ANNEX 1 . 65 UNRWA’s MTS identifies strengthening monitoring, reporting and advocacy of the human rights of Palestine Refugees at an international level to prevent such violations from occurring and seek accountability and remedial measures for those that do occur. Addressing and mainstreaming protection is a challenge for UNRWA; it is an area of its work that is frequently politicised and the results its delivers are less tangible than that of its other areas of work in education, health and RSS. The agency is ‘wrestling’ with what protection means for UNRWA in real operational terms and in organisational structure requirements. At the same time, the agency is faced with a deteriorating protection situation in many of its field offices and limited resources to dress protection concerns. UNRWA has struggled to report on the protection indicators currently in the MTS, which are described as ‘aspirational’. UNRWA has limited programme budget resources allocated to protection. 5 per cent of the protection budget comes from the programme budget. Only two protection positions (Chief, Protection Division and Head of Gender Section) are paid for by the GA-assessed budget out of the approximate 112 staff in the HQ Protection Division and Protection Units/Operations Support Office (OSO) teams. The Protection Division also receives around $226,000 annually from the Programme Budget for staff and on-going activities (e.g. workshops, travel, etc.). By contrast, the Protection Units/OSO teams in the field offices do not receive any of the Programme Budget. At the field office level, resources available for Protection are from projects, including for the salaries of key institutional protection posts, which are therefore vulnerable in the face of funding cuts. A key donor has been providing funding for UNRWA’s OSO which (amongst other roles) works to promote the rights of Palestine refugees and respond effectively to protection incidents and concerns; and to facilitate greater alignment of UNRWA programmes and service delivery with the Agency’s common protection standards in a manner that promotes and respects the rights of beneficiaries. This key donor has recently withdrawn all funding to UNRWA and so it is unclear how much of the protection work will be financed going forward. In 2016, UNRWA established the UNRWA Headquarters Protection Division as well as dedicated protection teams across all of the Agency’s fields of operations to further its protection work. This restructure was undertaken in light of the 2014 Gaza conflict where it became clear the organisation needed a more institutional and strategic approach to protection rather than protection being siloed within a particular programmatic area. The agency has a dedicated Protection Strategy which outlines the roles and responsibilities of different stakeholder in UNRWA in terms of delivering on protection and human rights; UNRWA has placed significant emphasis and efforts into the mainstreaming of protection across Field Offices. UNRWA has identified key protection standards to mainstream protection in the internal dimension of its protection work which are to be used by senior staff, programme chiefs, programme protection focal points and others involved in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of programme activities. The agency completed a Protection baseline in 2016 to provide a reference point to measure progress towards the implementation of the MTS and the changing external operating environment in which the Agency operates. Field Offices undertake biennial protection audits which monitor the degree of alignment with Agency Protection Standards in all aspects of programming and makes remedial recommendations as necessary. Implementation of the recommendations generated through the Protection Audits is followed-up by protection working groups within each field office and monitored through an online tracking tool. The concept of protection and human rights is also embedded within UNRWA’s programmes; UNRWA has a Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) Policy, Strategy and Toolkit as part of its education programming. For Education, protection is emphasised in all its work - i.e. the wellbeing and safety of its students. But it has also explicitly addressed the area, most specifically in its approach to the provision of education in emergencies - where safety and security is a key dimension, addressed in a number of very tangible ways. The training of staff on protection is an agency priority; training has been delivered on case-management, GBV, child protection. 1, 2, 3, 22, 35, 40, 42, 44, 47, 81, 87, 134, 135, 136