Over 114,695 beneficiaries directly benefited from the various project interventions, including students, adolescents, teachers, mental health workers, school counselors, and staff who benefitted or worked at the various Palestinian organizations and Ministries involved in the project.

The Investing in Education and Building Resilience project was established to improve the well-being and learning of students in the Gaza Strip. The project was composed of four main outcomes:

1. School buildings and school facilities are safer and more protective of children, and can serve the dual purpose of shelter and classroom in case of emergencies.
2. Improved learning environment in reconstructed and rehabilitated classrooms.
3. Strengthened national capacity for children protection and psychosocial support.
4. Students are enabled to contribute to community and national development, and to make a productive transition to adulthood.

Project activities included:

• Capacity building for counsellors and social workers in coordination withthe Ministry of Social Affairs, including the standardization and institutionalization of Child Protection services;
• For the first time in Palestine, developing Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) of Child Protection (CP) and gender-based violence referral and casemanagement;
• Capacity building of teachers in schools, in close coordination with MOEHE, including the development of and training on a resilience-building manual to enable MOEHE teachers and counsellors to provide psychosocial support to students;
• A comprehensive approach to developing specialized psychosocial support services in governmental schools in Gaza, including the establishment of specialized counselling units and play therapy rooms;
• Provision of training and materials for students to transform and beautify their schools through creative and uplifting art.

This project was funded by Qatar Fund for Development.

Spotlight: Jamal Abdul Nasser – The First Child-Friendly School in Palestine

Al Fakhoora, in collaboration with UNICEF, UNDP, and MoEHE, was able to introduce the first prototype of a state-of-the-art school in Gaza, integrating CFS concepts in design and implementation. The school buildings at Jamal Abdul Nasser school are structurally stable, weatherproof according to local Gaza environmental conditions, climatically comfortable, easily exited in case of emergency, and well-integrated with the environmental and cultural context. The school serves as a prototype for child-friendly school design in Gaza, with the intention of promoting similar initiatives throughout Palestine.