Rehabilitation and repair of sub-standard and damaged shelters, assisting vulnerable households exposed to weather extremes and protection concerns, and strengthening emergency-preparedness in the Middle Area, Khan Younis and Rafah governorates. In a context of exacerbated political tensions, dire economic conditions, and the ongoing impact of the May-2021 and August-2022 escalations, efforts to rehabilitate households against adverse extreme weather conditions, provide NFI kits and increase communities’ emergency preparedness are paramount to ensure the safety, protection and dignity of the most vulnerable, along with rapid and safe access to emergency assistance. 
Under this project, ACTED and UFA aim to support 125 pre-identified  vulnerable households living in damaged and/or substandard shelters exposed to weather extremes and protection concerns, as well as 11 vulnerable households living in shelters partially damaged during the last escalation in August 2022. The selected households will benefit from the provision of a restricted cash assistance for shelter repair, as a more sustainable solution to mitigate further risks of exposure to extreme weather conditions and to rehabilitate damaged/substandard shelters. In addition, this response will be combined with distribution of NFIs from ACTED’s warehouses, based on HHs’ urgent needs. ACTED, with support of Unlimited Friend’s Association for Social Development (UFA) and the members of 3 Community-based Protection Committees (CBPCs), will also respond to the most urgent needs of an additional 200 vulnerable HHs affected during winter through the distribution of NFIs and winterization items. ACTED will target the most vulnerable groups in the Middle Area, Khan Younis and Rafah governorates, including women, girls, boys, people with disabilities (PwDs) and older people. Following the distribution of NFIs, ACTED and UFA will respectively launch a process to replenish items distributed into ACTED’s warehouses. Through this project, ACTED will also strengthen community-based preparedness and emergency response. In total, 336 HHs (1,882 individuals) and 18 CBPC members will be supported.

This action is fully aligned with the 2nd standard allocation first objective: “Support and improve the resilience of the most vulnerable people and communities in the oPt (especially Area C of the West Bank and the Gaza strip)” and with the priority objective 1.1: “ Providing safe, protected and dignified shelter for most vulnerable families who suffer from major problems in their shelter with particular focus on families having individuals with special needs such as elderlies, PWD, HHs lacking privacy and at risk of protection and GBV concerns, HHs with recurrent needs, HHs and communities at risk of Israeli settler violence. The cluster aims to provide an immediate and timely shelter solutions to displaced families adopting the most effective interventions through cash or in-kind assistance.
To support localization and ensure that even the most inaccessible beneficiaries are reached, ACTED will partner with UFA who will be responsible for the NFI distribution and replenishment activities, and who will also support conducting assessments and monitoring the rehabilitation/upgrading works by target HHs. ACTED will rely on its CBPCs’ existing capacity to implement activities, reaching the beneficiaries, conducting the maintenance works, supporting ACTED’s Complaint and Response Mechanism, and sharing key PSEA messages with target households. These 3 CBPCs were already established under former HF-funded projects and operate in the 3 targeted governorates.