The Housing Rehabilitation Program at the CSC continues its efforts to help realize the right to adequate housing for poor families living in extremely difficult conditions. These efforts are carried out in partnership with local communities and within the limits of available resources, which often leads to a long waiting list. As a result, the program is only able to respond to the most urgent cases, according to Program Coordinator Osama Bani Odeh of the CSC, which is affiliated with An-Najah National University.

The CSC’s current efforts are focused primarily on families facing hardship in rural areas, supported by a grant from the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) through the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development.

The case of the N.M. family in a village east of Nablus serves as an example of the CSC’s success in maximizing limited financial resources and amplifying their impact through volunteer efforts and financial and in-kind contributions from the local community.

In partnership with local organizations, the program built an additional room to relieve the family’s overcrowded living conditions, as they had previously lived in a single room. The outdoor bathroom and kitchen were also modified to make them more sanitary and better connected to the renovated home.

The head of the family, a widow, said that the changes had transformed her home significantly, even if they might seem minor to others who are more fortunate. She expressed her gratitude to the CSC and its staff for their efforts in renovating the house, for treating her with respect, and for consulting her about the planned changes before implementing them.

Engineer Osama Bani Odeh explained that the program’s work consists of two complementary parts: the technical engineering aspect and the social aspect. For this reason, the team includes an engineer, a female engineer, a social worker, and a social specialist who work together to prepare the initial report and design the necessary intervention.

The program coordinator added that in this case, a combined technical and social report was prepared, based on which the team decided to allocate the minimum possible contribution from the grant toward rehabilitating the house. Since that amount was not sufficient, additional in-kind assistance was obtained from the local community, along with a contribution from the Multaqa Al-Khair Fund, one of the CSC’s programs.

Mr. Bilal Salama, Director of the CSC at An-Najah National University, explained that this case and the approach used to address it reflect the center’s philosophy of working with those in need rather than on their behalf. This aligns with a human rights-based model of social work that emphasizes participation and empowerment, promoting community service by working with and for people to achieve sustainable change.