1. Introduction
Since the beginning of the Water, Sanitation,
and Hygiene Monitoring Project (WaSH MP) in June 2002, 643 of the 708 communities
defined by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) have been
surveyed in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. For the purposes of the WaSH
MP, the total number of communities that will be monitored is 643, due
to the fact that many of the PCBS-defined communities are considered part
of a city, like Jerusalem, or are deemed seasonal living places (summer
or winter).
The importance of the WaSH MP stems from the fact that among all of the local and international agencies working in the sector, it is nearly the only source of updated information on the impact of the Occupation on water, sanitation and hygiene in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. During the first phase of the project, detailed information was gathered from different localities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Such information has been analyzed and stored in a locally designed database. Seven monthly reports were published using this data, and the database can be accessed through the project website at the following address: www.phg.org/campaign
The nature of the second phase of the WaSH MP has dictated certain modifications in the management of the project. As this phase focuses on updating the information, and requires less intensive fieldwork, the data collection teams were reduced from 12 to 5, in order to reflect the reduction in workload. Furthermore, there was a need to modify the reporting frequency and format to respond to the needs of some organizations accessing the reports. Accordingly, a new form for information update has been designed (APPENDIX 1) and weekly or biweekly updates have been published during this phase.
The current report is the seventh weekly update and covers the period from the 8th of December to the 31st of December 2003. The goal is for each weekly / biweekly update to be disseminated on the Monday of the week following the period being reported on. All the updates can also be accessed through the project website: http://www.phg.org/campaign
Weekly reports will include information extracted from the newly designed questionnaire, as well as additional information on the related communities. In this seventh weekly report, detailed information related to 20 communities in the West Bank and Gaza Strip is included. Data related to these communities was updated during the past three weeks and presented in tables that reflect major problems in these communities.
(pdf* format - 268 KB)