Empowering women in Palestine through safe and inclusive public spaces

Ramallah, Palestine, 7 December 2022—As part of the annual UN campaigns for ending violence against women and girls during 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence (GBV), UN-Habitat and its partners have been engaged in empowering women in Palestine through safe and inclusive public spaces.

Since 2018 and in partnership with UN Women, United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA),United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and Palestinian local government and civil society UN-Habitat has been extending a lending hand through the HAYA Joint Programme: Eliminating Violence Against Women in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

This project provides safe and inclusive public spaces to women and girls, directly empowering women by improving their enjoyment of their right to the city. It also builds the capacity of Palestinian municipalities and communities for comprehensive and sustainable prevention and response to GBV.

The project employs innovative approaches to assess, design and implement solutions for public spaces in five urban centers: Jenin, Nablus, Jericho, Bethlehem Cluster (Bethlehem, Beit Jala, Beit Sahour, Al Doha) - West Bank, and Khan Younis - Gaza. Funded by the Government of Canada, UN-Habitat was able to indirectly benefit 283,545 women (as well as 295,118 men).

Initially, UN-Habitat found that gender-transformative approaches to urban planning were missing. The team contributed to bridging the knowledge gap through creating physical changes, and engaging with communities on women’s rights and their perceptions of public spaces. Working with local and national governments, the team suggested institutionalizing gender-transformative tools, methodologies and policies. The team also promoted these among the next generation of urban professionals through curriculum materials for universities. 

The project started by mapping the use patterns of all users, especially women, youth, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, identifying both the physical and social difficulties on a city-wide scale. This was translated into the first ever city-wide public space assessments conducted in Palestinian cities in partnership between UN-Habitat, the Ministry of Local Government, local authorities and the communities.

The public spaces with the highest needs for intervention were selected. Site-specific assessments were conducted with high levels of community participation, especially among women and girls. This was then translated with the local communities and municipalities into designed interventions reflecting women’s needs and perceptions.

Three of these designs were implemented and positively impacted women’s safety and inclusion in those public spaces and in city life in general:

Lighting in the alleys and pathways of the old city of Nablus (West Bank): The 2021 city-wide public space assessment found that 47 percent  of women did not feel safe in these public spaces at night, as 40 percent of these spaces had low visibility and no clear sightlines. After project completion, female residents confirmed that the newly lit pathways and alleys have made them feel safer, feeling less worried about being harassed at night. Safa, a Nablus resident, expressed that “now I feel safe, I can move freely with my kids in the old city at night without any fears.”

The first well-designed public space for women and girls along the 8.2 km coastal area of Khan Younis (Gaza): The promenade was designed with four female architecture students using site-specific assessments, innovative tools and approaches to engage the local community, such as through the Minecraft game. Forty young community representatives, half of whom young women, participated, not only creating more inclusive spaces but also improving their skills in decision-making and leadership.

“Standing in the garden where each element is inspired by our designs, I can say that this unique experience has encouraged our interest and willingness to participate in community development and other types of public engagement,” says 17-year-old Reem Bashir. “We are very proud of our contribution in decreasing GBV in our city by designing safe and inclusive public spaces.”

The municipal playground of Al Doha (West Bank): this space had been used exclusively by men and boys to play football. Following the team’s partnership with the local authorities and the community, the playground is now a multi-use, inclusive space for everyone. In the new social space, accessible to people with disabilities and strollers, caregivers can accompany children during exercise and do group activities. “A year ago, we could not find a safe space for us to enjoy physical activity, but today, my friends and I are safely using the playground and we enjoy playing different sports there”, says Maryam, a sixth-grader.

Five new public spaces are being rehabilitated and created. They cover different typologies across the West Bank (community gardens, a sensory garden for visually-impaired children, a pedestrian-friendly street and the rehabilitation of a canal in Jericho, part of an archaeological site nominated to be a UNESCO World Heritage Site), providing examples to be replicated on a national scale, thus creating a platform for knowledge sharing among municipalities.

By promoting a gender-transformative approach to urban planning and public space, the UN-Habitat team was able to create long-term impact empowering women and girls to enjoy the benefits and opportunities of sustainable urbanization.