Context
The Palestinian territories have been troubled by crises and conflicts for years. Life is shaped by restrictions on movement, high unemployment and an increasing poverty rate. The conditions for the population in Area C, which is under Israeli administration, and in East Jerusalem are getting worse. The people in the West Bank are being increasingly cut off from the development that is taking place in the urban centres of Area A, which is under Palestinian administration.
Objective
The living conditions of people in the disadvantaged areas of the West Bank have improved. Access to public services has improved.
Approach
The ‘Future for Palestine’ initiative of the German Federal Foreign Office and the Palestinian Authority supports disadvantaged communities in the West Bank through public infrastructure. Construction measures help to better provide the population with public services. Pilot projects promote the use of solar energy for municipal services. The projects make everyday life easier and increase social inclusion.
Construction measures that can be quickly implemented improve the scope of public social services. They are carried out in close cooperation with Palestinian partners. Project selection, the execution of construction work and quality assurance for construction measures are performed on a joint basis.
Local resources are developed so that use can be made of the projects in a sustainable way:
• Local electricity providers and municipal workers learn together how to correctly operate and maintain solar installations on municipal buildings.
• Children and young people develop project ideas and activities, which they implement on their school grounds with the help of their teachers and parents and in conjunction with the communities. The teaching staff receive training in how to apply active teaching methods.
Results
The population sees prospects for its future and retains hope and openness with regard to the peace process.
• Around 50,000 children and their parents are making use of the extended range of games and activities that are on offer. They participate in football coaching and tournaments, take volleyball, handball and gymnastics courses or spend their free time in playgrounds.
• At the Al-Makassid hospital in East Jerusalem, an extension has made it possible for neurosurgical operations to be performed. The new hospital in Jameen in the Nablus Governorate offers health care on site. It provides an annual total of 100,000 men, women and children from the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem with improved access to health care.
• Four town halls in Ramallah, Salfeet, Beit Furik and Yatta, a municipal cultural centre in Qalqilya and a municipal youth centre in Hebron obtain electricity from solar installations. The six communities, which have a total of 300,000 inhabitants, are also reducing their electricity bills because surplus energy is fed into the grid.
• Following the successful operation of the GIZ pilot projects, a number of communities and private companies are launching solar projects on their own initiative.
• In the communities of Al Minya, Taquoua, Raboud, Kufr Labad and Bidya, children and young people are expanding and improving the appearance of their school yards, laying out school gardens and arranging classrooms in accordance with their ideas.