UNRWA general fund appeal – 2008-2009

GENERAL FUND APPEAL

2008-2009

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Education

Palestinians are renowned for the premium they place on education. Palestine refugees recognize education as the key to a better future and they are regarded as one of the most highly educated groups in the Middle East. This reputation was achieved over the decades through UNRWA’s provision of high quality education to three generations of refugees. That achievement would not have been possible without the generous support of the donor community since 1950.

As an agency that delivers its services directly to refugees, UNRWA works in partnership with host authorities, local communities and other UN Agencies towards the goal of universal primary education by 2015, as set out in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG 2).

Health

For the past six decades, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) has been the main primary health care provider for Palestine refugees. Thanks to decades of dedicated intervention, including through vaccination campaigns, ante- and post-natal care and supplementary feeding programmes, refugees have enjoyed primary health standards in many areas matching or surpassing those prevailing in the region.

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As mothers and children comprise about two-thirds of the total refugee population, the Agency successfully focuses its interventions on preventive maternal and child care.

In spite of these endeavours, UNRWA is facing new challenges which are seriously jeopardizing the Agency’s ability to preserve the health of the refugee population at current levels.  Chief among them is the rise in incidence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) like hypertension, diabetes and cancer and the  sharp increase in poverty levels in some fields leading to such problems as wide-spread anaemia.

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Relief and social services

As UNRWA’s name suggests, humanitarian relief was historically the crux of the Agency’s activities, accounting for nearly two-thirds of the budget when the Agency began its field operations in 1950. Relief would dominate UNRWA’s activities for nearly two decades to follow. With its provision of food aid, the Agency has always been the lifeline of the poorest Palestine refugees, expanding its repertoire as the months became years and the years became decades.

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