DETAILED ASSESSMENT OF UNRWA PERFORMANCE. 21 thus remains highly vulnerable, in the immediate future and over the longer term, to the changing demographics and (increasingly) protracted humanitarian crisis affecting the refugee population it is mandated to serve. Available resources are not commensurate with designated need. In the face of this adverse reality, UNRWA has consolidated its financial and staff resources around maintaining and continually working to improve the integrity of delivery within its core programmes. The austerity measures have not been without consequence though, with increases in class sizes, reductions in some services and in maintenance and employment freezes. Cross-cutting themes of gender, protection (including disability) and human rights remain visible within and important to UNRWA’s programmes and operations. Dedicated policy statements in the MTS and in specific documentation support these cross-cutting areas, but limited core resources are available to address them. KPI 1: The organisational architecture and the financial framework enable mandate implementation and achievement of expected results. This KPI focuses on the extent to which UNRWA has articulated a coherent and strategic vision of how and for what purpose it has organised its human activity and capital assets to deliver both long- and short-term results. The current Medium Term Strategy articulates UNRWA’s vision for achieving its mandate to contribute to the welfare and human development of Palestine refugees. The UN General Assembly established UNRWA as a temporary agency in 1949 and, since then, has continuously affirmed the necessity for the continuation of the organisation’s work in providing services to Palestine refugees and supporting stability in the Middle East. UNRWA is both a humanitarian and development agency at the same time; using its comparative advantage to support the transition of Palestine refugees to sustained and lasting development solutions that are aligned to international normative instruments. The MTS 2016-21 reflects UNRWA’s commitment to strengthening the humanitariandevelopment nexus while maintaining its core support for protecting the rights and meeting the basic needs of Palestine refugees. While the current MTS sets out a coherent, well-articulated and consciously aspirational direction for UNRWA, financial backing of the international community to the level or manner required has not been forthcoming, despite the MTS being endorsed by both donors and hosts. UNRWA has been experiencing a sustained financial crisis in the last few years as well as increasing difficulty meeting projected, year-end cash shortfalls. This financial crisis has a political dimension. UNRWA has navigated this difficult situation through constant juggling of resources and careful cost control; while it is not in perfect shape, there is no obvious fat in its current configuration. This achievement is due to strong internal management (at all levels) that is adjusting the quality and quantity of outputs, as circumstances dictate, while not compromising on UNRWA’s objective of maintaining an assured level of basic service delivery. UNRWA’s organisational architecture is consistent with its mandate and strategic plan. UNRWA has field offices in the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank and has headquarters offices and functions in Amman, Gaza and East Jerusalem. This structure is an organisational strength. It provides an effective balance (e.g. centralisation versus decentralisation) across five fields of operations between a headquarters structure straddling immediate and future-facing aspects of UNRWA and other dimensions of UNRWA’s work. UNRWA’s reform has strengthened its management capacity in key areas. Since 2007, the organisation has undertaken and learned from robust organisational reform processes, as well as programmatic reform leading to more effective programmatic approaches to education and health services (characterised by high technical competence). Reform processes in other service areas such as relief and social services have been delayed and, as such, they appear to be more vulnerable to the acute funding crisis.