UNFPA support to the 2007 national census in Palestine was found to be highly relevant by national authorities, with its importance corroborated by media, civil society, private stakeholders and academia. UNFPA effectively supported the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) in the preparation and conduct of a high quality census according to international standards, building on the capacity built during the first census of 1997 that relied on intensive UNFPA technical assistance. UNFPA has enhanced the capacity of PCBS by providing punctual strategic and technical inputs and mobilizing necessary resources. Efforts included a multi-media campaign that generated national support for the census. However, the absence of a joint UNFPA-PCBS formal institutional needs assessment, prior to the 2007 census, compromised the ability to address existing assets and gaps.

UNFPA-supported interventions around the 2007 census contributed to the increase of census data use by many key stakeholders in the development of evidence-based strategic plans, policies and academic research, within UNFPA programmatic areas. Specifically, interventions encouraged the use of data for gender analysis, which contributed to greater gender mainstreaming in policy-making.  When the Hamas government suspended enumeration in December 2007, the UNFPA representative played a crucial role in negotiations and enabled the timely completion of census activities. UNFPA is looking into expanding its advanced risk assessment and mitigation strategies to prepare for any issues that may affect the planning or implementation of the 2017 census.

UNFPA created effective partnerships at multiple levels during the planning, implementation and follow-up of the 2007 census, leading to efficiency gains in terms of pooling of donor resources. However, since the last census, partnerships with donors have lapsed to some extent, with the potential loss of partner momentum posing challenges for UNFPA in reactivating connections and networks for the 2017 census. South-South cooperation was not actively promoted by UNPFA for the 2007 census, but there is strong interest in brokering new arrangements for the 2020 census round.