In Gaza, a UN cash-for-work program gives Palestinians some income — and hope

The UN World Food Programme has been running a cash-for-work program in Gaza since April, offering people the opportunity to work for three months at a factory, repurposing aid materials into tote bags and furniture. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)Social SharingIn a factory in Gaza City, dozens of women sit in chairs lining the back room, picking at the stitches on bags of flour. Periodically, two of them will huddle together around a small wood table, holding both ends of one bag as a third woman cuts it in half with a pair of scissors. 

There’s some chatter in the air, but the women mostly work in silence. They are turning the sacks into tote bags, folding, cutting and sewing them into the final product.

At another part of the factory, other women oversee the last step. They sit in pairs at each sewing machine, and one folds the handles of the bag together while the other sews them on.

They are part of what's known as a cash-for-work program, meant to give displaced people temporary employment. This one has been run by the UN World Food Programme (WFP) since April, and offers people in Gaza the opportunity to work for three months at a factory, repurposing supplies originally given as aid, like bags of flour and wood pallets. Participants are paid 1,000 shekels a month, the equivalent of about $462 Cdn.

The money doesn't go very far, covering about a week's worth of groceries and living essentials for some families. Still, for participants, it's a source of income as well as purpose in a territory that has been ravaged by war.

“I really wanted to have a job; I really wanted to have money to spend because my husband is sick,” Warda Aliwa, 38, told CBC freelance videographer Mohamed El Saife. 

“These bags of flour come to us as support from outside.... After they are emptied, why should we throw them away?” said Aliwa. “We make them into a bag and we put food in them.” 

For some, the job means they’ll be able to feed their families for a while. Nisreen Abbas, 54, cares for her 12 grandchildren and her 87-year-old husband, who is on a wheelchair. 

“Thank God, I can stand on my own two feet,” she said. “I bring food for my grandchildren; I bring medicine for my husband.”

Though temporary, the work is a welcome opportunity for many. Israel and Hamas have been under a ceasefire agreement since October 2025, but the impact of the war has decimated Gaza's economy. About 78 per cent of Palestinians in the enclave were unemployed last year, according to United Nations Trade and Development, with that figure shooting up to more than 90 per cent for the working-age population.

While the cost of living in Gaza is still high, the participants welcome any stable source of income that can help their families. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)At the same time, it has become challenging for people to obtain everyday goods. Despite more commercial and aid trucks arriving over the summer, three-quarters of households reported difficulties accessing markets, largely due to cash shortages and high costs, according to the UN WFP's August report.

Faten Abu Sharkh, the project’s co-ordinator, says there are approximately 113 women and 20 men involved in the program, which will be renewed annually. The products they create are given to people and schools for free. 

Participants get 1,000 shekels a month and work for three months before a new group of women join the program to continue the work. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)She said the women have seen a positive change in their lives because of the program. 

“They worked on this project in order to change their mentality and give them financial, social and mental support,” she said.

“They had depression and they were given medication but thank God, the work changed their mentality.”

Nearby in a different part of the factory, men work on wood pallets that once carried aid, carefully taking them apart with crowbars.

They sort and throw out the broken pieces, working with the ones still intact. They sand the wood down, cutting and putting it together to create small tables and shelving units for those in need.

Khaled al-Kurd, 50, lost his wife, his daughter, his home and his sewing business in the war. 

“It was a total collapse for me,” he said. “Total destruction.” 

Participants say it not only helps them financially but also mentally and emotionally after living through war. (Mohamed El Saife/CBC)But he said this job helped bring him back to some semblance of normalcy. 

“There is a small amount of resources, but it helps us in life."

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Once participants' time with the WFP is over, they will have to find their way on their own. Many already wish they can get another chance with the program.

“I would like for this to be renewed, for us to keep working and for the income to keep coming to us,” said Aliwa. “We are doing something beneficial.” 

Yasmine Hassan is a producer in CBC's Ottawa bureau. From there, she covers developments inside Gaza and the West Bank related to the Israel-Hamas war. If you have a story idea, send news tips in English or Arabic to yasmine.hassan@cbc.ca.