Infrastructure & Camp Improvement
What We Do
1.63 million
Lives Impacted
58
Palestine Refugee Camps
72 per cent
Houses Rebuilt in Nahr el Bared
2,778
Houses Rehabilitated/Rebuilt in Gaza
58 recognized Palestine refugee camps dot Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
Over the years, these camps have transformed from temporary 'tent cities' into hyper-congested masses of multi-storey buildings with narrow alleys, characterized by high concentrations of poverty and extreme overcrowding. The camps are considered to be among the densest urban environments in the world, but because camp structures were built for temporary use, over the decades the buildings have become overcrowded, critically substandard and in many cases life-threatening.
Under international law, refugees have—as does everyone—the right to an adequate standard of living, including housing, without prejudice to other rights they enjoy as refugees. Launched in 2007 to address the deteriorating environments of the camps, the Infrastructure and Camp Improvement programme (ICIP) operates on the premise that the spatial and environmental conditions in which Palestine refugees live cannot be divorced from their livelihood or well-being. Consequently, ICIP adopts an integrated, comprehensive, participatory and community-driven improvement of the built environment of Palestine refugee camps, utilizing urban planning tools.
