UNRWA financial crisis raises concerns over education programming sustainability

School year begins as planned thanks to last-minute donations

Faced with an unprecedented funding crisis with a budget deficit of US$ 101 million in its General Fund, which supports core essential services and most staffing costs in its five fields of operation, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA)  came close to suspending its landmark education programme, which would have meant postponing the beginning of the new school year across the five fields. While UNRWA emergency programmes are also operating with large deficits and seriously threatened, these are funded through separate funding channels.

Education is UNRWA’s largest programme, accounting for 60 per cent of its overall budget.  The impact of the programme’s suspension would have been severe: UNRWA provides education to some 500,000 Palestine refugee boys and girls, as well as livelihood to 22,000 teachers in its five fields of operation.  Seven thousand youths in eight vocational training schools across the region also faced the postponement of their academic year. 

To prevent the suspension of education programming, UNRWA stepped up its resource mobilization efforts in key capitals, with the Commissioner-General, Pierre Krähenbühl, travelling to four continents to appeal at senior political levels for increased funding. On 4 August 2015,  the Commissioner-General,  submitted a Special Report to the UN Secretary-General, warning of the severity of the crisis, which if not addressed ‘would mean a delay in the school year for half a million students attending some 700 schools and eight vocational training centres across the Middle East.’ The report also set out proposals designed to place UNRWA on a more secure financial footing in the future, including an emergency flash appeal, a pledging conference in October to secure funding for 2016, and a discussion involving United Nations member states that will lead to sustainable funding for the Agency. UNRWA has developed, in consultation with Host States and key donors, a Medium Term Strategy for the period 2016 – 2021 that will enable it to become even more cost-effective while delivering quality core services, and better able to meet the increasing needs of refugees.           

Several state donors responded to UNRWA’s urgent appeal, and by 18 August contributions towards reducing the financial deficit in UNRWA’s General Fund reached a total of US$ 78.9 million: US$ 19 million from the Kingdom of Saud Arabia; US$ 15 million from the State of Kuwait; US$ 15 million from the United Arab Emirates, and US$ 15 million from the United States.  On 19 August, UNRWA announced that the school year would begin as originally planned, on 24 August in the West Bank and Gaza.

* This piece was provided by UNRWA