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Good practice Imported

TOKTEN — UNDP's Diaspora Knowledge-Transfer Programme for the Palestinian Territories

Palestine, State of · Ramallah · See the Palestine, State of profile · See the Ramallah profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 83% 52/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1994, UNDP's TOKTEN programme has placed 178+ diaspora Palestinian professionals as short-term volunteer experts inside ministries, hospitals, universities and the Gaza airport project, with roughly one in five going on to resettle permanently in the West Bank and Gaza.

178+
Diaspora experts documented under TOKTEN (by 2001)
34 of 160
Tracked experts who resettled permanently

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
UNDP / Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC)
Period
1994–present
Keywords
diaspora engagement, knowledge transfer, institution building, technical assistance

Context

TOKTEN (Transfer of Knowledge Through Expatriate Nationals), a UNDP mechanism first launched in Turkey in 1977, has run continuously in the Palestinian Territories since 1994 with the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, placing skilled diaspora professionals as short-term volunteer consultants in health, IT, macroeconomic planning and cultural-heritage projects.

Results

A 2001 evaluation documented 178+ Palestinian diaspora experts under TOKTEN, drawn mainly from Jordan (37%), the US (27%), France (8%) and Canada (6%). TOKTEN consultants helped build and open Gaza's international airport, and 34 of 160 tracked experts (about one in five) remained permanently in the Palestinian Territories after their assignment, a higher rate than the comparable Lebanon programme (roughly one in six).

Conclusions

Consultants were typically paid three to four times local salaries, sometimes creating friction with counterparts; benefits accrued mostly to government ministries with only marginal reach into the private and NGO sectors; the volunteer pool skewed toward a highly educated, English-speaking, upper-middle-class diaspora segment.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
UNDP, Palestinian Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, diaspora volunteer consultants

Conditions for success

  • Broadening reach beyond government ministries into private/NGO sectors
  • Continued diaspora engagement through crises

Common failure modes

  • Consultant pay premium created friction with local counterparts
  • Benefits concentrated in government ministries, marginal private/NGO reach

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Data sources

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