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UNRWAINTERVIEWUNRWA COMMISSIONER-GENERALKAREN KONING ABUZAYDleaving UNRWA a confident organizationwith a strong sense of what it is, where it isgoing and with the courage and self-beliefto tell the world proudly what it stands for.MARIA V. DWEGGAH, WHOYou have been working for UNRWAsince 2000, and since 2005, as UNUnder-Secretary General, appointedas Commissioner General overseeingoperations in a very volatile politicalenvironment. What have been yourmost difficult challenges, your greatestachievements?There have been many challenges. While inoffice I have seen an organization, whosecontribution to peace and stability in theMiddle East region is through its humandevelopment work, constantly having torespond to desperate emergencies, usuallycaused by conflict. The fighting at the Nahrel bared refugee camp in Northern Lebanonin 2007 and the conflict that began inGaza on 27 December last year are goodexamples. There have been many othersin my time here, many related to the Israelioccupation now in its fifth decade. I cannotomit mentioning as well the funding challenge– our constant struggle to raise eachyear even our basic operational expensesfor primary education and primary healthcare, paying the salaries of our 29,000 staff.On the other hand, we have launched someremarkably innovative programmes – genderand schools of excellence work in Gaza,human rights education in all five of ourfields (West Bank, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanonand Syria), vocational training and youthinitiatives in Syria, quality health initiativesin Lebanon. Through the UNRWA@60 campaignwe have engaged more widely in thefield of advocacy, at our Marcel Khalife concertin Vienna in June and our High LevelEvent in New York in September wheregovernments paid tribute to UNRWA’sachievements. These events are evidence ofsomething important that has taken place inUNRWA. We hung a banner on the outsideof the General Assembly building in NewYork, six stories high and full of the smilingfaces of Palestinian children. It carriedthe words “Peace Starts Here”. That was aproud moment for me, a sign that I wasUNRWA was created in 1949.This December you are commemoratingthe 60th anniversary. In yourview, what impact did UNRWA haveon the lives of the Palestine refugees?What could be done better?The impact of UNRWA on the lives of Palestiniansthrough six decades is incalculable.More than any other UN humanitarianagency, we are an organization which isfully identified with the full range of activitiesthat make up the lives of its beneficiaries.UNRWA has become part of Palestinerefugee identity itself. Look at just one issue,gender. From the earliest stages in thelife of UNRWA we have been making animpact and shaping Palestinian society. Weachieved gender balance in our schools bythe 1960s, a remarkable feat when you lookat the issue even today in the Middle East.We opened the first women’s’ vocationaltraining centre in the Middle East, in Ramallah.Our award-winning Micro-FinanceDepartment has seen women’s participationgrow three-fold in the last three years.Of course we could have done many morethings even better if we had sufficient funds.This links into my first answer. ConsiderGaza today, Nahr el Bared and the othercamps in Lebanon, or the highly restrictiveenvironment of the West Bank. We workunder great pressures in these places whichprevents us from maintaining standards weachieved decades ago.UNRWA has 30,000 local staff workingin Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, theWest Bank and Gaza, many of whomlive in over-crowded camps, in poorsocio-economic conditions, oftenfacing restrictions or even workingunder threat to life. How do you18 – UN Special – Décembre 2009