ActionAid to Support Women Leadership Roles in Establishing Shelters and Addressing Women Needs in Gaza
Gaza Strip – Displacement caused by the ongoing war against Gaza has become the main suffering of Gaza’s population and specially women where women lack all necessities and privacy. This situation has pushed Sahar who is the Head of the Palestinian Development Women Studies Association (PDWSA) which is ActionAid’s Partner to establish a camp for displaced families headed by women in Gaza under hard conditions with support of ActionAid.
This camp is established as part of PDWSA ‘s emergency response efforts supported by ActionAid to support people affected by the widespread destruction, displacement, humanitarian crisis and loss of life from the Israeli state’s 12 months of war on Gaza. Gaza is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman right now. UN Women estimates that more than 10,000 women have been killed, including 6,000 mothers, leaving behind more than 19,000 orphaned children.
Sahar believes in the importance of establishing camps for women in Gaza due to hard conditions and suffering women pass through. Sahar says: “As a feminist organization, one of the biggest difficulties we face is providing a humanitarian response for women who have been displaced multiple times. Unfortunately, women need to move places occasionally as not every displacement camp provides [basic needs], especially water, which forces women to travel to different displacement camps. Lack of privacy in shelters and displacement camp is one of the most painful suffering of women Sahar says: “Women have almost no privacy in shelters. We do not have safe spaces to talk as women in [displacement] camps. We are often unable to provide our services to women as during our working hours women need to stand in long queues for water and hot meals.”.
Women in Gaza face huge difficulties in accessing protection and legal services. Sahar highlights those difficulties: “We are unable to provide a full humanitarian response to women, especially in regards of gender-based violence. There are no legal departments to handle [gender-based violence] cases and provide protection. Those legal department are now being paralyzed and unable to deal with those cases in Gaza. For women facing extreme violence, who may be living in life-threatening situations, there are no women’s shelters which can provide protection.’
Sahar highlights the importance of women leadership for humanitarian response: “ women must be part of the humanitarian response because it is difficult for anyone other than a woman to think like a woman, and it is very difficult for anyone to express women’s need as women because women’s planning and engagement in humanitarian response are necessarily needed to mitigate the sever impacts of crisis and trauma experienced by women. Women must lead and they must be placed in leadership positions so that the humanitarian response could be designed to take into consideration the needs of women, and there must be a feminist voice saying, “this thing benefits me, and this thing meets my needs and represents me.” If there are no women tasked to lead humanitarian response, there will be no one to think as women or know their needs”
Leading humanitarian response in Gaza is difficult for all organizations and for both women and men as they face many challenges, but Sahar has a great motivation towards serving women of Gaza. Sahar says: “I work as head of board of PDWSA and I do not receive a salary. The only thing that motivates for staying in this position of providing services to women is that I am facing a real test of my convictions, principles and beliefs to say that I am on the side of women to provide them with services. This is our role, and the women are our women, our sisters, our mothers”.
Sahar tried to find a ray of hope to displaced women despite many challenges she faced in establishing this camp as finding a piece of land since it is extremely impossible to find land under the crowdedness of lands with displaced people in Gaza. Sahar used all available resources and relationships and led many discussions and negotiations with many actors and landowners to present her idea of establishing the camp for women until she found a supporter who was convinced of the idea and accepted to provide PDWSA with piece of the land for free.
Palestinian Women-led organizations and local organizations have been the backbone of humanitarian response and fulfilling needs of women in Gaza since the beginning of the war despite of unimaginable challenges they face.
Hindering humanitarian aid to Gaza by Israeli authorities by closing crossing borders and limiting the quantities entering Gaza increases the difficulties of international and local organizations as PDWSA. Sahar highlights: “One of the main issues that concern us is the grave need for humanitarian response as well as the lack of resources and available materials. There aren’t many suppliers for resources. We also suffer the issue of high prices. We buy each item from the supplier for [much higher] than its original price in the market.
Shar and her team continue their vital work despite high prices and continuous bombing. As other organizations, persistent fuel shortages – and the inability to store, allocate or deliver it adequately and in safety – continue to threaten the functioning of vital services across Gaza. Sahar: “Transportation is one of our major obstacles. These days, one litre of diesel costs 90 shekels [£19.15] and gasoline is not even available Transportation between camps and displacement centers in a safe and secure manner for both crews and aid provisions is a difficult and dangerous task”. Coordination and Communication with people, organizations, suppliers and other actors have become difficult tasks for work of humanitarians in Gaza under cut of Communication Sahar said: “We are faced with a major communication issue due to the absence of electricity. This causes signal losses and disrupts communication, so we are unable to reach [people we support].’
Sahar highlight role of international organizations in supporting local organizations as ActionAid : “There are partners with international institutions and donors who were up to the responsibility and who played their role greatly, such as our partner ActionAid, which has been wonderful since the beginning of the war and has involved with us in everything day by day and follows up with us on every need by submitting proposals related to women needs . ActionAid was one of the well-established international institutions that played its role in this war to the fullest”.
Sahar ‘s message to the world is “the world should act and stop this war that kills us every day, war should be ended. The women and children of Gaza bear the brunt of this war .We need and demand immediate caesfire.
About ActionAid International
ActionAid International is a global federation working with over 41 million people living in more than 72 of the world's poorest countries. We envision a world characterized by justice and sustainability, where every individual has the right to a dignified life and freedom, and a world free from poverty and oppression. We strive to achieve social justice, gender equality, and eradicate poverty.
ActionAid Palestine began its work in Palestine in 2007 to strengthen the resilience of the Palestinian people, believing in their right to enjoy freedom, justice, and self-determination. ActionAid Palestine implements several programs through its engagement with Palestinian communities and youth and women’s groups, aiming to empower women and youth and enhance their active civil and political participation to understand their rights and undertake collective action to address the rights violations resulting from the prolonged occupation, in addition to improving their leadership capacity and practicing their citizenship in holding authorities and other duty bearers accountable.
For more information, please contact:
Riham Jafari
Communication and Advocacy Officer at ActionAid Palestine
Email: Riham.Jafari@actionaid.org