Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation extends support for UNRWA school in Gaza – UNRWA press release

KBZF extends support for UNRWA school in Gaza

Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation extends its support to the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nehayan School run by UNRWA in Beit Lahia, Gaza

مؤسسة خليفة الإنسانية تمدد دعمها لمدرسة مدرسة خليفة بن زايد آل نهيان التي تديرها الأونروا في بيت لاهيا في غزة.

3 April 2012
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

On 2 April 2012, in Abu Dhabi, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation, directed by Mr. Mohamed Haji Al Khoori, and UNRWA, signed an extension of the agreement to support, for a second year, the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nehayan School in Beit Lahia, Gaza.

The Beit Lahia facility hosts two elementary schools: one for boys and one co-ed. It serves 2,814 pupils.

Supporting the school for a second year will enable the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation to participate directly in providing Palestine refugee schoolchildren with a decent education and to join hands with UNRWA, which remains first and foremost a human development agency with top priority afforded to the development of future generations of Palestine refugees.

KBZF will take on a major part of the costs of maintaining and operating the Beit Lahia school for another scholastic year, starting in September 2012. Pupils will benefit directly by being provided with computers, uniforms, and hygiene kits.

Welcoming the extension, Commissioner-General Filippo Grandi said: “We are delighted to embark on the second year of this important partnership with the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation. At a time when good quality education provided by UNRWA is needed more than ever in Gaza, help from partners like the Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation allows us to ensure that existing UNRWA schools are serving pupils well, giving these children the best possible chance of securing their future. We are deeply grateful to the Foundation and its Patron, H.H Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi, for this partnership with UNRWA which continues to go from strength to strength.”

Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan Foundation and UNRWA began their cooperation in 2008 with a project to provide food to poor refugees in Gaza. Since then, Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan Foundation has continuously helped UNRWA support Palestine refugees in the West Bank and Gaza.

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Background information

UNRWA provides assistance, protection and advocacy for nearly 5 million registered Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the occupied Palestinian territory, pending a solution to their plight. The Agency’s services encompass education, health care, social safety-net, camp infrastructure and improvement, community support, microfinance and emergency response, including in times of armed conflict.

UNRWA is funded almost entirely by contributions from States. The Agency’s core budget for 2012-2013 stands at USD 1.33 billion. In 2012, emergency appeals for the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon amounted to USD 344.0 million.

For more information please contact:

Christopher Gunness
UNRWA Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 240 2659
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0267
c.gunness@unrwa.org

Sami Mshasha
UNRWA Arabic Spokesperson
Mobile: +972 (0)54 216 8295
Office: +972 (0)2 589 0724
s.mshasha@unrwa.org