The objective of the pilot is to enhance climate security among returning internally displaced persons (IDPs) to the Al-Hawizeh marshes. The project supports crisis-affected communities with a special focus on women’s empowerment through the deployment of innovative clean drinking water supply and wastewater treatment systems, and support for livelihood diversification and ecotourism activities.

During the first year of the project, the project team focused on community outreach through meetings with stakeholders to feed into a multicriteria capacity needs assessment for transparent selection of beneficiaries who are most vulnerable to climate impacts and most likely to be displaced due to climate-induced shocks.

The project site is located within a UNESCO World Heritage site, and therefore several environmental and social impact analyses have to be finalized prior to building infrastructure.

The construction of the ecotourism site and installation of approximately 15 solar PV water purification plants are expected be finalized in early 2023. The solar PV water plants are expected to benefit at least 1,500 persons (50% female, 50% male). The project will also develop a train-the-trainers programme on solar PV energy systems and carry out an awareness-raising campaign targeting at least 1,000 persons (50% women) on climate change and water conservation. The project also conduced a gender gap analysis and gender equality action plan for the pilot grant.