Supporting olive farmers affected by the coercive environment when accessing and cultivating their land in the governorates of Qalqilya and Salfit The project will contribute to the HRP strategic objective 3, the HPF allocation strategy objective 1 and the FSS cluster strategic objective 1. It will do so by providing livelihood support to farmers in 6 villages of Qalqilya and Salfit governorates who face specific challenges to cultivate their lands due to settlement-related access restrictions (coordination periods), settler attacks/vandalism and other restrictions linked to the coercive environment. 

The project is based on a needs assessment conducted by PUI and UAWC in September 2019 that identified the most pressing needs of vulnerable farmers working in areas that require prior coordination with the Israeli authorities to access during the harvest period, and other lands adjacent to these areas. In order to respond to the identified needs and to contribute to the HRP, HPF and cluster objectives of this second allocation, PUI and its partner will provide two types of assistance:

First, the project will target 40 olive farmers whose livelihoods are threatened by settlement-related access restrictions they will receive urgent support for olive harvesting during access coordination period (autumn). The support will include the provision of agricultural inputs and cash to hire daily workers to support the harvesting during the very short coordination period. 

Second, the project will support 300 vulnerable farmers working in lands adjacent to the coordination areas and whose livelihoods are threatened by settlement expansion. Agricultural roads will be rehabilitated (10 km), which will increase a safe access to lands and contribute to preventing land confiscations. Out of these 300 farmers and based on identified needs/vulnerabilities, 30 of them will receive land rehabilitation support to increase their production capacity.. This support will also include the provision of cisterns (8) to enhance the supplementary irrigation to olive trees, and thus the production capacity.   

In total, 340 farmers' households (1564 individuals) will benefit directly from the Action, and 200 daily workers' households (1000 individuals) will benefit indirectly through cash for work opportunities. 

The project is integrating protection by aiming to mitigate the exposure of farmers to the coercive environment with a specific focus on settler violence. The design of the project is based on a risk analysis conducted jointly with the communities to ensure their safety and dignity and also enhance their capacities of self-protection. Furthermore, the extensive experience of the partners and knowledge of the communities will ensure accountability to the affected community and their needs.

The project will be implemented in partnership with UAWC and each organisation will implement the project’s activities in their areas of operations (PUI in Qalqilya from Nablus office and UAWC in Salfit from their Ramallah office), building on their experience implementing similar projects and knowledge of the local context. Both organizations will bring their expertise to the partnership: UAWC supporting agriculture from a development perspective and PUI rehabilitating lands and assets, easing access and providing support to farmers with a protection lens through emergency and protective responses to settler-related incidents. Furthermore, the project will complement the Action of the West Bank Protection Consortium by covering a need gap in the provision of assistance to vulnerable farmers in coordination areas and their adjacent lands. Besides, PUI will mobilize its existing Consortium-funded resources (staff, methodology etc.) in order to be fully operational in the first crucial stages of this project (i.e. for the olive harvest season in October). 
Finally, in August/September 2019, PUI coordinated with FSS, MoA Central, MoA of Qalqilya and Salfit, and the Chamber of Commerce of Qalqilya in order to identify and prioritize FSS needs and localities in these 2 localities.