First Eco-Friendly School in Gaza!

 

Improving Water, Sanitation, and Energy Supply at Al-Fukhari UNRWA school in the Gaza Strip, Palestine

Since the establishment of EcoPeace’s educational programs in the year 2000, EcoPeace Middle East has been able to establish a longstanding strategic relationship with several local communities in our region. EcoPeace has a particularly good relationship with marginalized areas such as the Abassan community, the area in which this project took place. As a result of this long and consistent relationship, EcoPeace deepened its understanding of the current and future needs for establishing a sustainable and safe educational environment at schools within our targeted communities.

In coordination with the UNRWA Head Quarter office in Gaza, Al-Fukhari girl’s school was chosen for this project. The school is located in a marginalized area; it constitutes a large number of students (around 2400+), who attend school in two shifts. Moreover, the location of the school lacks a proper sewage network and suffers from recurrent and prolonged power cuts.

The project outputs can be summarized below

  • Construction of a rainwater harvesting system to cover part of the school’s water demand for sanitation purposes.
  • Construction of greywater treatment and reuse system, so that effluent can be used for irrigating the garden and flushing toilets.     
  • Construction of a school garden
  • Developing a safe irrigation system for the school’s garden.
  • Design and installation of a solar power system with 25 KW/hr capacity
  • Environmental awareness activities for students and teachers on the importance of using treated wastewater and solar energy.
  • Environmental awareness events for parents on the importance of using treated wastewater and solar energy.
  • Capacity building training for a select group of students and teachers on the management of the rainwater harvesting system, greywater system, and solar power system.
  • Specialized Operation and Management (O&M) training courses for designated UNRWA engineers following the installation of the PVs solar system.