Improving resilience of the population of the Gaza Strip

Project description

Title: Strengthening the Resilience of Gaza’s Population (GRP)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Palestinian territories
Overall term: 2018 to 2023

Context

The Gaza Strip is caught in an unprecedented crisis with multi-dimensional effects on the living conditions of its population of 2.1 million. Reasons for the crisis include the border blockades, the political split between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, as well as the recurring rounds of conflict with Israel, which have been ongoing from 2008 to the present. This situation has resulted in severe negative impacts on the livelihood and living conditions of the population and has weakened the resilience of Gaza’s conflict-affected population.

Objective

The Gaza Transitional Development Assistance (TDA) project is improving the resilience of the Gaza population, especially its young and most vulnerable segments of population.

Approach

The Gaza Resilience Project intervenes at different levels with various stakeholders while adhering to the do-no-harm principle. This includes interventions to improve essential services, develop skills and promote innovative entrepreneurship capacities for young people in the fields of green economy and renewable energy. The GRP has no political partners. It works with a wide spectrum of local and international actors including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the Palestinian Municipal Development and Lending Fund (MDLF), academic institutions, and a number of international and local NGOs.

The GRP focuses on the promising and relevant fields of renewable energy and green economy with links to water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services and ecological farming.

Results

The GRP is targeting 1 million people, which is half of Gaza’s population, and has achieved:

• Improvement of basic infrastructure for essential services
  
  The GRP has implemented a number of small-scale projects linked to renewable energy. So far, 35 public facilities (family centres, primary health care centres, wells, decentralised desalination plants, etc.) have been equipped with solar energy (PV) systems producing more than 1,000 KWH of clean and cheaper energy, thus enabling the extended provision of essential services.
   
• Improvement of skills and availability of qualification and training
  
  440 students benefited from the newly constructed and rehabilitated vocational training centres in Gaza and Khan Younes. 98 students, 27 of whom are female, completed a new training module on the operation and maintenance of the solar-energy systems. In addition, 204 people, 32 of whom are female, were trained on various topics related to improved service delivery (quality and hygiene), energy efficiency, market accessibility and entrepreneurship, as well as resource-efficient and green farming practices.
   
• Local innovations in the fields of renewable energy and green economy
  
  The Wave-to-Energy pilot plant was constructed at Gaza’s fishing port to support young engineers in implementing innovative and adapted renewable-energy solutions for a win-win situation, i.e., lighting part of Gaza’s fishing port and providing a cheap source of energy for the local fishermen. The pilot plant was designed and built by local firms and is currently known as a ‘’Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy’’ in Gaza managed by Gaza Islamic University.

A ‘green competition’ for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in the fields of renewable energy and green economy received support from the GRP. Of the 35, 15 promising concepts were selected for further development by the GRP and other potential funders.

Last update: April 2021