The National Mechanism for Monitoring Safety of Journalists in Palestine held its first meeting of in June of this year to prepare the annual report issued by the State of Palestine on the violations against Journalists and their safety.   The Mechanism members met for the first time since it was officially established in November of 2019.  The meeting assessed the viability of the mechanism, shed light on the gaps and needs to support the drafting of the National report which feeds into UNESCO’s Director General’s report on Safety issues. The mechanism urged for further capacity building for additional monitoring team and reporters to be able to report on violations in West Bank, Jerusalem and Gaza.     Members of the mechanism team comprised of members from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Information, General Secretariat of the Council of Ministers, Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the Independent Commission of Human Rights, along with UNESCO team, and launched the hashtag #DefendPressFreedom.

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education and the active partners working in the field of Media and Information Literacy (MIL), the first policy paper was developed during the first half of 2021 and is in the process to be adopted on the way for establishing a National Policy.  This very effective paper led to the establishment of an MIL Thematic Group within the Education sector groups in the Ministry.  This is the first step towards joining the efforts in Palestine and holding a conference to respond to the paper’s recommendations and outcomes in the last quarter of 2021, including the adaptation of the UNESCO MIL Curriculum for Teachers for systemic implementation of concrete MIL activities in Palestine

Several training workshops took place during the month of April targeting young professional journalists, on a number of topics, from the media coverage during elections time, to coordinating the electoral media campaigns and other related topics on civil peace, International law, code of conducts and methods of fact checking, disinformation and combating fake news. UNESCO completed training sessions on civil peace and adherence to the International law and the code of honor signed in Cairo, verifying information and dealing with social media, reporters’ impartiality and balance, as well as building the relationship and dealing with journalists and the importance of information flow to journalists, speed and content. Among the trainings, the UNESCO National Office for Palestine in cooperating with the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, and the Independent Commission for Human Rights conducted a training of managers and coordinators of media campaigns in anticipation of possible elections, which were also meant to benefit the process of ethical reporting in general.

UNESCO Ramallah Office and the Ministry of Education jointly organized a conference using a hybrid modality of on-line and in-person participation over two consecutive days. The conference entitled "Development of the Palestinian Educational System: Achievements, Entitlements, and Perspectives" gathered on the 1st day some 200 online participants with representatives from ministries, civil society organizations, and educational stakeholders. The conference presented the realities facing the Palestinian educational system; policies associated with it and offered regional and international approaches to foresee the ability of the system to respond to new and existing challenges. The Conference allowed for national, regional and international experiences to be shared and discussed.

UNESCO and UN Women Palestine offices signed a partnership agreement on 1 July 2021 with the aim of enhancing the role of women and promoting gender-sensitive reporting in Palestinian media.