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Gaza Strip, Palestine – Thursday, January 7, 2026

MA’AN Development Center is pleased to announce the inception of a new humanitarian project titled, “Enhancing Shelter Resilience and Protection for Displaced Families in Gaza,” funded by Global Affairs Canada. The project has a total budget of 2,000,000 CAD for twelve months. It will be implemented by MA’AN Development Center and will target six informal shelters and hosting communities in Gaza City, Deir Al Balah, and Khan Younis.

The project responds to the urgent shelter and protection needs of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the Gaza Strip, particularly women, boys, girls, elderly individuals, and persons with disabilities. According to OCHA (June 2025), more than 92 percent of housing units in Gaza were damaged or destroyed, affecting over 1.1 million people in need of emergency shelter and household items. The goal of the project is to enhance the resilience and protection of Gaza’s IDPs, especially vulnerable groups, by providing shelter, NFIs, and protection interventions, while fostering a locally led humanitarian response. It has two intermediate outcomes:

1. Strengthened community-led governance and resilience in shelter response.
2. Improved living conditions and safety for displaced families through transitional shelter solutions, NFIs, and awareness of SGBV and explosive hazards.

The project’s main activities include:

• Formulating Community Relief Committees (CRCs) in targeted informal shelters/IDP communities and providing capacity-building training to strengthen their role in aid management and distribution.
• Distributing Non-Food Items (NFIs), including shelter kits and personal kits, to a total of 6,502 females and 6,698 males, helping to uphold their living conditions and dignity.
• Providing cash assistance to 200 families to improve their emergency shelters, supported by engineering and technical oversight.
• Conducting approximately 550 awareness sessions on Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and Explosive Ordnance Risk Education (EORE), reaching more than 13,200 individuals.

The project has four expected results:

1. Communities demonstrate improved coordination, accountability, and inclusion in shelter response, with CRCs actively facilitating equitable access, risk awareness, and feedback for vulnerable groups.
2. Improved access to essential shelter and NFIs, ensuring displaced families can meet their basic needs.
3. Increased ability of displaced families to repair and secure their shelters through financial and technical support.
4. Increased awareness and capacity of displaced families to identify and mitigate protection risks, including SGBV and explosive hazards, enhancing their safety and well-being.

This project will be implemented directly by MA’AN Development Center, drawing on nearly thirty years of experience in emergency response and humanitarian coordination in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). MA’AN will work closely with the Shelter Cluster in the oPt.

MA’AN emphasizes its commitment to accountability to affected populations (AAP) and to the principle of “do no harm.” This important work has been made possible through the generous funding of the Government of Canada, which remains committed to saving lives, relieving human suffering, and preserving the dignity of people affected by conflict and forced displacement.