Highlight
On 26 August 2016, two years have passed since the ceasefire which ended the most devastating round of hostilities in Gaza since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. The UN Country Team in the State of Palestine published a report titled “Gaza: Two Years After” which provides a snapshot of the progress and challenges made in the last two years in terms of reconstruction and recovery. The report summarizes the situation in Gaza in regards to shelter and reconstruction, water and electricity, health care, and livelihoods, against the context of the blockade now in its tenth year and repeated cycles of armed violence. To understand key factors that influence reconstruction and recovery, the report states, the large-scale destruction caused in the 2014 conflict needs to be seen against the backdrop of high population densities, a rapid population growth, and the scarcity of land available for productive use due to the blockade, among other factors. During the conflict, half a million people – 28 per cent of the Gaza population – were displaced, seeking shelter and safety in UNRWA schools, government shelters or with extended families. When the hostilities ceased, 100,000 persons were unable to return home as their houses had been totally destroyed or severely damaged. To date, two years after, 65,000 of them remain displaced, meaning only 35 per cent of the persons who remained displaced after the conflict were able to return home (for the UNRWA shelter update click here). The main reasons obstructing accelerated reconstruction are, according to the report, funding, access and flow of material (lifting of the blockade), and planning and coordination between Palestinian stakeholders. “Desperation is pervasive” writes the Israeli organization Gisha in its Two years: 360 degrees online platform which tries to look at the situation in Gaza not only in terms of physical reconstruction, but also at the overall policy by Israel in respect to the enclave and what steps could be taken to improve life on the ground.
On 28 August over 263,220 students started the school year 2016-2017 in 267 UNRWA schools across Gaza - an increase of 13,100 students compared to last year. The rising numbers of students visiting UNRWA schools - together with an overall growth in needs – puts pressure on the Agency’s programmes and services. To accommodate the students and provide them with an adequate learning environment, over the past year UNRWA has ensured the maintenance of its school buildings, including improved access to water and sanitation, continuous electricity supply, and any rehabilitation of premises. In addition, from January to July 2016 UNRWA completed the (re)construction of 14 new school buildings, creating new space for thousands of students. In the first school week, the Agency also distributed stationary packages to all students, ensuring that all of them are appropriately equipped for their classes.
Extremely high unemployment rates in Gaza – 41.5 per cent in average and over 61 per cent for youth - fuel feelings of desperation and fear for the future among the people in the Gaza Strip, caused also by recurrent conflicts and the blockade, now in its tenth year. The lifting of the blockade is a prerequisite to accelerate recovery in Gaza and create employment and prospects for the enclave’s youth. As a mitigation measure, UNRWA runs several employment-related programmes, the most important of them being the Job Creation Programme (JCP), or cash for work. Through this programme the Agency provides livelihood opportunities, supports communities, and injects cash into the local economy and stabilizes struggling businesses. In 2016, if sufficient funding is available UNRWA plans to offer short-term employment opportunities for approximately 45,879 Palestine refugees. The programme targets both skilled and unskilled workers as well as professionals. UNRWA also addresses high unemployment through its Graduate Training Programme by opportunities for Gaza’s young people. Priority is given to applicants from household who are living below the poverty line of less than US$ 3.87 per person per day. For more information on the JCP, please consult the attached fact sheet.
In another effort to improve its services to Palestine refugees through technology, on 29 August UNRWA launched EMIS – the Education Management Information System. The new Agency-wide system was developed by a Gaza-based project team and will be used in every school in UNRWA to capture a range of timely, specific information about individual students and teachers to better support analysis at all levels – from school to Areas, to Field to Head Quarters - and in this way supports evidence-based policy making. It will provide access to disaggregated data at all levels of the education programme and will serve as an important source of information for understanding and reporting on the overall performance of the system. The current system is either paper-based or each field utilizes a stand-alone computerised system. Both means do not provide sufficient information. The EMIS captures information on individual children as they enter school and progress from one grade to the next. It will integrate information on school premises, students, class sections and staff through strong linkages with other UNRWA data systems, such as the FMIS (Facility Management Information System,) RISS (Registration information System), E-Health, and Human Resource systems.
On 25 August 2016 UNRWA placed the first corner stone of what will become its largest logistics base in the Gaza Strip. An inauguration ceremony was held to mark the occasion at the construction site in Rafah, southern Gaza. The ceremony was attended by the Director of UNRWA Operations in Gaza, Mr. Bo Schack, UNRWA Senior External Relations and Project Officer, Mr. Munir Manneh, the Palestinian National Coalition Government Minister of Public Works and Housing, Dr. Mufeed Al Hasayna, as well as other UNRWA senior staff, representatives of other UN agencies, local Palestinian officials and community representatives. The base will serve as UNRWA’s main warehouse for the storage of its basic food and non-food items. It will also support distribution activities through 12 Distribution Centres across Gaza for the Agency’s beneficiaries. Further, the logistics base will be used as maintenance workshop and fuel station for UNRWA’s operations in the southern governorates of Gaza. The logistics base is expected to be completed in September 2017 and will operate with approximately 200 UNRWA personnel, including persons hired through the Job Creation Programme.
300 young women celebrated their graduation from the Gender Initiative’s “Young Women Leaders Programme (YWLP)” this week. The celebration was organized by the graduates themselves and offered an opportunity to apply their organizational skills and to work in a team, but also to go on stage, display self-confidence and participate in performances such as drama, singing or giving speeches. The YWLP is designed to empower and build the capacity of unemployed young female (and male) graduates between 22 to 28 years old through training and work placements. It also aims to close the skills gap between the labour market ensuring women are developing transferrable skills and experience. Through leadership and self-development coaching, advanced training in computers, English and management - combined with work placement schemes - the programme enhances the employability and self-confidence of young women graduates. The GI organizes two graduation ceremonies for young women every year, and one for the lower number of male graduates every three years. The unemployment rate for female youth is with 80 per cent in quarter two of 2016 (and 77.1 per cent for female youth refugees) the highest among all social groups in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.
The results of a new survey conducted by the Fafo institute with youth in six Middle Eastern countries – Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Turkey and Palestine - point to a fragmented Palestinian society unable to engage its youth. The report titled “Are young Palestinians disengaged, or merely dissatisfied?” states that just one in 10 young adults in Palestine say they can trust their dealings with other people – with the number dropping to one in 20 in the Gaza Strip. This 10 or five per cent trust level is very low compared to for example 33 per cent in Morocco. When it comes to public institutions, 30 per cent of Palestinian youth expressed “quite a lot” of confidence, 35 per cent said the same for the police and 39 per cent for courts. However, little trust was expressed for central governments, with only 27 per cent expressing confidence and only 8 per cent said they had confidence in political parties and 12 per cent in the parliament. At first sight, these findings indicate alienation and disinterest in politics. Yet as the report states, the survey needs to be seen in the context of restrictions on and lack of space for political action. Secondly, particularly in regards to Palestine, youth often create alternative arenas for engagement and social activities away from traditional activism, also due to a sense of powerlessness and cynicism, and loss of hope in traditional means. UNRWA in Gaza increasingly tries to engage young people in operational conversations by helping to amplify their voices and ensuring their input into programmes and projects through communications with communities (CwC) activities and communications for development (C4D) projects.
The UNRWA Shelter Update
Highlights:
- UNRWA was able to disburse over US$ 2.7 million for reconstruction (US$ 2,290,904) and severe repair works (US$ 416,500). The funds will reach a total of 329 refugee families across Gaza; they will able to access their assistance this week.
Overview of assistance disbursed
As of 30 August 2016:
Since the start of the 2014 emergency shelter response, the Agency has distributed over US$ 206.6 million (excluding Programme Support Costs) to Palestine refugee families whose homes were damaged or destroyed during the 2014 summer conflict.
The UNRWA shelter assessment confirmed 142,071 Palestine refugee houses as impacted during the 2014 conflict; 9,117 of them are considered totally destroyed. 5,417 shelters have suffered severe, 3,700 major and 123,837 minor damages
Completed and ongoing payments
As of 30 August 2016:
UNRWA has completed the payments to over 67,060 refugee families for minor repair works, to 3,527 families to repair their severely damaged shelters, to 14 families for major repair works, and to 287 families for reconstruction.
Payment transfers for over 10,700 refugee families to continue repair works of their shelters and for over 1,000 families to continue the reconstruction of their shelters are ongoing.
UNRWA continues to pay transitional shelter cash assistance (TSCA) for eligible refugee families still displaced by the 2014 conflict. All approximately 8,500 eligible families have received the first tranche of rental subsidy payments for 2016, and all approximately 8,000 eligible families received the second quarter payment. In 2015, UNRWA paid TSCA to approximately 9,000 eligible refugee families and from September to December 2014 13,250 families received rental subsidy payments.
UNRWA has secured funding to reconstruct 2,000 totally destroyed homes. Funding is currently not the biggest barrier to reconstruct homes. Reconstruction has been delayed due to import restrictions for construction material as a result of the blockade, complex documentation requirements related to proving title to land, obtaining building and municipal permit, as well as funding shortages: only 40 per cent of the US$ 3.5 billion pledged for Gaza’s reconstruction has beendisbursed by donors as of mid-2016.
For all reconstruction, UNRWA prioritizes families based on poverty status (an excellent indicator for vulnerability in this context) and larger families, unlike other reconstruction actors in Gaza. In order to mitigate the barriers these families face in particular, UNRWA outreach engineers assist eligible families in gathering relevant documentation.