tons per year. USAID through its Compete Project is supporting Fish Fresh to increase its production capacity by an additional 190 tons per year, which will increase its employment by 22 workers. Compete installed aerators and two electricity generators increasing the quality of production and ensuring an uninterrupted power supply. Fish Fresh completed the required infrastructure upgrades including installation of water pools, greenhouses, water wells and leather lining. Operations in the new expansion farm commenced with the placement of imported fingerlings in one of the new pools with the fish reaching maturity. Fish Fresh’s expansion has reached a capacity of 350 tons (1 million fingerlings). By November 1.7 tons of Sea Bass fish were sold, a new variety in Gaza, selling for 45ILS per kilo, Greater quantities are expected to be sold after December 20th, 2016. The firm has hired 12 new workers, all youth, to manage the increased workload and additional workers will be hired once the farm is fully operational at maximum capacity. Al Bahar Fish Farm The second biggest onshore fish farm which was established in 2015 near the coastal road of southern Gaza. The company specializes in producing sea bream “Denis” fish, its production capacity is around 100 tons per year. The local market is deemed the main market for the company. Compete is supporting Al Bahar to increase its production capacity by an additional 80 tons per year. To date Al Bahar employed 4 additional workers. Two generators and aerators were delivered by November 2016. Al Bahar fish farm made progress in preparing the land and infrastructure to expand its facilities. The fingerlings are growing in the expansion area and will need 8 more months to reach maturity and be sold. Worth noting is that Al Bahar has also begun developing a fish hatchery following USAID’s successful development of a hatchery for Kuhail Fish Farm.

Al Salmi Fish Farm Al Salmi Fish Farm is a fish farm established in 2014 on 3.5 dunums (only 1.8 dunum is utilized) on the coastal road, Al Qarara. Unlike the other three existing fish farms in Gaza, Al Salmi Fish Farm is specialized in producing only Tilapia (Red & Black) fish with a production capacity expected to reach 30 tons a year by the end of 2016. Tilapia is fast-growing, adaptable and tolerant of stocking density which makes them attractive for onshore fish farming. USAID through its Compete Project will support the company with solar energy and aerators. The farm will expand its land by one more dunum in order to add six fish pools that will enable them to increase their production capacity to 50 tons a year [previous capacity is 30 tons a year]. Compete’s solar consultant will conduct the assessment and the design of the solar system which will operate the pump and the 3-5 aerators.

Introduce Fingerlings Production in Gaza Kuhail Fish Farm Compete is assisting Kuhail Fish Farm through an in-kind grant to develop a fish hatchery for Denis fingerlings for the benefit of the Gaza Strip fish farming value chain, as well as introduce new alternative energy solutions (solar) to address persistent electricity disruptions that effect consistent production. Following receipt of Israeli approval to bring in the solar system needed for operation of the fingerlings lab at Kuhail Fish Farm, which will support onshore fisheries in Gaza by ensuring a local – versus imported – supply, the system was delivered to Gaza and installed during August. The supported fingerlings lab started supplying Fish Fresh with fingerlings, and recently Kuhail signed an agreement with Fish Fresh whereby he will supply the latter with 100,000 fingerlings monthly. In December a shipment


of 200,000 fingerlings is expected. Al Bahar (more details above) will also receive fingerlings. Kuhail has hired three additional workers, all youth, to support the fish farm. Support Development of Offshore Fish Production Abu Alnaja Abu Alnaja and Associates Company, established in 1993 is planning to expand their business to include offshore fish (Denis) production by introducing Tension Leg Cages (TLC) technology. This new technology will enable Abu Alnaja to reduce the running and investment cost. On an offshore site, Abu Alnaja will need less electricity and will not require the processes and infrastructure for aeration. This company will be the first to employ this technology in Gaza, and is securing the permit from the Israeli Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA) to operate within a certain distance from the shoreline. Compete is supported Abu Alnaja in conducting a business plan for offshore fish farms and providing diving training courses Skilled divers are required for this type of offshore fishing as they set up the cages, sink them, provide feed, and extract the fish. Project support also includes training in diving, specifically for fish farms. The training course will commence in December, 2016 as CLA approval has been granted. A business plan for the fish farm has been completed.

ICT The mandate of Compete’s work in the ICT sector in Gaza is to increase the competiveness of the sector to facilitate regional and international expansion and increase the number of new entrants in the software sector. Strategic priorities will center on providing technical assistance to stabilize operations; enhancing access to market; strengthening the capacity of targeted firms/sectors to produce high value products and services; developing workforce skills and introducing new technologies; and providing business enhancement and institutional development support. Compete has received 100 ICT applications for firm level assistance from Gaza. Thirty companies have been assessed. Nine applications have been approved, with 11 LOAs signed with Developers Plus, Dalata Code and other clients (more information on the companies below). For Developers Plus the activity was completed with a solar system installed and is providing the company with a steady supply of electricity enabling a normal 8 hour per day operation. Five companies, MTC, Unit One, Vision Plus and ICT Warehouse enrolled in Compete’s ICT Export Market Development Program. 321 Boom 321 Boom is a game startup from Gaza that has been registered since June 2015. The co-founders developed a concept character called Rayru, around whom they have built a game prototype. The team applied for a competition organized by USAID for best game prototypes during a sponsored high tech hub conference in 2013. Their entry won first prize, for which they received a commitment from Compete to provide technical assistance to build the first project. Currently the company has no proper management structure and little business or marketing knowledge, but does feature strong technical skills around gaming. As a new start up, 321Boom does not have the financial resources to start the project, as gaming is a long-tail business for which full financial maturity and sustainability may take some time. Under this LOA, Compete assisted 321Boom in building its first full game for mobile devices, and provided marketing assistance once 321 Boom has published its game on the relevant game app stores.

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Once game development had been completed, Compete then assisted 321Boom to purchase advertisements on relevant websites like Amazon, GooglePlay, and the iTunes store, as well as membership subscription to a gaming organization to help them continue to stay informed and engaged with their market. Compete purchased the membership for GameUnity in order to enable 321 Boom to publish the game on the application stores and covered the company’s subscription for PITA services. 5QHQH The Company works in the development of entertainment and comedy in Arabic, and had requested support from Compete. The Project signed an LOA with 5QHQH and supported the company in its marketing activities. Al-Tariq Systems During the base period, Compete supported Al-Tariq Systems to develop tailored software systems for clients in Gulf countries, allowing them to increase their international presence. Compete signed a grant with Al-Tariq Systems to further facilitate market penetration to two new markets in Poland and Norway. As a result, Al-Tariq built new software packages to be sold in these markets and is using a partnership model with local software solution companies in these countries.

Dalata Code Dalata Group Company for Consultancy (aka Dalata Code) is a software company based in Gaza. Dalata Code has approached the Compete Project for assistance in penetrating the Nigerian market to sell Elid there through an identified partner in Nigeria. Dalata Code has performed basic market research on Nigeria, and has a full business plan for releasing Elid there. Compete is assisting Dalata Code with 70% of the software licenses for various Amazon web services required for this activity, as well as 50% of various equipment items (Laptops, billing and quality control software); Dalata Code is procuring the remaining percentage of costs. This assistance is designed to improve Dalata Code's internal infrastructure and quality systems through the provision of equipment and strategic technical assistance. Compete's support will also help with finalizing the rollout of Elid on a production environment through Amazon hosting. Overall, this activity will contribute toward the sector objectives of increasing the percentage of sales in Palestinian ICT firms, the number of new markets accessed (Nigeria), and the number of new jobs created as a result of USG assistance. Compete completed the procurement of services, software and equipment as per the plan, and Amazon hosting is underway. Developers Plus Khalil Adeeb Salim & Yaser Jehad Mustafa Company for ICT Developers Plus (aka Developers Plus) is a software company from Falluja, Gaza, founded in 2010 started by two young developers. Developers Plus is offering software development outsourcing, training, and social media management. The company suffered from a bad power supply, as well as a lack of equipment. The area where Developers is now located is receiving on average 3 hours of electricity per day, as opposed to the 8-hour schedule that was announced to the public. To identify ways to address this, Compete has conducted a solar assessment for the company. As per the consultant report, Developers needs a 3.78kW system in order to stabilize the operations of the company and reach full 8-hour operation. Accordingly, Compete provided hardware support to improve their work quality and productivity, through procuring and installing a solar panel system. The system has already had an impact with 5 new projects attained within


a week during June when the system went live. Prior to the system being installed the company would take on 1 to 2 projects a month. Gaza Gateway Gaza Gateway used to be a department within UNRWA working on implementing ICT projects for UNRWA, and the department was spun off as a private sector company in late 2015. It is expected that Gaza Gateway will become a significant employment generator among youth in the Strip. Compete signed a grant agreement with Gaza Gateway in July 2016 to help build their internal organizational capacity to become a robust outsourcing company on the regional level – the grant has been extended until the end of March 2017. Compete’s intervention includes capacity building for senior management and a company assessment and business plan – the business plan will be completed by January 2017. The niche market assessment was completed which will assist the company in focusing on the most important services for its expansion. Moving forward, Compete will fund three weeks of paid internships for two Gaza Gateway core employees who will take their internship within a similar, social enterprise, company (Digital Divide Data-DDD) in Laos - preparation for this internship is underway. ICT Warehouse ICT Warehouse for IT Services is a software company registered out of Gaza. Since 2011 the company worked on delivering software projects for the local market. Slowly, the company shifted to European markets with the assistance of other donors. The company managed to establish linkages with several markets in Europe (Croatia, France, Austria, and Spain) and now the Company wants to diversify its revenue streams and move from its current 100% service industry revenue. After conducting thorough research, ICT Warehouse wants to get into the Sony PlayStation Arabization market. Sony introduced Arabic support in early 2015 and at present there are no PSP games that have Arabic characters. ICT Warehouse plans to become a provider of Arabic characters for PSP game developers. The end market is in the MENA region, but ICT warehouse will be working with game developers that are based in Europe and the US. Compete, through a professional consultant, will support the company in conducting a niche market assessment and determination. This assessment will result in a detailed scope of work for a market research firm as part of the Export Market Development Program. Modern Tech Company [MTC] MTC is an ICT company established in 1994. The company works in website development and hosting, SMS, and specific software packages for certain industries. The company is evolving from a service-oriented to product-based company by leveraging the experience and network of customers they have built over the years. Compete will enroll the MTC Company in the Export Market Development Program by conducting an export market assessment for MTC’s product named “Cloudy”, which is an operation tool for collaboration. The assistance aims to identify areas of market expansion for MTC and assist the company in making informed decisions regarding their international expansion. Compete supported the company with the assessment and the results were shared with the company. Netstream The company is one of the Internet Service Providers (ISP) in Gaza. Its current market share is about 10% (6,500 clients) and it is the only ISP that provides TAJAWAL services via WIFI, overcoming restrictions of 3G infrastructure in addition to having a number of unique services. Currently, they have

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their own call center but it is very limited. They are looking to set up an expanded call center as a separate investment unit to serve other clients, including the mother company. The potential clients will be from local and regional markets. Compete assisted the company to develop their service by generating a business plan to measure the feasibility of developing new services. The business plan was produced and results were favorable for establishing the call center unit. Vision Plus Vision Plus is a training center in Gaza that has been operating since 2011. The company provides local training services in Gaza on Cisco, Microsoft and other IT topics. They also provide exams and certifications for young trainees. The company’s customers are mainly youth who are trying to find employment in the local market. Compete assisted Vision Plus in opening a new MAC lab to introduce new training skills and topics in Gaza as well as providing certification and training for trainers. The equipment for the center was delivered and installed in August. The Project will also assist them in becoming an Apple certified training center – the first in the West Bank and Gaza. Compete also conducted a niche market assessment and determination. This assessment aims at creating a detailed scope of work for a market research firm as part of the Export Market Development Program, to in turn help Vision Plus develop the right plans for the desired software division. This support will assist the company in making informed decision regarding the international market and identifying the best setup for conducting international business.

UnitOne UnitOne is a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company based out of Gaza since 2011. Significant portions of their staff are formed from their dedicated unit for women, which has around 50 people working in data entry and content translation. UnitOne has a small software division that has been providing services to the UAE, Netherlands, and US markets, and recently received interest from INTEL (Jerusalem) to start doing translation work. UnitOne is cooperating with IT companies in the West Bank to provide backup offices and counter instability in the Strip. UnitOne has future plans to open an office in Jordan. Compete assisted UnitOne via a professional consultant who conducted a niche market assessment and determination and the results were shared with the company.

FURNITURE Eighty-one (81) applications have been received since the beginning of the Gaza program, 20 of which were selected in cooperation with the Palestinian Wood Industries Union in Novembers 2015 for potential engagement. These 20 firms are the top exporters amongst the union members, based on the export volume and export potential.

Based on the Israeli government’s decision in October 2014 to ease economic restrictions on the Gaza Strip, a needs assessment was conducted with the 20 export-ready firms to assess their sales and exports to the Israeli and West Bank markets, partnerships, production capacity, material requirements, and marketing information. However, in September 2015, the Israeli authorities again placed increased restrictions on the type of solid wood allowed into Gaza [from pieces 2.5 cm in thickness and 20-25 cm in width, to 1 cm thickness and 5 cm width]. A quick assessment of the dual-use restrictions list as relate to the 20 firms’ production requirements was conducted by Compete and submitted to CLA and


USAID. The assessment indicated that no firm is able to operate with wood at 1 cm thickness, as this undermines the products’ quality and increases production costs, leading to low competitive advantages against regional producers. Thus, engagement with this sector is on a limited basis until facilitation has been made via the international community to allow the entrance of the required raw materials into Gaza.

Despite these challenges, Compete has discovered there is potential to work with some companies that are specialized in producing baby/children’s furniture, and are able to utilize smaller pieces of wood through special coordination.

Institutional level: Wood Industries Union Compete completed an institutional assessment for the Palestinian Wood and Industries Union that obtained baseline information on the unions’ operating environment and identified the strategic and operational challenges facing the aforementioned unions. In order to enhance the capacity of the Wood union to provide better services to its members, Compete will support the union in revising the union strategic plans, governance policies, operational plan, monitoring system as well as the accounting system in addition to hiring one accountant to manage the system. Compete will also support the union in market presence in the West Bank and in developing new website.

TEXTILE AND GARMENT USAID through its Compete Project received eighty-nine (89) applications so far, 20 of which were selected in cooperation with the Garment and Textile Union in November 2015 to be part of Compete initial program for assistance. These are the top players amongst their affiliated members based on export volume and export potential.

Technical Support

The FLAP committee approved ten (10) applications from Gaza Garment companies for technical support; these companies had requested assistance with new technology to enhance production quality and efficiency as well as support with workforce development, in addition to the aforementioned technical assistance. Eleven (11) technical LOAs have been signed to date. Beneficiaries are listed below:

Al Hadeel Company - Hadeel Company is a women’s wear producer, planning to increase the factory capacity, enhance the quality and expand its outreach to new export markets; the West Bank and Israel. Compete is supporting the company in providing essential equipment buttonhole machine, plotter and OptiTex technology, to control the garment before cutting or sewing any piece of fabric, enabling faster cycles and products that better fit the export company’s needs as well as to control the quality and assure the consistency of products. Compete is supporting the company in hiring 35 apprentices to utilize their new equipment and increase their capacity. This comes as part of Compete efforts in creating jobs and spurring growth in Gaza. Compete delivered one buttonhole machine to its branch in Hebron to start using it in the production in addition to the sewing machines, steam ironing and clothes button machines that has been brought as part of the client’s share. The procurement process of the

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plotter machine and the OptiTex system was finalized in October 2016. Delivery expected in January 2017.

Al Majed - An Islamic wear producer, Al Majed is planning to reach out to new buyers in the West Bank and use new embroidery machines in order to increase capacity and ensure the quality of final products. Compete is supporting Al Majed in conducting market research for the West Bank market and in providing an embroidery machine. During the month of July, the contracted consulting company conducted field visits with retailers and wholesalers in the West Bank. The market research was finalized by August 2016. Compete’s procurement team finished the vendor selection processes for the embroidery machine and the PO was signed in early September 2016. The embroidery machine was delivered in November. Moreover, Compete conducted an Operation and Management Analysis to assess the company current management system and understand the requirements needed to comply with international standards. This assessment will support the company to enhance the management quality and allow them to obtain a quality certification such as ISO. The results were shared with company and Compete will work closely to enhance their system.

Al Ostaz Company - A children’s wear producer, the company is planning to expand into the West Bank market. Compete will support this company in conducting market research in order to expand its reach in the West Bank market. Compete contracted a consulting firm to conduct the research, and in July the company started conducting field visits and interviews with retailers and wholesalers throughout the West Bank. The market research was finalized in August. The results of this market research will provide Al Ostaz Company with profiles of potential buyers, quantifying buyer needs, requirements, and processes; and will deliver actionable recommendations and a “go-to-market” strategy that will enable Al Ostaz Company to reach and sustain key new clients in the West Bank.

Golden Rock Company – Golden Rock Company – a jeans wear producer for children and pregnant women, is planning to keep their relationship with the Israeli market ongoing, specifically with My Baby Company and will re-start producing a new line for babies and pregnant women. Accordingly, Compete plans to support the company in developing new production line in Gaza that produces cotton products for Israeli market, as the company already has a potential deal with My Baby Company to produce a full series in one year. Moreover, The Company is in the process of buying plotter and software design (Optitex) to control the garment before cutting or sewing any piece of fabric, for faster cycles and products that better fit the export company’s needs as well as to control the quality and assure the consistency of products. Also the company needs to enhance the power generator capacity to cover needed power for the new machines. The generator was delivered in October. The button machine was delivered in November.

Hassan Shihadeh Company - The Company is a jeans wear producer, planning to increase the factory capacity as well as its export volume to Israeli markets. Compete supported the company under the FLAP program on a cost share basis. In July 2016 the project assisted the company to install a financial system to control its operations and finances. Moreover, the Project hired a designer for three months to design new styles then the Company will sign a permanent contract to hire the designer for a longer period of time, in which Compete covers 70% of the salary for the first three months as well as a financial system of which 30% will be covered by the company. In addition, in July 2016 Compete delivered one generator with 33 KVA to support revitalizing the factory. In August Hassan Shihadeh


committed their cost share and bought 25 computerized stitching machines and two over-lock machines. Procurement of Compete’s assistance is complete with the delivery and installation of two over-lock machines, one buttonhole machine and one close button machine. The company succeeded to sign contracts with two Israeli companies (Mai Design and ONOT Jeans) and is willing to expand more in the Israeli market.

Jaber Brothers Company - The Company specializes in producing a wide variety of women’s wear. The company plans to re-export its products to West Bank. The company reached out to Compete to receive technical support in providing two embroidery machines. These machines will enhance productivity, reduce production cost and ensures the consistency and the quality of its final products as well as to create its own designs in-house. An acceptance letter was signed; the company purchased two embroidery machines. The LOA was signed in October 2016 and the procurement process for the two machines [Compete’s cost-share] was completed and the PO is pending EDF approval. Additionally, the Project plans to purchase a generator to support the creation of a new production line whereby Jaber will purchase 35 sewing machines as a cost-share contribution.

Kamal Ashour Company - Kamal Ashour is specialized in producing primarily winter clothing: blouses, jackets, children’s blankets; as well as private school uniforms. The company is focusing on linking back to their previous Israeli clients, therefore the company contacted two of their old buyers in the Israeli market and they showed interest in buying the company’s products for the winter season. Accordingly, Compete will support the company in providing a new vacuum ironing machine to ensure the finishing as well as a 50 KVA generator to overcome the electricity shortage and to increase the production capacity. Compete supported Ashour in developing a new website to upgrade their marketing capabilities. The generator was delivered and installed in November. The ironing machine equipment will be delivered in February 2017. Ashour commenced its cost share and installed the UPS and ordered plastic bags from China.

Nahed Al Safadi Company - Specialized in men’s suits, pants and jackets, the firm is planning to re-start the relationship with previous Israeli buyers. Thus, the company is planning to enhance the quality of the products and the production capacity of the factory. Compete is in the process of assisting this company in buying new and specialized machines for the type of products needed to reach their target market. The LOA was signed in late August and the equipment will be delivered in December 2016.

Oun Taha Company - Oun Taha is a jeans wear producer, planning to introduce a solar system power source option for the factory; minimizing the cost of power used by the company which is approximately US $3,000 per month. The goal is to enhance the competiveness of products by reducing the unit cost by 4.6% and increase exports through existing buyers and new buyers in the West Bank. Compete support received a positive recommendation by the solar consultant and thus approved providing a grant with almost 50% support of the solar system, to demonstrate the viability of such technology to other garment companies. The solar system is in the procurement process and will be delivered by February 2017.

Zahrat Al Madaen Company - A children’s wear producer, the firm is planning to increase the capacity of the factory through utilizing existing machines. Compete supported the company through provision of one 33 KVA generator to revitalize the factory and increase its exports to the West Bank. The company

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succeeded in utilizing all of the machines that increase the production capacity for local and West Bank markets.

Institutional Level: Textile and Garment Union

On the institutional level, the institutional assessment of the Gaza Garment & Textile Union has completed. The purpose of this assessment was to obtain baseline information on the unions’ operating environment, identify the strategic and operational challenges facing the union and eventually enable the Project to determine the type of technical assistance and capacity building support needed for the union. Provision of technical assistance and capacity building to support the Union is pending vetting.

TOURISM USAID through its Compete Project will work with the Tourism sector in Gaza to develop strategic business and management plans and enhance production and quality systems. The program will also provide training in areas critical to improving performance. Through October 31, 2016, the Project received thirty-six (36) applications. Technical Support Four LOAs were signed by the end of October with Roots Hotel, Al Salam Restaurant, Castillo and Level Up. Eleven new applications were received through FLAP and will be reviewed by the Project panel in December 2016. Castillo - Compete signed the POs with the winning vendors that will implement the e-management software for Castillo and the activity for the restaurant was completed during August. Castillo restaurant operations and management software was successfully installed and fully integrated, the user training was completed and the beneficiary paid their cost share by purchasing 5 tablets, 3 printers and 1 computer. Level Up - Compete signed the POs with the winning vendors that will implement the e-management software for Level Up to conduct a Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) assessment and gap analysis, and the activity for the restaurant was completed during August. Recommendations and findings will be shared for the restaurants to upgrade its services or deploy new systems that comply with HACCP requirements. The beneficiary began to adopt implementation plans and abide by recommendations towards meeting HACCP standards and obtain certification in the near future. Roots Hotel - Based on the LOA signed with Roots Hotel, the Project will support the hotel with a cost share of 70% towards the installation of a hospitality management software system, website development as well as a full assessment for the installation and deployment of a solar energy system to assist them in lowering the steep electricity bills due to power cuts and dependence on diesel generators. In August the solar assessment was underway and should be completed by early September. The assessment will be covered in its entirety by the Compete Project. The bid evaluation for website development was finalized in August. The development of the website was finalized in November and will go live by January 2017.


Salam Restaurant - Based on the LOA signed with Salam Restaurant, the Project agreed to support the installation of operation management software and conduct a solar energy assessment. The installation and training of e-restaurant software was completed in August 2016. The beneficiary completed their cost share through purchasing 6 tablets, 1 laptop, and 5 Cisco access points. The solar assessment was completed during September 2016 and indicated the feasibility of such an undertaking. The company is in the process of reviewing the recommendation of the solar system prior to proceeding with this new energy source. Institutional Level On the institutional level, an assessment of the Palestinian Committee for Hotel, Restaurant and Touristic Services has been completed. The assessment report has been finalized and approved by the Committee. The purpose of this assessment was to obtain baseline information on the unions’ operating environment, identify the strategic and operational challenges facing the union and eventually enable the Project to determine the type of technical assistance and capacity building support needed for the unions. Compete finalized the design of a program to enhance the capacity of the union. The Project initiated the requisition process to buy equipment and furniture for the union based on the assessment report recommendations. Compete is considering financial support to PCRHTS, with an in-kind grant to enhance the capacity of the union. Areas for consideration include: develop the union strategy, establish the union governance policies and procedures, support the union with the annual rent, equip and furnish the union’s new office, develop accounting policies and procedures manual, install automated accounting system, and develop a modern and up to date website. Areas of assistance for consideration are: Develop the union strategy, establish the union governance policies and procedures, support the union with the annual rent, equip and furnish the union new office, develop accounting policies and procedures manual, install automated accounting system, and develop a modern and up to date website.

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ANNEX A: UPCOMING EVENTS DECEMBER 2016

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Notes: Agribusiness - Tourism - ICT - Stone and Marble

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Documents

USAID COMPETE PROJECT MONTHLY PROGRESS …pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00N7HM.pdf · TEXTILE AND GARMENT ... The Project willsupport the ... system and adopting new technologies as well