Supporting the shelter and NFI needs of vulnerable households in Middle Area and Khan Yunis governorates in the Gaza Strip to minimize exposure to harsh weather and protection concerns The proposed intervention aims to support vulnerable households (HHs) at risk of exposure to harsh weather and protection concerns in the Middle Area and Khan Yunis governorates in the Gaza Strip to meet their basic needs and enhance their coping capacity. This will be achieved through the provision of tailored NFIs and/or winterization assistance, and implementation of shelter repair and/or adaptation works thus contributing to increased resilience. The project is heavily informed by assessments undertaken between February and April 2020, extensive consultations with key stakeholders, recommendations from the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), the Ministry of Public Works and Housing and Shelter amp NFI Cluster in Gaza and incorporates a number of key lessons learnt from previous interventions.

Specifically, ACTED and local partner MA’AN will implement a multi-pronged approach to increase access of vulnerable HHs to safe and secure shelters through the following means:

	Conducting a verification exercise of pre-selected HHs and technical assessment to define precise needs for shelter NFIs and/or winterization assistance and shelter repair and/or adaptation works through the production of detailed Bills of Quantities (BoQs) and their subsequent remedy through clear workplans
	Providing tailored winterization assistance and/or shelter NFIs to vulnerable HHs to reduce their exposure to protection risks and increase their preparedness to harsh weather conditions and resilience capacities
	Overseeing shelter repair and/or adaptation works by selected vendor(s) to ensure compliance with SPHERE and Shelter Cluster minimum standards and to alleviate unmet needs that expose HHs to harsh weather and protection risks
	Strengthening existing Community-based Protection Committees (CBPCs) through the provision of trainings (refresher training and new topics) to mainstream protection principles within their communities.

In total, the project will target twelve communities across Middle Area and Khan Yunis governorates in the Gaza Strip, namely Al Bureij Camp, Al Maghazi Camp, Nuseirat Camp, Zawayda, Deir al Balah, Abasan al Jadida, Abasan al Kabira, Bani Suheila, Khan Yunis, Khan Yunis Camp, Kh Uza and Wadi Alsalqa. The twelve communities will indirectly benefit from the intervention through the enhanced protection delivered by the CBPCs. More specifically, the intervention will directly benefit 300 beneficiary HHs across the twelve communities (comprised of 2042 individuals) through the provision of tailored winterization assistance and/or shelter NFIs and subsequent shelter repair and/or adaptation works of their most urgent shelter needs. In addition, two CBPCs comprised of twelve members altogether (six members in each) will benefit from trainings (refresher training and new topics) to support their communities and ensure mainstreaming of protection principles. As such, there will be 2054 direct beneficiaries in total. 

The project will be supported by the mainstreaming of an Integrated Protection Approach (IPA), with a specific focus on the most vulnerable groups, including women, girls, boys, the disabled and the elderly. Gender principles will be mainstreamed throughout the entire action and CBPCs will be trained on referral mechanisms of protection cases such as gender-based violence (GBV) with a particular focus given to women and children. Finally, Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) will be core to the proposed Action by giving account to, taking account of and being held to account by affected populations.