The Mid Term Review of the Palestinian Finnish Education Program (PALFEP) was carried out by Ms. Paivi Ahonen and Ms. Pia Hakkari 29.5.-9.6.2004. The second phase of the program which started in 1997 is coming to the end in June 2005. The main areas of the cooperation have been in the fields of quality of education, administration/decentralization and learning material productions. There have been also inputs related to the harmonization of donor activities in education sector.

The mission held several meetings with different departments of the Ministry of Education. It also met with the main donors of the sector as well as several NGOs active in the sector. There was a one day visit to Gaza, where representatives of the Ministry of Education as well as UNRWA were met and a school in Jabalia Refugee Camp was visited.

In addition to reviewing how well the objectives of the program have been achieved the mission will give recommendations on future cooperation between the Finnish Government and Ministry of Education. At the end of the visit there was a final wrap-up meeting in the Ministry of Education and Gaza participating through video conference.

During the visit the delegation met with the Minister of Education, Dr. Naim Abu Hommos, and with the Deputy Minister, Dr. Abdallah Abdul Monem, in Gaza.