Food Security Sector in Palestine (2016 Q2 Highlights) – FSS Report

FSS 2016 2^nd Quarter Highlights

In brief

SEFSec survey

In the second quarter of 2016, the work of the FSS team and involved organisations continued to be focused on the finalization of the full survey's report. Additional revisions and exchange of comments allowed to obtain a final version of the report. Some sections required revision and crosschecking of data and figures. Additional work was dedicated to the selection of pictures, as well at tIn the second quarter of 2016, the work of the FSS team and involved organisations continued to be focused on the finalization of the full survey's report. Additional revisions and exchange of he design of the report. A big thank to all organisations who provided vary good pictures that will be used in the report. The plan is to have the whole document proof-read, edited, and printed out by August 2016.

The next edition of the SEFSec survey has not been funded yet. If not carried out in early 2017, there is a high risk of having a prolonged gap, like 4-5 years between the last and the next survey,

HRC 2016 progress

Overall for Palestinian territories , the HRP has been funded at 28% as of mid-year 2016. In the same period, FSS projects received funding for $90m, equivalent to 28% of the total request. Only 3 NGOs under the FSS have reported funding in the first half of the year.an alarming 48 percent. The percentage of households with borderline Food Consumption Score increased from 23 percent to 31 percent, while the percentage of households with an acceptable FCS drastically decreased from 73 percent to 21 percent.

With regard to agricultural-based livelihood support, Graph.1 clearly shows how critical is the funding status at the mid-year stage. Out of $57m requested for this sector, only $2.7m (or 5%) have been granted.

As mentioned other times, this level of achievement represents a very crucial issue within the FSS strategy of supporting fragile livelihoods of vulnerable beneficiaries, in order to provide them with improved means to cope with shocks. Low resilient households have increased risk to worsen their food security.

Out of the 300k needy people included in the expected results of the HRP 2016, no beneficiaries have been reached so far with livelihood-support . Due to the low level of funding in this sector, it is foreseen that the overall achievements in 2016 will be very low too.

Again, food assistance shows the highest level of funding within the sector. Nevertheless, as food assistance is carried out through regular cycles throughout the year, the funding forecast reveals that interruption of this activity may occur in the second semester of 2016, due to lack of funding. According to WFP data, interruption of food assistance leads very quickly to increased food insecurity and deterioration of food consumption patterns. In fact when food assistance was suspended for one month, beneficiary households' Food Consumption Score worsened within two weeks after suspending food assistance. The percentage of households with a poor Food Consumption Score (FCS) increased from 4 percent to . an alarming 48 percent. The percentage of households with borderline Food Consumption Score increased from 23 percent to 31 percent, while the percentage of households with an acceptable FCS drastically decreased from 73 percent to 21 percent.

With regard to cash-based programmes, they suffer an overall 84% funding gap, leaving many vulnerable persons less equipped to cope with unemployment.

Comparing 2016 and 2015 at the same mid-year stage, the forecast is not very positive, as all three components of food security are receiving less funding than the previous year. The following graph offers an overview of this comparison.

Humanitarian Pooled Fund (HPF) and Strategic Response Plan (SRP) gap filler

The HPF management and the Humanitarian Coordinator launched a $4m call for providing financial resources to the top-priority projects underfunded in the HRP. The FSS contributed to the definition of the allocation paper and participated to the selection process. 5 out of 12 projects submitted under the FSS component were approved for funding with a total of ^—1.5M$; four approved projects went for Gaza Strip, and are submitted by ACF, ACTED, Mercy Corps and Oxfam Italy, while the fifth one went to West Bank and is submitted by ESDC.

The project in West bank is aiming to ensure timely and effective response to demolitions to prevent forced displacement in the West Bank. Within this scope, ESDC operates in close coordination with MoA for the demolitions of agriculture livelihood assets in the West Bank. The MoA has records of over 700 people affected by demolitions. ESDC will target those farmers based on the FSS guidelines on destruction and confiscation of livelihood assets.

The Gaza projects will focus on the rehabilitation of agricultural roads, irrigation water carrier lines, greenhouses, and water colleting ponds, also through cash programmes scheme. The establishment of income generating activities for poor households-headed families is also part of the activities in addition to the rehabilitation of animal sheds with veterinary services, and fodder supply.

Resilience Marker (RM)

As mentioned in previous occasions, the FSS is engaged in developing a pilot exercise with the aim of defining a RM tool. This tool may be used to assess projects' ability to positively affect beneficiaries' resilience.

During the second quarter of 2016, the FSS team worked with FAO colleagues in order to finalise the ToR for a dedicated staff, in charge of supporting this activities in Palestinian territories. This work will proceed in July until September, thanks to the availability of one FAO staff from the HQs in Rome.

Information Management (IM)

The most relevant outcome of the second quarter concerning the IM of the sector is the agreement on proceeding with the revision and update of APIS (www.apis.ps), the Agricultural Projects Information System.

The work will be carried out in two phases. Initially from July to August, the evaluation of the system will provide recommendations on what changes and new features should be implemented. Then, from September the update of the system will be finalised.

Once APIS revision and update is completed, the new system will replace other project based tools like the 4Ws. FSS partners will have one and comprehensive entry point for providing and gathering information related to the progress of the activities in the country.

APIS has been handed over to the MoA and it is designed to gather project information for both humanitarian and developmental projects.

Technical Working Groups (TWGs) update

The Food Assistance working group (FAWG), led by WFP, has been initiated in Gaza in June 2016, and includes currently 18 organizations. Food assistance is provided regularly through WFP and UNRWA, while during emergencies different organizations are planning to intervene. FSS will be the key player linking partner organizations with the related governmental bodies, in order to provide food assistance during crises. The FAWG is now focused on the coordination of the response in case of acute emergencies in the Gaza Strip

This is part of the overall contingency plan designed at the inter-cluster level.Re

Response to damages of livelihood assets

The FSS committee established for drafting the demolition response criteria continued their work and elaborated the general guidelines to inform the FSS partners' response. The guidelines have been presented to the FSS partners during the FSS general meeting held in May, and endorsed thereafter. It is available at the the FSS website. The committee met with the MoA to explore their tracking system and the existing database, in order to elaborate the way for providing feedback from any responders. It was agreed with the MoA that the feedback mechanism at this stage will be working by communicating via email. Later on, if the level of cooperation and exchange of information will work well, the possibility to work more directly through their information system will be further explored.

The FSS efforts in this regard extended to develop inter-cluster contingency plan for Kherbit Tana after the field visit organized by OCHA. During the visit the FSS team with FSS partners assessed the effect of demolition on livelihood (access to land and agriculture). The livelihood is affected due to the presence of military bases and designation of the area as closed military zone, planning and zoning, and restriction on access to the market. Demolition of animal shelters puts households' livelihood at serious risk. The community is dependent on herding and livestock as a main source of income.

The practice of demolitions and confiscation of agricultural and other assets continues throughout the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The FSS remains committed to support the victims affected by these events.

Gaza Inter Agency Contingency Plan (IACP)

The FSS has been part of the Gaza ICCG level working on the IACP. The IACP is realised considering two possible large scale scenarios of 1) External escalation of violence, and 2) Internal unrest and collapse in Gaza, assuming that approximately 600k people will become IDPs in both formal and informal shelters. The FSS contingency plan was built to secure food and cash for those IDPs. The plan also intends to limit the damages related to livestock, by providing fodders to herders and breeders to protect their livelihoods. In case of acute crisis, it is expected that approximately 140k out of expected 600k IDPs will be hosted in UNRWA and governmental designated emergency shelters (DES) with food provision by UNRWA and WFP. Other IDPs will receive food assistance by different FSS partners, through coordination between the FSS and the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA). However, other charities, which are not active partners of the FSS, are also expected to provide food assistance at various levels.

Gaza wastewater lagoon collapse

Early in May a waste water lagoon collapsed in the centre of Gaza governorate, causing flooding of ^—15k cubic meters of sludge into agricultural lands in the surrounding areas. According to the damage assessment done by a governmental committee led by the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA), 67 dunums of agricultural lands were totally destroyed and the damages of farmers' assets and crops were estimated to be approximately $150k. The FSS has been working closely with interested partners and the MoA to overcome the consequences of this environmental crisis.

Access to natural resources (fishing limitations)

Early in April, Israeli authorities expanded the allowed fishing range from the coastline, adding 3 nautical miles, reaching 9 nm. However, one month later there were fears to decrease the fishing areas again under claims of Palestinian fisheries' violations into no-fishing areas. In addition, the expansion of the fishing area represents a seasonal initiative, whereby the limit of 6 nautical miles would be re-established after two months. The FSS along with FAO are in discussion with the MoA in order to put in place additional measures that would allow the MoA to provide the fishers with more guidance related to the restrictions to access the sea.

Access to the sea for fishers in the Gaza Strip remains a major issue that limits the livelihood of at least 4,000 households.

FSS meetings/events in this quarter

•  1 FSS general meeting

•  2 FSAU meetings

• 2 HCT Advocacy Working Group

•  1 AIM WG

•  1 Food Assistance WG

•  2 HCT meetings

•  2 meetings with line ministries (Gaza)

•  2 meetings with gender and advocacy focal points

•  4 Inter-cluster meetings and 1 field visit on demolition cases in the WB

Contacts

Lead agencies FAO and WFP

Ciro Fiorillo – ciro.fiorillo@fao.org 

Daniela Owen – daniela.owen@wfp.org

FSS focal points

Marco Ferloni – marco.ferloni@fscluster.org +972 (0) 546773171

Hosne Barakat – hosne.barakat@fscluster.org + 972 (0) 546773161

Anas Musallam – anas.musallam@fscluster.org +972 (0) 592030026

http://fscluster.org/state-of-palestine

http://fscluster.org/sites/default/files/documents/fss_opt_brief_2016_q2.pdf