Palestine Investment Fund in the Gaza Strip: Relief interventions in the humanitarian, education and health sectors

Gaza - Ma'an - In response to the urgent needs of our people in the Gaza Strip in the face of the war waged by the occupation, the Fund has designed an urgent program as a set of urgent interventions in the relief, health and education sectors, as these sectors are the most affected by the war, and they need more support and assistance. In light of this aggression and siege that our people in the Strip are experiencing, the Fund, as a national institution belonging to this people, had to implement a set of urgent interventions to support a wide segment of our people in the Gaza Strip, by supporting the local community institutions operating there, which implement their relief programs in various parts of the Strip. Gaza Financing Program This program was launched in the Gaza Strip before the aggression launched by the occupation, and the program aims to support small and medium enterprises operating in the Gaza Strip by providing participatory grants for these projects, and implemented by the Global Commu nities Foundation. Following the aggression on the Strip, the Fund worked to harness multiple capabilities and partnerships in order to reshape the program to suit the consequences of the war and aggression on the Strip, and to meet the emergency needs left by the ongoing war against our people. In this context, the program provided grants for a group of projects in vital sectors, such as supporting an artesian well with a solar energy system, to contribute to providing approximately 8,400 people with access to potable water, daily uses, and agriculture. The program also provided grants for projects in the food sector, such as equipping and building a fully equipped kitchen with the necessary equipment and tools to provide meals to about 22,000 people, and a grant to a number of bakeries and ovens with the aim of improving their production capacity, contributing to reducing bread prices, providing job opportunities, and enabling them to prepare meals and bread for a larger number of our people in the Strip. More applications are currently being studied for other projects in vital areas that will have a societal impact to support the steadfastness of our people in the Strip. Developing remedial educational curricula The Fund joined as a partner in the initiative launched by Al-Nayzak Foundation for Supportive Education and Scientific Innovation, to develop remedial curricula to contribute to compensating for the educational loss of students in the Gaza Strip, where 18 educational centers were established in all areas that can be worked in under these circumstances, and the curriculum was delivered to more than 2,500 male and female students, after training hundreds of teachers. Work was done to develop remedial curricula for grades seven through nine in the basic subject specializations: Arabic language, science, mathematics, and English, in continuation of Al-Nayzak Foundation's current program in grades four through six. The program aims to contribute to compensating students for the educational loss resulti ng from their being deprived of the school year due to the aggression on the Strip, and to enable them to obtain education in basic subjects like the rest of their peers, knowing that this program will soon expand to include additional classes and a wider segment of students. The Fund has always been keen to focus on supporting and empowering the education sector in Palestine in general, and with regard to the Gaza Strip, and after the brutal aggression that caused the suspension of the school year, the Fund prepared a program in cooperation with a number of local and international institutions, with the aim of reducing educational loss by teaching remedial curricula for grades seven through nine that include thousands of students, in order to complete the curricula that were completed for grades four through six, with the opportunity to expand this program to include additional grades and a larger number of students. The Fund is also proud to support the American International School in the Gaza Strip by h elping more than 100 high school students there, who were in the Arab Republic of Egypt after being linked to a number of schools in the West Bank to complete their education, which contributed to their successful completion of the academic year. Community Responsibility Program in the Gaza Strip Since the beginning of the aggression on the Gaza Strip, the Social Responsibility Program has focused on supporting local community institutions in the Strip, with the aim of providing them with financial resources that enable them to implement their relief initiatives, which aim to support the steadfastness of our people in the Strip in the face of the aggression, and to obtain health and food supplies. In addition, the Fund was keen to provide support to institutions working with people with special needs, who are certainly among the most affected groups by the aggression, and need special medical devices and supplies, the interruption of which could endanger their lives, which prompted the Fund to take support ive steps for this group, by enabling institutions working with people with special needs to obtain the devices and tools they need, such as hearing aids, batteries, eyeglasses, and others. The social responsibility program implemented by the Fund aims to enable local community institutions to play their role, which is to support society in all its categories. With regard to the Gaza Strip, the Fund has contributed to supporting a group of institutions working in vital humanitarian sectors, such as the health and food sectors, which are humanitarian sectors that need urgent interventions. Indeed, the number of beneficiaries of the support provided by the Fund within the social responsibility program in the Gaza Strip has exceeded 8,000, who received medical supplies, health tools and meals. Rise Palestine Initiative In an initiative by Bank of Palestine, the Fund joined as a strategic partner in an initiative launched by the Bank, which aims to support the innovation system and emerging technology companie s in Palestine, which were severely affected by the devastating war on the Gaza Strip, and which is implemented by Intersect, a subsidiary of Bank of Palestine Group. The initiative provides grants to Palestinian emerging technology companies in their early stages, in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, to provide them with financial support for their daily activities in order to ensure their continuity and survival. The initiative also provides grants to existing companies or independent contractors in order to enable the company to continue to respect its contractual obligations with external companies that serve it and enhance its chances of sustainability. The initiative has so far succeeded in supporting about 18 emerging and established technology companies, in addition to 20 freelancers. In addition to the Bank of Palestine and the Fund, a number of Palestinian businessmen living abroad and Arab brothers in the Gulf region are contributing to this initiative. It is expected that the number of companies benefiting from this initiative will reach about 50 existing companies, 50 emerging companies, and about 200 freelancers, while work is currently underway to attract additional financial resources for the initiative. Despite this support, it is still modest compared to the extent of the damage caused by the aggression on a daily basis. From this standpoint, the Fund calls on all national institutions and the private sector to combine their efforts and intensify the support provided to the sector, to meet the emergency and humanitarian needs of citizens in the Gaza Strip, especially supporting vital sectors such as health, food and education. Source: Maan News Agency