8 . MOPAN 2017-18 ASSESSMENTS . UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST Between MOPAN’s previous assessment in 2011 and this assessment, UNRWA has preserved its strengths and made incremental progress on different aspects of strategic, operational, relationships and performance management. This is in the face of persistent and volatile operational and contextual challenges which include the pervasive funding crisis. This limits the space for UNRWA’s management team to invest in and pursue the deepening of a coherent approach across the Agency behind the MTS strategic outcomes; the path through which the Agency can deliver added value, in terms of improvements to the lives of refugees and to sustainable development in the region. The assessment identifies in 2018 four major strengths of UNRWA: 1. UNRWA is highly knowledgeable about its mandate and context given its long-standing engagement in the region and the strength of its workforce. The vast majority of its staff are highly committed Palestinian refugees and form part of the refugee communities that UNRWA serves. This comparative advantage of UNRWA is recognised by both the organisation and its partners and is well developed within UNRWA’s strategy and reflected in its supporting documentation spanning issues of conflict, political economy, gender and vulnerability. 2. UNRWA has a well-considered and robust results-based monitoring system. Though relatively new, the system rests on strong foundations and generates large amounts of data. This has informed planning and decision-making at different levels within the organisation and has generated clear data on expenditure by field of operation and programme. Results-based management, including evaluative thinking, is a live practice within service areas, at regular intervals at different levels of the organisation. 3. UNRWA’s education and health programmes have high technical capacity as well as a proven capability to operate efficiently. Ongoing funding constraints have been signified by increased cost-saving and austerity measures. Even so, UNRWA’s core programmes have maintained high quality service delivery, whilst taking steps to strengthen inclusive aspects of programming. This is reflected by a well-managed and mature reform process corresponding to the needs and context of each service area, and it has significantly improved delivery. 4. UNRWA continues to balance a cautious and rigorous approach to risk management with an increasingly strategic approach to how and with whom it engages. The Agency has consistently applied strong internal measures for managing the organisation’s budget, responding effectively to volatile funding conditions. It is actively pursuing good tactical use of project-related funding within programming and is taking an increasingly strategic approach to engagement with a range of actors and partners, focused on leveraging the Agency’s resources and comparative advantage. The assessment also finds in 2018 four major areas for improvement: 1. UNRWA would benefit from addressing the lack of strategic evaluations. There is a very limited amount of independent evaluations to demonstrate and guide progress towards the Agency’s strategic objectives and contributions to the learning path of wider humanitarian and development goals in the region. Strengthened evidence on the relevance, effectiveness, impact and efficiency of UNRWA’s programmatic work and overall approach can nurture strategic thinking by the Agency and inform its donors and host governments on how to best deal with the complex challenges lying ahead.