UNRWA PROVIDES SKILLS TRAINING ON WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE
IN EMERGENCIES FOR STAFF MEMBERS
10 August 2015
To build UNRWA staff capacity in emergency preparedness, the UNRWA Collective Centre Management Unit (CCMU) organized a Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Emergencies Training of Trainers (TOT) for 20 staff members of the Infrastructure and Camp Improvement Programme (ICIP), held on 27 and 28 July at the UNRWA Gaza Field Office. The training that included presenters and speakers from the CCMU, other UNRWA programmes and the international aid organization Handicap International, covered a variety of important cross cutting topics related to WASH such as protection, gender, accountability, health, logistics and donor visibility.
The objective of the initiative was to train relevant ICIP engineers as trainers to manage the WASH component in future emergencies in terms of designing and implementing the WASH response based on humanitarian standards and humanitarian principles. The training was a mixture of technical and theoretical WASH aspects as well as scenario-based practical exercises.
“This training is really valuable for all involved staff members; they already had a wide-range of skills and experience, however, this training will help them to enhance and develop their performance specifically in the field of emergency WASH,” commented Mr. Abdul Fattah Burkan, a WASH specialist who works with the CCMU.
Further to this two-day workshop, on 29 July the CCMU held a similar WASH cross cutting training for other UNRWA staff members who had been involved in the management of Collective Centres over the past nine months, such as area coordinators and CCMU personnel.
“We are trying to raise the professionalism and expertise of all staff members involved in shelter management, for example through comprehensive training on issues such as protection and how to deal with persons with special needs; this will help maintaining the dignity of beneficiaries when providing these kinds of services,” Mr. Burkan added.
Both trainings have been generously supported by Islamic Relief USA.While this contribution from Islamic Relief USA provided urgently-needed support for Palestine refugees, the UNRWA General Fund deficit still stands at US$ 101 million.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions, and financial support has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees and deepening poverty. As a result, the UNRWA General Fund, which supports core essential services and most staffing costs, operates with a large deficit. UNRWA emergency programmes and key projects, also operating with large deficits, are funded through separate funding portals.
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and mandated to provide assistance and protection to some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
For more information, please contact:
Milina Shahin
Public Information Officer – Gaza Field Office
Mobile:
+972 599 609 485
Office:
+972 8 2887213
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Assistance, Environmental issues, Health, Refugee camps, Water
Publication Date: 10/08/2015