Humanitarian Response to Improve Access to Water Services for the Underserved/Unserved Communities in Area C ltpgtltbrgtThis project proposed by AAH  MA’AN aims to address the needs listed in the HNO 2023, specifically WASH needs for vulnerable families in Area C Bethlehem (community of Wad Rahal ) and Hebron (communities of Berin, Ma’in, and Adl-Daierat and Asamo’ (ANNEX 1-Map). This project aligns with AAH’s  HRP (193767) and the clusters’ strategic objectives. These groups suffer from the lack of, or limited, access to water services due to Israeli restrictions on construction and development in the area, as well as the continuous threats of forcible transfer. The 4 targeted communities are farming and herding families dependent on livestock and agricultural activities to maintain their livelihoods, relying heavily on water availability, quality, and affordability. The 4 communities are facing severe settler’ attacks and violence. The lack of water has forced families to adopt negative coping mechanisms such as reducing their daily water consumption as stated in the WASH Vulnerability Map 2023, depending on unsafe water resources, or reducing their expenditures on basic needs such as health and education to afford the high cost of water. Families often disregard WASH facilities and prioritize other basic needs such as food and water. This coping mechanism has left many households in poor health, hygiene, privacy, and dignity conditions, which contributes to facing hygiene related diseases (WASH HNO 2023). The project is based on the identified needs in line with AAH’s assessments, namely the South Water Action Plan 2022-2027 (Annex 2-SWAP), the West Bank Protection Consortium’s community protection annual assessment (CPA), consultations and participatory discussions/focus groups in the targeted communities which were carried out jointly by AAH  MA’AN, and with the coordination process with the relevant stakeholders Palestine Water Authority (PWA), Local Councils (LCs), and community representatives. The project will construct a new pipeline to serve the unconnected areas in Ad-Deirat (20 HHs), rehabilitation of an existing water pipeline, extending the current network with a new water pipeline in Ma’in community (120 HHs) who rely mainly on water trucking for agricultural and domestic usage, extending the existing water network in Berin community through construction of a new pipeline that will serve 35 HHs and construct and extend the existing water network in Wad Rahhal community to serve 150 HHs living in Area C who face difficulties to secure their basic needs from water,. In addition, hygiene awareness and multi-thematic sessions will be provided for the targeted households with trainings on the best hygiene practices with a focus on women to improve their knowledge on general hygiene practices and awareness of protection rights (GBV, rights to services, PSEA). These activities fall within the full coverage approach that AAH adopts to cover all needs in the different sectors, as identified in the continuous assessments for Area C communities, to allow focus on other communities. The intervention aims at improving the living conditions of the families in the 4 proposed locations through the provision of proper, safe, and adequate water services.  Due to the security situation across the West Bank in October 2023, AAH was not able to conduct thorough field assessments. However, AAH and MAAN spoke with local village council representatives to gather needs as well as relied on previous assessments. The first 2 months of the proposed project will be dedicated to conducting on-the-site assessments to confirm needs and priorities. The contingency budget under the project will be allocated to Tulkarem Camp and Nur Shams camp to provide sewer pipes to the community that were damaged due to Israeli military activities.ltbrgtlt/pgt