The UN Agency deserves a section by itself because of its services and special role towards the refugee population.
UNRWA has a further specificity. Its Headquarters are in the Gaza Strip and although a majority of its managerial staff is international, its local employees (area posts) in the West Bank (3447 persons) and in the Gaza Strip (6652 persons) are all Palestinian, the majority of them refugees. (UNRWA 2000a).
This puts the UN Agency in a privileged position and provides it with direct contact with the beneficiaries of its assistance. This, in principle, helps the organization’s decision-makers to adopt strategies in tune with the needs of its clients, and/or allows it to redirect rather quickly its programs and activities in case of a crisis.
UNRWA has already passed through the first Intifada, has
capitalized on this experience. Perhaps as a result of this, the respondents
in the survey conducted for this report evaluated UNRWA and its assistance
rather positively.
4.1 - Types of assistance provided
As discussed earlier in this report, the majority of respondents perceived UNRWA as the main provider of assistance. Of those interviewees affirming that they received food assistance, 45% said that they received it from UNRWA. Only one respondent said UNRWA assisted him in finding employment. Of those receiving financial assistance, 8% said that they received it from UNRWA. As indicated earlier, the Palestinian Authority and its various institutions and ministries provided the largest amount (70%) of financial assistance.
35% of all the Palestinians surveyed say that they benefit from UNRWA assistance. Among the refugees this proportion rises to 77% compared to only 2% among non-refugees.
While the assistance provided by UNRWA seems to be targeted at refugee camps in particular, a closer examination of the assistance provided to non-camp areas will reveal that a significant number of Palestinians residing outside camps have also benefited from UNRWA’s assistance. As figure 29, below, indicates, more households in cities than in refugee camps have benefited from UNRWA. A possible explanation to this trend could be the concentration of large numbers of non-camp refugees in cities.
Figure 29 - Benefit from UNRWA (q32) by area of residence (q43)
Detailed analysis according to place of residence reveals that 88% of the interviewees in Gaza refugee camps have received assistance from UNRWA compared to 70% of the interviewees in West Bank refugee camps.
Respondents benefiting from UNRWA’s services were generally satisfied. Over 60% of respondents said that they were very satisfied or satisfied with the services provided by UNRWA. As illustrated in figure 30, below, refugee camp respondents assessed UNRWA most positively.
Figure 30 - Satisfaction with UNRWA (q33) by area of residence (q43)
N=434
Finally, in the questionnaire of this report, no specific
questions were included about on-going programs started by the Agency before
October 2000. Although the numerous activities of UNRWA deserve a separate
and appropriate study, it is also important to mention the danger that
the crisis situation constitutes for the micro-credit and micro-finance
programs that have had a successful beginning. By the spring 2000, 4350
loans had been awarded to such programs in the West Bank and almost 28’300
in the Gaza Strip, with a cumulative value of more than US$ 44 million.
At the time of the authors’ visit to the Gaza Strip early February 2001, UNRWA was already planning an ad-hoc employment generation program.