UNRWA 2008-2009 Programme budget

 

Report of the Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the

Near East

 

 

 

Programme budget 2008-2009

General Assembly

 

 

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Note

Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document.

 

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[6 August 2007]

Contents

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Chapter I 

    Introduction to the 2008-2009 biennium budget

 

 

 

1. The United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA or the Agency), was established in 1949 as a subsidiary organ of the United Nations with a mandate “to carry out direct relief and works programmes” for Palestine refugees. The UN General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate thereby acknowledging that it is essential for the international community to continue addressing the needs of Palestine refugees. As a United Nations agency, UNRWA is under an obligation to abide by the UN Charter and other international instruments, including those devoted to the promotion of human rights.

  

 

2. The Agency’s mission is to help Palestine refugees achieve their full potential in human development terms under the difficult circumstances in which they live. Palestine refugees should:

a. Have long and healthy lives;

b. Acquire appropriate knowledge and skills; 

c. Enjoy a decent standard of living; and

d. Enjoy human rights to the fullest extent possible.

3. UNRWA’s purpose can be summed up in three words: Serving Palestine refugees . Palestine refugees are the focus of the Agency’s thinking, planning and activities. Promoting their interests as individuals with rights and entitlements under international law and ensuring their well-being and long-term human development are the engines that will continue to drive all aspects of UNRWA’s activities.

4. Although UNRWA is a principal agent for the human development of Palestine refugees in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan, the Syrian Arab Republic (Syria) and Lebanon, the Agency is not the only organization whose activities contribute to the human development of Palestine refugees. UNRWA does not, for example, engage in activities in the areas of tertiary education, rule of law or security. The Agency’s identity remains that of a public service organization that provides essential services to Palestine refugees in the areas of relief and works as well as the direct delivery of education (Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 2), health (MDGs 4, 5 and 6), relief and social services (MDG 1), infrastructure (MDG 7) and microfinance (MDGs 1 and 3). These will continue to be the main programmes through which services are delivered. The Agency will also maintain its emergency response activities for which there has been an increased need in recent years in some fields.

5. During 2008-2009, UNRWA will ensure that its programmes are delivered in accordance with the Agency’s commitment to inclusion, protection, gender equality, and support for vulnerable groups.

a. “Inclusion” is an overarching theme which is the criterion by which the Agency designs its approach to service delivery. In the UNRWA context, inclusion means ensuring that no group of the refugee population is, because of gender, age, socio-economic status, physical/mental ability, less able to access UNRWA’s services than any other group.

b. “Incorporating protection strategies” is a second overarching theme which must be reflected in everything the Agency does. Protection encompasses activities that are geared towards obtaining full respect for the rights of refugees under relevant international law. The Agency continues to develop a protection strategy which focuses on clarifying the actions, rights and legal precepts that are germane to UNRWA’s mandate and to the Agency’s specific operational context. The strategy will seek to maximize the points of intersection between the human development and human rights paradigms.

c. “Caring for the vulnerable” through the identification, and specific tailo “Caring for the vulnerable” through the identification, and specific tailoring, of services to especially vulnerable groups within the Agency’s refugee populations. The Agency will continue to focus on alleviating poverty among poor Palestine refugees in the short to medium term and building their human capacity in the long term. In addition to addressing the needs of the abject poor, the Agency will concentrate on providing targeted support to children with special educational needs by furnishing specialist teaching support to persons with disabilities and by providing community based rehabilitation support.

d. “Ensuring gender equality” (MDG 3) through the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all activities and policies and through fostering an institutional culture that is both gender sensitive and gender-responsive.

e. “Protecting the Environment” through a better understanding and awareness of the environmental impact of operations and attempting to minimise negative impacts. This is an area that the Agency will be able to explore only with additional funding.

6. In order to bring about effective human development outcomes, the Agency will be driven by:

a. The need to provide excellence and quality; 

b. Participation of and consultation with our stakeholders;

c. Decentralization, empowerment and a focus on delivery in the field; 

d. Evidence based planning and needs based service delivery;

e. Integration and coordination of planning leading to a holistic approach to service delivery;

f. Innovation and responsiveness; and

g. Effective partnerships with beneficiaries and coordination with other service providers.

 

 

7. UNRWA is currently mandated to serve an estimated 4.6 million refugees (compared to 750,000 in 1950) in its five fields of operation. UNRWA has more than 32,000 staff posts. The current budgeted cost of recurrent activities is $1,093 million .

Some key features of UNRWA’s operational environment include:

a. Over 50 per cent of the refugee population is below the age of 25; 

b. Relative to global and regional standards, labour force participation rates are low. In the 20-24 year age group participation in the five fields of operation ranges from 51 per cent to 57 per cent;

c. Population density in refugee camps is extremely high by global standards;

d. Two-thirds of refugees now live outside refugee camps;

e. Use of UNRWA services differs considerably among the fields of operation;

f. UNRWA is the main regular service provider of basic health care services in all fields;

g. There are an estimated 485,000 refugee children of primary school age in UNRWA schools; and

h. There are approximately 250,000 registered Special Hardship Cases (SHCs) in 2007 compared to 90,000 in 1983.

8. The function of the five Programme Departments (Education, Health, Relief and Social Services, Microfinance and Infrastructure and Camp Development) is to develop policies and quality standards, prepare programme strategies, and provide support for monitoring, advice and performance evaluation. Programme strategies are implemented through the five field offices whose function is to operationalize the programme strategies within an overarching framework of enhancing human development and according to the needs and priorities of their respective refugee populations. Both programmes and field operations incorporate precepts from the various thematic areas.

9. A number of basic services are available to all refugees in all fields: primary education, technical and vocational training, comprehensive primary health care, and relief for impoverished families. There are also other activities which are undertaken according to unmet needs in specific circumstances, such as the provision of secondary education in Lebanon. Activities in this category will continue to be tailored to local needs and conditions allowing for different delivery modalities from field to field. The emphasis is on effectiveness and appropriateness in different environments.

10. UNRWA’s Regular Budget for the 2008-2009 biennium comprises recurrent staff and non-staff costs. It is further divided into cash and in-kind portions. The cash budget is funded through cash contributions recorded as income to the General Fund (GF). The in-kind budget represents the value of donations that the Agency expects to receive based on agreements with donors or past practice.

11. The projects budget comprises mainly non-recurrent costs for funding by earmarked contributions. Only projects for which earmarked funds are received are implemented.

12. The projects budget has been included in the budget summary (see Table 1) at $114.4 million as this reflects consistent historical funding levels. However, for the purposes of transparency, the actual project funding requirements which are considerably higher are listed in separate Programme budgets. Therefore, the 2008-2009 budget does not represent the totality of the Agency’s needs for the biennium. Planning for the emergency appeals is conducted on a six monthly or annual basis and does not lend itself to inclusion in the budget. During the biennium, the Agency will present potential donors with funding proposals from the projects budget.

13. Although UNRWA prepares its budget on a biennial basis, operations are financed on an annual basis. Accordingly, the budget reflects both biennial and annual aspects.

  

14. The budget preparation exercise involves attaching monetary values to the Agency’s strategic aims within the realistic confines of the Agency’s capacity. Field Offices calculate the cost of operationalizing the programme strategies within the overall framework of enhancing human development a The budget preparation exercise involves attaching monetary values to the Agency’s strategic aims within the realistic confines of the Agency’s capacity. Field Offices calculate the cost of operationalizing the programme strategies within the overall framework of enhancing human development and according to the needs and priorities of their respective refugee populations. Field Offices estimate the financial resources required for UNRWA to provide services that, as far as possible, meet relevant international and national standards.

15. This phase of the budgetary exercise includes special provisions to; integrate and enhance new outcome-related service delivery requirements, implement government decrees promulgated by the host authorities, address unmet basic priority needs of a recurrent nature, respond to other stakeholder requirements and allow for general increases in the costs of activities. This stage of the budget preparation process takes account of the following information:

a)   Estimates of the cost of delivering services at current levels and at current prices;

  

b)   Estimates of the impact of increasing costs of service delivery as a result of increases in the cost of inputs or the consequences of having to deliver services in a complex political environment; and

  

c)   Estimates of the costs of necessary additions to the current level of service which may be driven by increases in refugee numbers, emerging needs or the need to undertake other planned investments to maintain, for example, our infrastructure or staff capacity.

  

16. The main drivers of financial requirements for the Agency are refugee numbers, progress against quality standards, increases in the costs of service delivery, the scale of humanitarian and emergency relief, and the costs of planned maintenance and development projects.

17. Under-funding presents a significant risk to the achievement of the Agency’s performance indicators and targets. The Agency, host authorities and donors, are all well aware of the negative impact that under-funding can have on the quality of services delivered.

  

  

18. UNRWA operates in a turbulent region buffeted by the Arab-Israeli conflict and its consequences in terms of episodes of violence and a worsening socio-economic situation. Emergency conditions, especially in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, impose heavy operational and financial burdens on the Agency, threatening the sustainability and quality of UNRWA services and necessitating emergency appeals, which complement the fundraising activities for the regular budget.

19. During the 2008-2009 biennium, there will be a continuing need for UNRWA to maintain operations at least at the same levels as in 2006-2007.

20. UNRWA expects a gradual increase in the number of registered refugees. Despite efforts by the Agency to make internal efficiency savings, it is inevitable that resource requirements will continue to increase.

21. In addition to economic, social and security risks, the Agency’s services are also vulnerable to changes in funding levels of donor countries as well as changes in the ability of host authorities to assist in the serving of Palestine refugees.

22. Service delivery to refugees in the areas of education, health, relief, social services, microfinance, microenterprise and infrastructure – and st Service delivery to refugees in the areas of education, health, relief, social services, microfinance, microenterprise and infrastructure – and staff costs in particular – now consume the majority of the budget. This leaves an ever smaller amount of funds for investing in improving the quality of UNRWA’s services. As a consequence, the Agency has very limited scope for change.

23. The staffing review being conducted under the Agency’s Organizational Development (OD) initiative will identify whether the Agency is using its staff in the most cost-effective manner. However, in light of a growing refugee population, any reforms will, at best, have a marginal short-term impact on the Agency’s scope for change.

  

   

24.  The Agency’s strategic priorities reflected in the 2008-2009 budget are:

a. Maintaining the service levels of the 2006-2007 biennium in all basic services;

b. Critically reviewing the way in which the Agency currently operates to identify performance improvements and improve the quality and impact of its services; and

c. Planning for some key programme improvements without which the scope and quality of programming, services and facilities will be at risk of further deterioration.

25. The Agency’s direction is to build the foundations for developing a comprehensive strategy for 2010-2015. The budget for 2010-2011 will be founded on further development of on-going initiatives in a number of areas including:

a. Further development and implementation of the Agency’s programme management systems, thereby allowing a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of refugee needs and the Agency’s performance vis-à-vis these needs;

b. An assessment of the services and activities which the Agency undertakes, and the environment in which they are offered, to develop a more detailed understanding of their respective contributions to enhancing human development;

c. Identifying sets of core and non-core services which will give a clearer framework for performance measurement, efficiency and effectiveness reviews and the prioritisation and allocation of scarce budgetary resources;

d. Developing a comprehensive framework of service delivery and quality standards in all areas of the Agency;

e. More efficient service delivery methods through placing greater emphasis on holistic, inter-disciplinary approaches in both planning and implementation, and through building partnerships;

f. Strengthened internal capacity and processes (including an approach to resource allocation based on achieving Human Development (HD) outcomes), and

g. Further increasing the level of consultation and participation in the planning process with the Agency’s stakeholders.

26. Those initiatives will be accomplished, in large part, in the context of the Agency’s management reform initiative or Organizational Development process Those initiatives will be accomplished, in large part, in the context of the Agency’s management reform initiative or Organizational Development process¹ which is due to be completed in late 2009. The aim of the OD process is to ensure sustained internal capacity for operations management and delivery and is designed to strengthen UNRWA’s capacity to serve Palestine refugees more effectively and efficiently. The OD process contains a number of initiatives grouped around four key levers of change:

 

a. Human resources management;

b. Leadership and management;

c. Organizational processes; and

d. Programme management.

27. These levers are mutually reinforcing and together they will bring about the systematic change that the OD process aims to achieve. The starting point for improvement of management and decision making capacity will be the refinement of planned outcomes to enhance human development and a detailed statement of the goals, priorities and performance targets. This will provide a guiding framework for all decision making and planning.

28. A Programme Management Cycle (PMC) approach will be introduced to provide for an integrated, comprehensive, strategic and results-based approach to the way the Agency manages its programmes, projects and other interventions. It will:

a. Improve participatory assessments and continuous diagnosis of data;

b. Improve the monitoring of our interventions on a regular and systematic basis;

c. Ensure data collection, data analysis and monitoring and evaluation activities are being fed into programme development and delivery; and

d. Further develop the Agency’s information management system.

The PMC will be gradually developed and applied during the period 2007-2009.

  

 

 ¹ The OD initiative is described in the document “Serving Palestine Refugees More Effectively: Strengthening the Management Capacity of UNRWA”.

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Table 1: Summary of 2008-2009 Total Budget Volume

(in thousands of United States dollars) 

Notes:

 

1.   For presentation purposes and only in this section of the budget, the projects budget has been capped at $114.4 million to reflect expected realistic funding levels. Nonetheless, the Agency’s actual project funding requirements are significantly greater and these are included in the detailed Programme Budget narrative.

 

2.   The project budget includes $0.1 million each year funded from the income generated by the Microcredit and Savings Programme (MCSP) and $6.7 million in 2008 and $7.5 million in 2009 funded from Microfinance and Microenterprise Department (MMD).

  

3.   The above figures do not include the budget for Organizational Development of $10.5 million in 2008 and $10.6 million in 2009.

  

 

 

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TABLE 2: REGULAR BUDGET REQUIREMENTS BY FIELD

(Cash and In-Kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

 

 

 

 

* Comparative figures for 2004-2005 and 2006-2007 are not included as they are already allocated in the  respective fields’ expenditure above. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

 

29. Through Resolution 3331 B (XXIX) of 17 December 1974, the General Assembly decided that the expenses relating to the emoluments of international staff in the service of UNRWA, which would otherwise have been charged to voluntary contributions, should be provided for under the UN’s regular budget with effect from 1 January 1975 for the duration of the Agency’s mandate.

 

30. The 64 posts funded from other sources in Table 6 above include 32 posts funded by project funds, nine Junior Professional Officers (JPOs) funded by governments, two posts funded by UNESCO, two posts funded by WHO, one post funded by the MMD and 18 posts (three D-1, three P-5, eleven P-4 and one P-3) included in respect of the Agency’s total requirements for potential funding from the UN regular budget or through earmarked donor funding.

31. The Agency has requested adjustments to the Staffing Table, establishing 20 new posts necessary for the Agency to achieve the goals described in the OD plan. In this regard, the OD process recognizes, at its core, that the Agency’s goals cannot be achieved without an injection of more internationally qualified personnel. These posts will account, in part, for gaps created in a streamlining exercise undertaken in 1993 when the Agency’s headquarters moved from Vienna to Gaza on the assumption, created by the Oslo Accords between the Government of Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization that a solution to the Palestine refugee problem was in sight.

32. The 20 posts are essential to meet the Agency’s need to:

a. Establish and implement a Programme Management Cycle; 

b. Strengthen the Commissioner-General’s office to address the streamlining referred to above; and

c. Strengthen the Agency’s relationships with host and donor governments.

An injection of international staff in these areas is essential if the Agency is to modernize and strengthen its management in order to achieve the aims of enhancing the Agency’s ability to address the needs of the Palestine refugees.

  

33. As indicated above, two of the twenty posts will be funded by UN/NY as of 1 January, 2008. During the biennium, the other 18 posts are, or will be, funded using extra-budgetary resources contributed under the OD process. All twenty posts are included in the 2008-2009 budget in order to reflect the Agency’s total staffing requirements for the biennium.

 

  

34. Project funding has accounted for a considerable share of the Agency's income and expenditure in recent years. Projects form an integral part of programme activities and are the means by which a majority of the Agency's capital costs (for example, school construction and upgrading of health centres), as well as the costs related to environmental health improvements and shelter rehabilitation are funded.

35. The Project Budget has been prepared according to the Agency’s generic priorities for project funding listed below. These generic priorities have equal standing; they have been numbered for reference purposes only.

a. Expansion, upgrading and major rehabilitation of primary education and health infrastructure;

b. Maximizing the economic potential and employment opportunities;

c. Development of camp infrastructure;

d. Enhancing capacity building including system management;

e. Achieving parity with the host authority standards;

f. Relieving hardship and providing essential support to vulnerable groups; and

g. Upgrading of installations including warehouses.

36. Figure 5 shows breakdown of the project budget by programme and Figure 6 shows how this budget is split among the fields. The project budget amounts to $56.8 million for the year 2008 and $57.6 million for the year 2009. These amounts represent 9.5 per cent of total budget volume for the biennium. With the exception of MMD recurrent costs of $14.2 million and MCSP recurrent costs of $ 0.2 million which are funded by the operations of the programme itself, the project budget represents unfunded activities.

 

 

37. The financial results for the fiscal year 2006 (see Table 8) clearly illustrate the funding shortfalls experienced by the Agency in its efforts to implement its mandate of the provision of basic services to Palestine refugees. The funding gap for the regular budget amounted to $89.0 million and the projects budget experienced a shortfall of $74.6 million. The funding gap for the regular budget would have been $104.8 million if the exchange rate gains and the interest income were excluded from the total income.

 

 

38. The 2006 Emergency Appeal was under-funded by $23.2 million.

39. The overall Agency-wide impact of under-funding in 2006 meant that UNRWA was unable to implement crucial activities totalling $202.6 million.

 

40. Current projections of income and expenditure for 2007, shown in Table 9 below, indicate a funding gap for the regular budget of $100.2 million when comparing the net budgeted expenditure of $495.7 million with total expected income of $395.5 million (based on indicative estimates from donors and estimated interest income). Therefore, unless further contributions are forthcoming, the Agency will not be in a position to fully implement its budgeted activities in 2007.

Table 9: Income & Expenditure Forecast – 2007

(In thousands of United States dollars)

 

 

1. Original Budget of $505.7 million less Programme Support Costs (PSC) income in 2007 of $10 million.

2. See Table 11 for the 2007 income forecast by donor 

 

 

 

 

41. Current projections of income and expenditure for 2008, shown in Table 10 below, indicate a funding gap for the Regular Budget of $148.7 million when comparing the budgeted expenditure of $544.6 million with total expected income of $395.9 million (based on indicative estimates from donors as well and forecast PSC recoveries).

Table 10 – The expected funding gap – 2008

(In thousands of United States dollars)

 

   1   See Table 11 for the 2008 income forecast by donor

 

42. Activities and sub-programmes that will be implemented in the event that the Agency receives funding in excess of that estimated during the year have been presented to the Agency’s Advisory Commission. These activities and sub-programmes have been ring-fenced until such time as adequate funding is received to implement them. Should additional funds be received, they will be allotted to activities or sub-programmes by reference to the Agency’s Programme Strategy.

43. Income projections, by donor for 2007 and 2008 appear in Table 11 below.

Table 11: Income Projections for the General Fund – 2007 and 2008 

(in thousands of United States dollars)

  

 

 

44. UNRWA does not have a system of assessed contributions. With the exception of a relatively small number of international posts provided by the UN regular budget, UNRWA’s budget depends overwhelmingly upon voluntary contributions from governments, inter-governmental and non-governmental bodies and non-monetary assistance of host authorities. Consequently, resource mobilization is of critical importance to UNRWA. It has become increasingly so in recent years during which the Agency’s core income has stagnated. The Agency’s donor base is narrowly constructed with over 92 per cent of its regular budget in 2006 being provided by the top 15 donors. Furthermore, a comparison of the top ten donors’ performance between 2001 and 2007 shows that only five have increased their contributions during the period. Other donors have maintained or decreased their levels of contributions. This has happened at a time when both expectations and demands upon the Agency have risen to meet the needs of a growing refugee population, maintain standards commensurate with those operational in host authorities as well as coping with the challenge of service delivery within a highly volatile region.

 

45. To ensure the most effective use of the limited resources available for fundraising, UNRWA has recently developed a Resource Mobilisation Strategy to direct efforts and resources over the next two biennia. The objectives of the Strategy are to:

a. Increase contributions from donors to the General Fund to meet the targets set by the Regular Budget of $544.6 million in 2008 and $548.6 million in 2009;

b. Make the financing of UNRWA’s activities more predictable by pursuing multi-year funding agreements;

c. Broaden the donor base in the governmental and non-governmental sectors, particularly in the Gulf region;

d. Seek alternative sources of human resources to fill gaps in the Agency’s international staffing; and

e. Enhance the Department of External Relations coordination of fundraising activity with the active involvement of a wide range of Agency actors.

46. The Resource Mobilization Strategy addresses actions to be directed towards increased funding from both governmental and non-governmental sources and considers the mobilization of in-house and external resources to this end.

47. The ability of the Agency to provide its regular services to a clientele population that grows at approximately 2.5 per cent per annum is entirely dependent on sufficient voluntary funding being made available to it annually. The Agency is also dependent on additional funding earmarked for its projects budget and emergency operations. Figures 7 and 8 below show the expected sources of funding of the Agency's total budget volume for the years 2008 and 2009 respectively, including both the regular and projects budgets.

  

The total budget does not include the Organization Development budget of $10.5 million

 

 

48. Voluntary contributions will be requested to cover about 93.7 per cent of total budget volume for 2008-2009, of which 85.1 per cent are cash contributions to the General Fund, 8.3 per cent of cash receipts to fund projects, and about 0.3 per cent constitute in-kind contributions.

49. The funding of 115 international posts from the United Nations regular budget accounts for about four per cent annually of total budget volume. The remaining two per cent of other income is derived from the following sources:

a. Interest income and miscellaneous income in the range of $5 million per annum;

b. Income of $6.8 million in 2008 and $7.6 million in 2009 for MMD and MCSP from credit activities covers the programmes’ recurrent costs making them self-funding; and

c. Funding of six staff posts (two international and four area posts) by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and four posts (two international and two area posts) by the World Health Organization (WHO) as part of their technical assistance to the Education and Health programmes, respectively with $1.2 million per annum (Millennium Development Goal 8).

 

50. Table 12 illustrates the current status of the UNBOA recommendations made to UNRWA in their report for the year ended 31 December 2005. The Agency is committed to implementing the recommendations as part of its overall strategy to improve processes and enhance transparency within the organization.

51. Of the five recommendations not implemented, two are addressed under the OD initiative, one is at the proposal stage and implementation has been initiated for the remaining two.

  

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Chapter II

   Education programme

 

 

 

52. The Agency’s education programme seeks to impart Palestine refugees with the requisite knowledge base and skill-set that will develop their human potential and enable them to become self-reliant, productive members of their communities. The Agency’s Department of Education aims to fulfil this mission through its four main programmes: school development; technical and vocational education and training; institute of education (teacher training); and education planning and management. Education services are currently provided through 666 UNRWA schools and eight vocational t The Agency’s education programme seeks to impart Palestine refugees with the requisite knowledge base and skill-set that will develop their human potential and enable them to become self-reliant, productive members of their communities. The Agency’s Department of Education aims to fulfil this mission through its four main programmes: school development; technical and vocational education and training; institute of education (teacher training); and education planning and management. Education services are currently provided through 666 UNRWA schools and eight vocational training centres staffed by more than 18,500 teachers and attended by more than 485,000 pupils.

 

53. To provide and improve access to quality education and learning opportunities, in line with host authorities’ education systems, for Palestine refugee children and youth at the basic level. The Agency also provides secondary level education in Lebanon field.

54. To provide, improve and optimize vocational and technical education for young Palestine refugees to enhance their opportunities for employment and economic independence.

55. To provide, improve and optimize pre-service teacher education to increase the pool of qualified teachers for prospective recruitment as UNRWA teaching staff.

56. To enhance capacity building for technical and administrative education staff at all levels in line with School as a Focus for Development (SFD) including Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) and Management Development (MD).

57. To ensure equity and equality of access to quality learning for children with special educational needs (SEN).

58. To foster and promote amongst teaching staff and students the awareness and understanding of human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance.

59. To contribute to the process of establishing system-wide programmes addressing gender mainstreaming, child disabilities, psychosocial health and life-skills-based education within systems-wide strategies.

  

a)   School Development Division

 

60. The structure of the Education Programme is as follows:

 

a)   School Development Division

Elementary and Preparatory Education

Secondary Education (Lebanon)

b) Technical and Vocational Education and Training Division

Placement and Career Guidance

Vocational and Technical Education

 

c) Institute of Education

Pre-Service

In-Service

 

d) Education Planning and Management Division 

Programme Management

 

Table 13: Education Programme Resource Requirements by Activity 

(Cash and In-kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

 

  

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Chapter III

   Health programme 

  

 

61. Under the close technical supervision of the World Health Organization, the Department of Health is responsible for programme implementation with special emphasis on maternal and child health and disease prevention and control through an integrated primary health care approach. Health services are provided through 127 UNRWA health clinics serving approximately 9 million patient visits per year.

JECIVE

 

62. To maintain the sustainable investment achieved in women’s and children’s health and to further reduce infant, child and maternal mortality by providing comprehensive primary health care.

63. To improve refugee access to quality of medical services by increasing the focus on good management and results-based best practices to ensure relevance and cost effectiveness of the services.

64. To prevent breakdowns in service delivery during crisis by applying Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and timely follow-up of Assessment Reports.

65. To improve coverage to non risk pregnancies and cancer patients according to standardized protocols.

66. To decrease the burden of death and disability caused by communicable diseases, such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and the emerging avian flu, and non-communicable diseases, particularly diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases by implementing primary prevention and secondary prevention.

67. To improve environmental health conditions in refugee camps by ensuring safe-water supply, solid waste management and vector control.

68. To develop, direct, monitor and evaluate the Agency’s health care programme, enhance its institutional capacity and streamline its policies and strategies consistent with the progress achieved by public health sector services of the host authorities guided by the health information system and operational research.

 

69. The Health Programme comprises the following five sub-programmes and 12 areas of work, while the Health Information system is integrated into all programmes.

a)   Health Protection and Promotion

Maternal Health and Child Health Services 

School Health

Supplementary Feeding

Mental Health

Disability Screening and Rehabilitation 

 

b)  Medical Care Services

Outpatient Medical Care

Laboratory Services

Oral Health Services

Hospital Services

Emergency Preparedness

 

c)  Disease Prevention and Control 

Communicable Diseases 

Non-Communicable Diseases

   

d)  Environmental Health

Open Sewerage and Drainage Channels 

Solid Waste Collection and Disposal

Water Quality Control 

 

e)  Programme Management

 

 

Table 14: Health Programme Resource Requirements by Activity

(Cash and In-kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

 

 

 

 

 

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Chapter IV

    Relief and social services programme

 

 

 

70. The Agency provides eligible refugees a range of services including food support, shelter rehabilitation, and selective cash assistance for special hardship cases. Currently approximately 250,000 persons are benefiting from the cyclical assistance under the special hardship case programme. In additional community support services promote self- reliance among less advantaged members of the refugee community, in particular women, youth and the physically and mentally disabled. During emergencies, assistance will be extended to affected communities as a temporary measure as donor support allows.

 

71. To alleviate poverty among the most vulnerable within the Palestine refugee community, by introducing internationally recognized eligibility criteria, constructing field and family-specific absolute and abject poverty lines, and re-shaping and directing safety net assistance, as a matter of top priority, to those living in abject poverty (i.e. food insecure). This poverty-based approach will provide a more effective mechanism (via proxy means test formulas) by which to identify those living in the lowest deciles of poverty and will link short-term relief to longer term human development needs.

72. To ease the immediate plight of the most destitute eligible registered persons, including family members of registered refugee women married to non-refugee husbands (MNRs), through basic subsistence support, with the gradual closing of the gap in safety net provisions between those of the host authorities and UNRWA.

73. To promote and facilitate community-based activities which creates social, cultural, economic or educational opportunities and provides services for women, the elderly, children, youth and persons with disabilities.

74. To promote the institutional capacity of community-based organizations (CBOs) through training and technical assistance, to enhance refugee empowerment and participation in the formulation and implementation of social services for vulnerable groups in their communities.

75. To improve the quality and effectiveness of the Microcredit Community Support Programme (MCSP) by focusing most assets on indirect credit provision through community-based lending (via CBOs).

76. To improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to Special Hardship Case (SHC) families through reduction in social worker case loads, the operationalization of the generalist approach to social work, the introduction of social work specialists/clinical supervisors, systematic in-service training and the improvement of overall working conditions.

77. To identify SHC families who have lost their homes or who live in sub-standard housing as a result of chronic poverty or other circumstances and to ensure their shelter needs are addressed through UNRWA’s Department of Infrastructure and Camp Improvement.

78. To assist families, on a case-by-case basis, with small-scale emergency needs during family-specific economic or humanitarian crises.

79. To mobilize large-scale emergency disaster responses (particularly food aid and cash assistance) as needed, in cooperation with other Agency programmes and local/international efforts.

80. To computerize the records of approximately 4.8 million registered persons on new web-based information technology and create an integrated refugee database utilizing available refugee profile input from Agency programmes.

 

 

81. The structure of the Relief and Social Services Programme is as follows:

a. Relief Services 

Food and Cash Support

Selective Cash Assistance

 

b. Eligibility and Registration Unit 

c. Relief and Social Services Information System Unit   

d. Social Services 

Community Development and Microcredit Community Support Programme

Women's Programme

Disability Programme

Children and Youth Programme

 

e. Programme Management 

 

 

Table 15: Relief and Social Services Programme Resource Requirements by Activity

(Cash and In-kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

  

  

  

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Chapter V

   Microfinance and microenterprise programme

 

 

 

 

82. The Microfinance and Microenterprise Department (MMD) promotes economic development and alleviates poverty. This is achieved through the provision of credit for enterprise, household consumption and housing needs that will improve the quality of life of households, small business owners and microentrepreneurs, sustain jobs, decrease unemployment, reduce poverty, empower women and provide income-generating opportunities for Palestine refugees and other proximate poor and marginal groups. The programme operates through a network of branch offices in the West bank, the Gaza Strip, Jordan and the Syrian Arab Republic. These offices are self-sustaining through the generation of income required to meet branch operating costs.

  

 

83. To provide enterprise, consumer and housing credit on a scale that is large enough to have significant and measurable impact on the lives of the poorest.

84. To provide operationally self-sufficient and sustainable credit in a cost-effective manner through targeting financial services in poorer urban areas with a high concentration of commercial, service and industrial businesses. Areas will be selected primarily on the basis of having highly a localised density of Palestine refugees.

85. To develop and expand the programme through adhering to international standards of outreach and efficiency so that the programme can be benchmarked and assessed against other practitioner institutions. The programme strives to achieve the best practices of the emerging microfinance industry through its participation in local and regional microfinance networks by adopting the standards and practices established for the industry by such institutions as the Consultative Group to Assist the Poorest, the United States Agency for International Development, the Microfinance Network, Sanabel, Calmeadow Foundation and Accion International.

86. To meet the emerging standards for business training and business development services (BDS), where all the direct costs of training are met from participation fees and only the overhead and administrative costs are subsidised from donor contributions.

87. To open up the prospect of savings to poor refugees other marginal groups that do not have access to the banking sector because they are unable to meet the minimum deposit requirements.

 

 

88. The programme structure of the Microfinance and Microenterprise Department is as follows:

a. Microenterprise Credit (MEC) 

b. Solidarity Group Lending (SGL) 

c. Small-Scale Enterprise (SSE)

d. Consumer Lending (CLP) 

e. Housing Loan (HLP) 

f. Safe-savings Deposits (SSD)

g. Small and Microenterprise Training (SMET) (Gaza Strip only) 

h. Programme Management 

 

  

Table 16: Microfinance and Microenterprise Department Resource Requirements by Activity

(In thousands of United States dollars)

 

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Chapter VI

    Infrastructure and camp improvement programme

 

 

 

 

89. The Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme was established in 2006 to improve the living conditions of Palestine Refugees by efficiently providing adequate physical and social infrastructure.

 

90. To improve the quality of life for camp residents living in substandard habitat by means of integrated social and physical action which promotes environmentally and socially sustainable neighbourhoods in accordance with strategic camp development plans.

91. To promote an appealing and healthy urban environment for Palestine refugees through the provision of well maintained water, wastewater and electricity infrastructure along with universally accessible road and footpath networks.

92. To ensure that all UNRWA facilities are efficiently planned, designed, constructed and maintained in order to meet the physical infrastructure needs of both Palestine refugees and the Agency.

  

  

93. The structure of Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme is as follows:

a. Design, Implementation Monitoring and Evaluation 

b. Environmental Infrastructure

c. Housing and Camp Improvement

d. Programme Management

  

  

Table 17: Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme Resource Requirements by Activity

(Cash and In-Kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

  

 

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Chapter VII

   Support departments 

 

 

 

  

94. The support departments maintain the functioning of the Agency through sound legal support, cost-effective and efficient management, policy analysis and formulation, effective fund-raising and outreach to external interlocutors. Support departments provide the appropriate supervision and support required by the Agency and its Programmes.

  

95. To ensure that UNRWA is a fair and responsible employer.

96. To ensure overall programme strategy coheres with the Agency mandate as well as the needs and desires of the beneficiary population.

97. To implement a three-year Agency-wide plan for organizational reform.

98. To effectively manage the Agency’s financial resources, ensuring accountability and transparency.

99. To provide policy advice to the Commissioner-General.

100. To provide legal advice and support, particularly concerning matters of international law.

101. To maintain productive relationships with donors, governments and other stakeholders, and increase financial support to the Agency.

102. To promote the Agency’s work internationally and locally.

103. To ensure all staff understand and support the Agency’s mandate and mission.

104. To strengthen cooperation with other UN agencies and other international actors.

105. To establish a quality assurance function aimed at enhancing customer satisfaction through effective communication, reliability, timeliness and cost effectiveness of the operational and support services in Information and Communications Technology (ICT), procurement and administration.

106. To continue to implement further reforms and integration in the areas of procurement and logistics and ICT, and admin services to ensure that the provision of services achieves full effectiveness and best value for money.

107. To reinforce the Organizational Development process through supporting the field operations in streamlining and integrating their support functions.

108. To provide general administrative services which are integrated, streamlined and implemented Agency-wide.

  

 

109. The structure of the Support Departments is as follows:

a. Commissioner-General’s Office 

b. Operational Support

c. Human Resources

d. Administrative Support 

Administrative Services

Procurement

Information Systems

e. Financial Services

f. Legal Affairs

g. Internal Oversight Services 

h. External Relations (including the Advisory Commission (Ad Com) Secretariat and Representative Offices)

i. Office of the Spokesperson

  

Table 18: Support Departments Resource Requirements by Activity 

(Cash and In-kind, in thousands of United States dollars)

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