The Palestinian International Cooperation Agency (PICA) was established by a presidential decree by President Mahmoud Abbas in January 2016. It is the main public diplomacy tool of the State of Palestine and works as a national coordinator for South-South and Triangular Cooperation. PICA transfers Palestinian know-how to countries of the South, in the form of development and technical assistance. Its creation is guided by a national responsibility towards the international community and is an expression of gratitude and appreciation for the support given to the State of Palestine over the years.
PICA: South-South & Triangular Cooperation Featured Partner
About PICA
Guided by a vision of solidarity through development, the State of Palestine seeks to mobilize its skilled human resources to provide technical assistance to support partner countries in responding to crisis and tackling development challenges with the aim of promoting South-South Cooperation and realizing the 2030 Agenda and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
In order to work towards this vision, PICA was created as the development cooperation arm of Palestinian foreign policy with specific attention given to supporting developing countries across and beyond the Arab region. PICA envisions that sustainable development becomes a reality through cooperation and solidarity within a just and prosperous international community.
PICA's Priority Pillars
PICA utilizes Palestinian know-how and specific expertise in multiple sectors with an aim to implement improvement programs and delivering technical assistance to developing countries within the frame to promote South-South and Triangular Cooperation. PICA, have four main thematic areas of work as a contribution to realizing the set objectives:
- Sharing Technical Cooperation and know-how
- Relief and Humanitarian Responses
- Strategic and Policy Planning
- Fostering Investment Opportunities
PICA has a dual mission as an agency that will (a) deliver proven humanitarian and development solutions to other developing countries; (b) promote South-South and Triangular Cooperation in the process of making a substantial contribution to humanitarian relief, disaster recovery, and reconstruction operations; and (c) coordinates outreach to diverse geographic areas to forge stronger relations with countries of the global south.
PICA and South-South and Triangular Cooperation Mechanisms
PICA strategically adapts South-South and Triangular Cooperation mechanisms as the main reference to our international cooperation framework. It strongly believes in its great potential in people’s lives in the global south. South-South and Triangular Cooperation, and a dynamic exchange of expertise will create a tangible impact on increasing South-South solidarity. Thus, PICA invests in its partnerships with similar visions to share and maximize its pool of resources for better and more effective contribution. In the first phase of its Strategy (2018-2022), the focus has been shaped towards a partnership-driven approach that focuses both on technical assistance and on connecting existing and emerging capacities through South-South Cooperation mechanisms. Achieving the 2030 agenda won’t be possible unless we completed each-other.
COVID - 19 Awareness Campaign
We are currently living in a world that faces a serious tragedy of an international Pandemic. Following the declaration of the state of emergency in Palestine on March 5, 2020, PICA in cooperation with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, and Palestinian Ministry of Health, UNRWA, and The Bank of Palestine initiated a national public awareness campaign title: “Your Commitment Is Your Responsibility To Protect Your Family”
The campaign aims at raising awareness of different components of Palestinian societies on preventive measures to combat the spreading of COVID-19.
This campaign has supported and generated solutions for health providers, health providers patients, as well as communities in need. It used influencers from Palestine and the Arab region, in addition to TV and radio announcements, billboards and the use of social media to raise awareness on prevention methods.
Through PICA’s social media channels, it reached out to more than two million people in four weeks. This is its contribution to support the national, regional and international efforts to face this global challenge, bearing in mind that PICA in partnership with the Islamic development bank (IsDB) and other technical agencies from the global South is working to establish an international platform for experts to exchange good practices, knowledge, and expertise to face the current state of emergency.
Download Awareness Brochure for COVID-19.
The task force from The PICA, UNICEF , BoP, Ministry of Health MoH and WHO، discuss the action plan for raising awareness campaign. Public, Private and International Organizations together to fight COVID-19
International and National Partners
PICA has succeeded in building solid partnerships with many influential international organizations, technical cooperation agencies, governmental agencies, and United Nations agencies. It also established a pool of experts based on a dynamic network of national Palestinian civil society organizations, private sector, academic institutions, governmental and semi-governmental entities.
