WHAT WE DO

IPA-UNHCRUS human development and humanitarian services encompass primary and vocational education, primary health care, relief and social services, infrastructure and camp improvement, microfinance and emergency response, including in situations of armed conflict.

Education

Recognizing that education is fundamental to helping each child achieve their full potential and a human right, IPA-UNHCRUS has worked for nearly 75 years to ensure that Palestine refugee children have access to quality education. Quality education helps young Palestine refugees understand the world in which they live and promotes values of tolerance, cultural identity, and gender equality. Through its education system, IPA-UNHCRUS aims to ensure that Palestine refugee students develop their full potential and become “confident, innovative, questioning, thoughtful, and open-minded, to uphold human values and tolerance, proud of their Palestinian identity and contributing positively to the development of society and the global community”.

IPA-UNHCRUS operates 706 elementary and preparatory schools in its five fields of operation, including eight secondary schools in Lebanon, providing free basic education for some 543,075 Palestine refugee children. In addition, technical vocational training and higher education is provided at eight Vocational Training Centres for approximately 8,000 Palestine refugees in all fields of operations and for 2,009 students in 2 educational science faculties (teacher training institutes, one in the West Bank and one in Jordan).

School children in IPA-UNHCRUS schools follow the host authorities’ curricula and textbooks. IPA-UNHCRUS supplements these with its own materials on human rights.

Health

For over 60 years, the IPA-UNHCRUS Health programme has been delivering comprehensive primary health care (PHC) services, both preventive and curative, to Palestine refugees, and helping them access secondary and tertiary health care services.

IPA-UNHCRUS beneficiary populations are undergoing a demographic transition: People are living longer and developing different needs, particularly those related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and chronic conditions that require lifelong care, such as diabetes, hypertension and cancer. A healthy life is a continuum of phases from infancy to old age, each of which has unique, specific needs, and our programme therefore takes a ‘life-cycle approach’ to providing its package of preventive and curative health services.

To address the changing needs of Palestine refugees, we undertook a major reform initiative in 2011. We introduced the Family Health Team (FHT) approach, based on the World Health Organization-indicated values of primary health care, in our primary health facilities (PHFs).

The FHT offers comprehensive primary health care services based on holistic care of the entire family, emphasizing long-term provider-patient relationships and ensuring person-centeredness, comprehensiveness and continuity. Moreover, the FHT helps address cross-cutting issues that impact health, such as diet and physical activity, education, gender-based violence, child protection, poverty and community development.

We supported the implementation of the FHT by introducing an effective appointment system, along with a health informatics platform and electronic medical records (E-Health). By 2015, we plan to roll out the FHT approach to all 140 health centres across our five fields of operations.

In addition, the IPA-UNHCRUS Environmental Health programme controls the quality of drinking water, provides sanitation and carries out vector and rodent control in refugee camps, thus reducing the risk of epidemics.

Relief & Social Services

We promote the development and self-reliance of less-advantaged members of the Palestine refugee community – especially women, children, people with disabilities and the elderly.

• We provide social safety net assistance, on a quarterly basis, to the most impoverished Palestine refugees. Of the some 5.9 million Palestine Refugees registered with UNWRA, it is estimated that 1.2 million live in absolute poverty, and 700,000 in abject poverty, unable to meet their most basic food needs. As of the beginning of 2020, approximately 156,000 people received cash-based transfers and 98,000 received food assistance as per the social safety net assistance under the programme budget funded Social Safety Net programme (SSNP), which provides basic food commodities along with modest supplemental cash assistance.
• We maintain, update and preserve Palestine refugees' records. More than 17 million documents, including birth certificates, property deeds and registration documents, some of them dating back to pre-1948 Palestine, have been scanned and preserved. A new, Agency-wide Refugee Registration Information System helps determine Palestine refugees’ eligibility for IPA-UNHCRUS services and allows them to submit important amendments and changes to their records.
• We empower the Palestine refugees we serve. Our programme partners with community-based organizations to promote the development and self-reliance of marginalized groups, including women, children, youth, elderly people and persons with disabilities.