Reinforce the Protection of Vulnerable Communities in the North West Bank impacted by occupation critical incidents through Emergency Mental Health and Psycho-social Support and Case Management. Médecins  du Monde France (MDM) is operating in the West Bank (WB) since 2002 through its office located in Nablus city. Since 2012, facing an increase in violent critical incidents related to the occupation, MDM started in coordination with the Protection Cluster and under the umbrella of the Child Protection Area of Responsibility (CP AoR) to provide Mental Health and Psycho-social (MHPSS) Emergency Response in North West Bank (NWB) after potentially traumatic events related to settlers' violence, demolitions, forcible transfer and excessive use of force by the Israeli Security Forces (ISF). This intervention also involves a case management component through the identification, documentation and referrals of basic and protection needs, child protection needs and gender-based violence cases, in addition to feeding advocacy initiatives of Protection Cluster and partners addressing the same topics.

Since the start of the COVID 19 Pandemic, MDM mainstreamed the awareness and psycho-social support within its MHPSS emergency responses that were implemented through outreach and face to face in the field , within the lockdown MDM achieved its outreach activities through the Movements Waivers supported by OCHA and by obtaining functional Specific Operational Procedures (SOPs) to prevent the spread of the Virus and high commitment of MDM staff in using Personal Protection Equipment , Hygiene and social distancing . With the objective of reinforcing the resilience of community members repetitively exposed to critical incidents and impacted by the COVID pandemic, MDM will conduct a household /family-based psychoeducation session about the critical incidents, its impacts and available responses, using a gender approach. MdM actively contributes to refer beneficiaries with specific needs to the relevant actors, including reporting of GBV and child protection abuse to the relevant AoRs (CP AoR and GBV AoR). Within this time of pandemic, MdM also integrates COVID awareness and MHPSS support. The proposed MHPSS emergency response, in coordination with the CP AoR at central and governorate levels, will cover the Bedouin communities and villages exposed to settlers’ violence, demolitions, excessive use of force by ISF in the governorates of Tubas-North Jordan Valley , Nablus , Qalqilya and Salfit , in addition to the Villages and Bedouin communities located in the north east part of Ramallah Governorate that includes Al Mughayyir , Turmosaya and several Bedouin communities around the area. MdM is a well-known protection actor that gain the trust of the communities over the years. Through its multi-channel accountability mechanism, MdM continuously insures that beneficiaries’ feedback and complaints feed into the activities design and implementation strategy. 

MDM project will contribute to the Protection Cluster Objective 2 “ Protection response mechanisms are in place to prevent and mitigate the effects of the occupation and conflict related violence” , related to the Strategic objective 1 of the Humanitarian Response Plan (HRP):"The rights of Palestinians living under occupation, including those living under the blockade and other restrictions, are protected, respected and promoted in accordance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law (IHRL)” . In relation with OCHA 2nd allocation strategy, this action will contribute to the Objective 1 of the strategy (filling the gaps of 2020 HRP) through the provision of MHPSS emergency responses following critical incidents in the North West Bank. Through its presence in the field, MDM will ensure in coordination with local authorities, OCHA, CP AoR, GBV AoR, Protection Cluster and other protection actors to ensure a complementary and comprehensive protection response within the targeted areas.