We don’t have to wait for some donor to come and solve our problems. We can plan and come up with solutions ourselves.
occupied Palestinian Territories
L2GP has been working with partners in the occupied Palestinian Territories since we began our research in 2009. Since then we have worked with our partners in the West Bank and Gaza to develop sclr, as well as deepened our understanding of how communities respond to protracted conflict and crisis.
Together they produced one daily hot meal for everyone
Gaza, Jerusalem & Copenhagen, July 2024
“It’s difficult for me to see all these people suffering, always crying, with no needs met. I have strength, access to some resources, and we need to minimise other people’s suffering. If it’s only by talking with them, this is what I need to do.”
(Female respondent, Khan Younis, Gaza, Palestine)
This paper documents how volunteer community groups and individuals have led mutual aid and community response efforts in Gaza since October 7th, 2023. As victims, survivors, and first responders to the crisis, volunteers among the civilian population in Gaza have provided immediate and longer-term protection and other forms of assistance where it is most needed: rescuing wounded from the rubble; recovering bodies for burial; providing shelter, food, water, clothing, blankets, medical and psychosocial care, and sharing crucial information as well as cash with the most vulnerable.
Research Brief: Arabic | English
Annex: Arabic | English
Another look at Palestine
It was a river with two banks
and a heavenly mother who nursed it with drops from the clouds
But they kidnapped the mother
so it ran short of water
and died, slowly, of thirst.
“A river dies of thirst”, Mahmoud Darwish, 2008
A photo essay reflecting on more than 5 years of supporting community led responses (sclr) in the West Bank and Gaza, exploring how it has changed people’s relationships with themselves, between men and women, and between communities, authorities and NGOs.
Research
Survivor and community-led crisis response in Gaza
Mai Jarar with Ahmad Jamal Sourani and Shahnaz Jubran, 2020
Reflections and recommendations from the implementation of supporting community-led crisis response interventions in Gaza in 2019. Following a workshop co-facilitated with 7 Gaza-based NGOs, the pilot aimed to test the ability of local partners and communities to respond rapidly to future crises.
Using the sclr approach demonstrated advantages both for the communities targeted and local NGOs implementing the programme. The pilot supported community projects and helped built cohesion and a sense of ownership and social responsibility within communities. At the same time trust was strengthened between communities and local NGOs.
Learning from community-led resilience responses in the oPt
Sofie Grundin with Luna Saadeh, 2018
A report on L2GPs collaboration with YMCA East Jerusalem Women’s Development Program to support communities implementing their own protection and resilience responses. This is the second in a series presenting key findings and learning from sclr projects in the region.
Self-protection in the occupied Palestinian Territories
Rafael Eguiguren & Luna Saadeh, 2014
The study explore perceptions of protection threats, challenges and self-protection strategies as shared by more than 500 men and women interviewed in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza. The research was conducted in 2012 – 13 in close collaboration between Local to Global Protection (L2GP) and a range of humanitarian actors working in oPt.