Gaza Ramadan Appeal 2023
During the Holy Month of Ramadan, please help marginalised families in Gaza to find their next meal.
As the Holy Month of Ramadan approaches, 2.3 million people in Gaza are facing the harshest economic conditions in years. The land, air and sea blockade entered its 16th year, and the five Israeli military bombardments of Gaza since 2008 continue to have a devastating impact. In 2022, the unemployment rate reached 47.5%,[1] with 53% of the Gazan population (around 1.2 million people) food insecure. [2]
Half of the entire population of Gaza are struggling to feed their families.
- This Ramadan, we will be distributing thousands of nutritional fresh food parcels in Gaza.
- Freshly harvested crops of fruit and vegetables will be purchased from struggling local farmers in Gaza (in our project restoring farmers livelihoods and replanting their damaged land).
- We will employ local workers to package the parcels in the warehouse, each of which will contain fresh chicken, eggs, fruit, and vegetables.
- Each week for the five weeks of Ramadan a fresh food parcel is provided to hundreds of impoverished families.
- In the fifth week, just before Eid, cookies produced by local women’s cooperatives will be purchased and included in the fresh food parcels, ensuring these women also have an income for Eid.
In 2022, thanks to your generosity we were able to: provide food parcels for almost 2000 families; support over 200 small-scale farmers, helping them to sustain their livelihoods; as well as provide over 300 workdays to 27 unemployed workers, who helped package and distribute the food parcels – all of which contributed to the local economy of Gaza.
This year we are hoping to reach hundreds more impoverished families in Gaza governorates (Shijaia, Zaytoun, Daraj, Tuffah & west Gaza), by providing them with weekly fresh food parcels.
For more information and to Donate please click here
[1] PCBS Labour Force Survey (July-September, 2022) Round (Q3/2022). Press_En_8-11-2022-LF-en.pdf (pcbs.gov.ps)
[2] UNCTAD, September 2022
Restoring the Livelihoods of Gaza Farmers
In 2014, Gaza’s agricultural sector sustained over USD $500 million in damage as a result of the land, air, and sea bombardments by Israel’s military forces. Around 24,000 families of farmers, herders, and fishermen suffered debilitating losses. During the 51-day conflict, farmers were forced to abandon their crops and animals, and fishermen were prohibited access to the sea, paralyzing related economic activities.
Open fields, greenhouses, gardens, and orchards were severely damaged and contaminated with unexploded ordnance. [1] Until now, farmers have been unable to recover from this and return to farming their land, their losses were too great and they had no other means of income.
Our latest project working with Gaza Farmers, aligns its implementation period with the agricultural season, to ensure the maximum yield in terms of quantity and quality. The project period and type of intervention also considered the need to link the farmers’ crops with Ramadan (expected to begin around the 20 March 2023), in order for the farmers to harvest and sell their products to the WA project providing fresh food packages to struggling families during Ramadan.
As in the previous phases, this project will provide coaching and technical support for farmers, providing guidance on: which crops are best suited to their soil type; when and how to plant and irrigate their lands and greenhouses most appropriately; to maximise crop quality and quantity to meet market needs; and ensuring environmental best practices.
Greenhouses are more urgently needed during the winter season for some crops to survive the winter, and to ensure production in sufficient quantities to meet market needs. This is very important for the availability of essential crops, i.e. tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini. The open land farming is needed as some crops cannot be grown inside a greenhouse, i.e. potatoes, greens & leafy vegetables such as: lettuce, spinach, mulukhiyah, cauliflower, peas, etc., depending on the season. Greenhouse repairs have been completed in January, and planting was well underway in the fields and in the greenhouses in February.
Click here for more information
[1] One dunum = 1000 square metres.
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The new site is the best way to keep up with everything WA are doing. Here you can find out about who we are, what we do, and what’s going on, all in one place.
In 2022 our projects improved the lives of 325,184 people in Palestine and Lebanon. If you would like to see how we did this, or to get involved and help us to make a difference again in 2023, our new website is the perfect place to do just that.