Enhancing the resilience of vulnerable communities in Deir al Balah through improved access to sanitation and flood mitigation ltpgtltspangtThis intervention proposed
by WeWorld-GVC (WW-GVC) and Palestinian Environmental Friends (PEF) aims to
enhance the resilience of the most vulnerable, unserved, and underserved
communities in the Gaza Strip through their access to safe sanitation and flood
mitigation measures. Specifically, the proposed intervention aims to improve access to sanitation services for vulnerable households in the communities
of Al Bassa and Al Moa’tared. The action is based on identified urgent needs and priorities in
Humanitarian Needs Overview (HNO) 2023 and Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP) of
the occupied Palestinian Territories (oPT) and highlighted in the 2023 HF 1st
Standard Allocation Strategy paper. The intervention has been endorsed and
coordinated with the Municipalities, the Coastal  Municipalities Water Utility (CMWU), the
Palestinian Water Authority (PWA)ltspangt,lt/spangt and the
WASH Clusterlt/spangtltspangt. lt/spangtltspangtMoreover, the action
fully aligns with the WASH Cluster’s HRP eligible interventions and Objective 2
related to ensuring equitable, affordable and sustainable safely-managed access to WASH
services and Objective 3 related to increasing WASH preparedness to cope with
emergencies and shocks and with the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 6 aiming
for access to water and sanitation for all. Climate change will only exacerbate
the humanitarian challenge in Gaza strip causing more variability in water
availability and hence strengthening drought and flooding preparedness
including through resilient sanitation and stormwater management infrastructure
is essential. Based on these humanitarian objectives, the WASH Vulnerability
Mappings of the WASH Cluster, and joint needs assessments of WW-GVC and PEF and
stakeholder coordination, two highly vulnerable communities in Deir Al Balah,
were identified, namely Al Bassa with a vulnerability score on ‘access to flood
mitigation’ of 4,5 and Al Moa’tared a score of 3,0 on ‘access to
sanitation’(WASH Vulnerability Mapping, 2022).lt/spangtltspangt Al
Bassa with 555 households (HHs) is a flooding hotspot and unserved by flood
mitigation measures. With heavy rainfall, houses are flooded and the whole area
becomes inaccessible bringing high risk of waterborne disease as stormwater and
sewage are mixed. Al Moa’tared with 280 HHs severely needs improved
access to sanitation. The community uses unsafe cesspits for discharging their
wastewater, bringing health risks associated with exposure to sewage and
inadequate cleaning due to women aiming to minimize household wastewater
production to fill cesspit as slowly as possible, financial burden on the HHs for
cesspits vacuuming and groundwater contamination. lt/spangtltspangtThrough this intervention, WW-GVC aims to improve the access to
equitable, affordable and sustainable sanitation services of vulnerable
Palestinians in the Gaza Strip targeting lt/spangtltspangt4592 people including
1109 men, 1110 women, 1214 boys, and 1159 girls and 105 lt/spangtltspangtpeople with disabilities (PwD). The project proposes (1) taking of a participatory approach through the
creation of a gender-balanced local project committee and regular meetings and
field visits with this committee meetings, conducting baseline and endline
assessments, and promoting awareness on the feedback and complaint mechanism of
WW-GVC and PEF (2)  the installation of
sewer networks and HHs connections in Al Moa’tared community  implemented by PEF (3) the installation and
extension of rainwater drainage system in Al Bassa community  implemented by WW-GVC. This intervention is
expected to meet the most urgent WASH needs of the targeted families and to alleviate their suffering, especially of most
vulnerable community members including women and PwD and to enhance their safety and dignity. WW-GVC and PEF will
ensure that the proposed intervention will trigger a positive effect on the
reduction of the WASH vulnerabilities in the communities increasing their
resilience.lt/spangtlt/pgt