About UNRWA

UNRWA has over 29,000 employees, most of them Palestine refugees and a small number of international staff, in two headquarter offices (Gaza and Amman), five field offices (Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and West Bank), and in four Representative/Liaison Offices (New York, Geneva, Brussels and Cairo).

Gaza Headquarters includes the Office of the Commissioner-General along with the External Relations Department, the Department of Legal Affairs and Public Information Office in Jerusalem. Amman Headquarter Office includes the Finance Department, the Department of Human Resources, the Department of Administrative Support, the Department of Infrastructure and the Department of Internal Oversight.

UNRWA’s programmes are implemented and managed by the Education Department, Health Department and Relief and Social Services Department in Amman and by the Office of the Microfinance and Microenterprise Programme in Jerusalem.

All field offices have a similar organizational structure but vary considerably in size. The number of area staff range from nearly 3,000 in the Lebanon Field Office to over 10,000 in the Gaza Field Office with the other three Field Offices falling in between those numbers. The majority of area staff consist of teachers, health services, relief and social services staff and administrative and support staff.

In addition to area staff, the United Nations New York funds nearly 120 international posts. Appointments to international posts are subject to UNRWA rules and regulations.

Duty Station information

International staff of UNRWA can be assigned to the following duty stations: Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Gaza and Jerusalem. With the exception of Gaza, all duty stations have family status where educational facilities for children of all age groups are available. Gaza is currently a non-family duty station, however, spouses may reside with the staff members in Gaza but not children.