With the 2015/2016 school year now underway, UNRWA school attendance rates have steadily normalized, growing from around 75 per cent at the beginning of the school year to a current attendance rate of 96 per cent. UNRWA runs a total of 257 schools in Gaza. At the start of the school year 61 schools are operating on a single shift basis and 192 are operating on a double shift basis, while a total of four are operating on a triple shift basis. For the new school year, four new school buildings have been opened, one in Deir El Balah in central Gaza, two in western Gaza city, one in Jabalia and one in Beit Hanoun, both in northern Gaza. In UNRWA schools, students do not only find a safe and secure place to learn and develop, but the Agency’s Community Mental Health Programme also continues to offer individual and group psycho-social counselling for the children, many of whom continue to suffer from their experiences during last summer’s conflict. Palestine refugee children in Gaza and across the region face incredible obstacles in obtaining quality basic education, with protection crises, armed conflicts, regional turmoil and socio-political barriers threatening their access to schools. Yet despite this Palestinians continue to emphasize the value of education for their children. In Gaza, the first semester of the school year runs until 7 January, 2016; the second semester starts on 24 January, 2016 and runs until 1 June, 2016.
UNRWA is delighted to welcome its new Director of UNRWA Operations (DUO) in Gaza, Mr. Bo Schack, who commenced with the Agency on 1 September. The DUO has a thirty-year career in the United Nations system and brings extensive peacebuilding, humanitarian response and protection expertise to the senior role. Mr. Schack joined the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in August 1985 after having worked as an Associate Attorney in Copenhagen and with the Danish Ministry of Industry. His most recent posting with UNHCR was for more than two years (2013-2015) in Afghanistan as Agency Representative and Country Director. Mr. Schack was the United Nations Special Adviser Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), from April to July 2012. Prior to this, he served for two years the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General in the Central African Republic. This appointment was in addition to the nominations in October 2009 as the United Nations Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, as well as UNDP Resident Representative in the country. Between 1985 and until the appointment as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary General, UNRWA’s new DUO in Gaza worked with UNHCR in a number of legal and protection oriented functions in Senegal, Hong Kong, UNHCR Headquarters, the Asia Bureau, the UNHCR Special Operation in the former Yugoslavia and in Sri Lanka. In 2000, he was appointed to Iran as the Deputy Representative before a three years assignment as Head of the Policy Unit, Europe Bureau, UNHCR Headquarters. From 2007 to 2009 he was the UNHCR Representative in Burundi. In each of his roles the functions were predominately associated with negotiations involving all those affected by or involved in refugee situations, internal displacement and repatriation operations, with additional experience in development oriented reintegration programmes. Mr. Bo Schack holds a Law Degree from the University of Copenhagen. He studied International Law at the European College in Bruges, Belgium and obtained a Master's Degree in Business Administration (MBA) from the Open University Business School, United Kingdom. With the arrival of Mr. Schack the Agency also announces the departure of Mr. Christer Nordahl, UNRWA’s former Deputy Director, who took up the position of Interim Director of Operations for a two-month period. UNRWA Gaza thanks him for his leadership during this period.
Since early September, UNRWA has been implementing a Shelter Cash for Work (SCfW) project in Gaza, designed to offset temporary accommodation costs through short term employment opportunities supporting early recovery efforts. UNRWA created this SCfW project in light of the huge shortfall in its US$ 720 million required for the Agency’s strategic response to the summer 2014 conflict. All registered Palestine refugee families whose shelters were identified by UNRWA as uninhabitable are eligible to participate in an optional three-month employment placement (up to two opportunities per family household). Participants will earn US$266 per month, which is slightly higher than the monthly transitional shelter cash assistance (TSCA) payment which ranges from US$200-$250 per month depending on family size. Eligible families are not obligated to participate; participation is entirely voluntary. The Agency sent SMS notifications to approximately 4,900 refugee families. There has been a mixed response in the community and only 304 families have applied. The funding for this project is earmarked and part of the emergency response. While reasonable funding for this project is secured, traditional TSCA funding is uncertain for the remainder of 2015.
The UNRWA Collective Centre Management Unit (CCMU) has organized a training of trainers (TOT) to build the capacity of UNRWA personnel in the management of designated emergency shelters and Collective Centres (CCs) during and post emergencies. The training is based on lessons learned and training guides designed for UNRWA personnel to roll out future trainings. The sessions run from 6-10 September and include mandatory modules on the establishment and management of shelters and the implementation of food assistance, psycho-social and community mental health, protection, water, sanitation and hygiene, safety and security, and registration procedures. During the training, participants are introduced to standard operating procedures, tools and guidelines and how to use these during or after an emergency. Approximately 35 emergency-experienced UNRWA personnel from different areas of Gaza and from various departments such as health, relief and social services, logistics and education, participated in the training. This TOT will be complemented by an interagency training scheduled for later this month.
To address increasing diabetes rates among Palestine refugee communities in Gaza, UNRWA has partnered with the not-for-profit development organization Microclinic International (MCI) to build up the capacity of UNRWA’s medical staff through the Microclinic Programme for Diabetes Prevention and Management. This programme aims at involving communities to choose and sustain healthy lifestyle changes to prevent or manage diabetes. From 10 August to 22 September, twice a week UNRWA is training its nursing staff on the prevention of diabetes so they are equipped to train and pass their knowledge to patients and the patient’s support network such as families and friends. The training takes place in UNRWA Health Centres in Gaza City, Nuseirat (central Gaza) and Khan Younis (southern Gaza). To maximize its reach to the Gaza population the training will also include staff members from the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
The interest of foreign delegations to visit and follow up on humanitarian projects supported by their governments in Gaza remains high. A delegation from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) visited Gaza on 1 September, 2015 when UNRWA representatives organized a visit to a refugee family living in the heavily destroyed neighbourhood of Shujaiya, in eastern Gaza; the family had received UNRWA shelter assistance funded through BMZ and the German delegation heard about their experience and background. During the reporting week, a delegation from the Representative Office of Japan in Ramallah also came to Gaza to visit a Japanese-funded project in an UNRWA Health Centre in Khan Younis, southern Gaza. Furthermore, from 7 to 9 September UNRWA received a delegation from the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) who met with UNRWA staff and visited some of the projects SFD funds, including the construction site of Al Azahar university in Gaza city (implementation of which is supervised by UNRWA), a completed UNRWA Health Centre in Rafah and the Rafah Re-housing Project, now in its last and third construction phase. This project is UNRWA’s largest refugee rehousing project and phase three will include 230 houses accommodating 1,310 Palestine refugees. Since commencement, the project has provided more than 1,700 housing units for some 10,000 refugees. The project is set for completion in March 2016. Through its three phases the construction project has created more than 160,000 working days in the Gaza Strip for some 10,000 labourers.