22 . MOPAN 2017-18 ASSESSMENTS . UNITED NATIONS RELIEF AND WORKS AGENCY FOR PALESTINE REFUGEES IN THE NEAR EAST UNRWA’s focus on the rights and welfare of Palestine refugees provides some clear points of alignment with wider normative frameworks. UNRWA’s work is aligned to 10 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Where it can (given its mandate), it operates in ways that are consistent with the Grand Bargain that emerged from the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit and reports annually on this. UNRWA participates in UN accountability processes such as the UN System-wide Action Plan (UN-SWAP). In terms of humanitarian principles, UNRWA operates in full compliance with applicable international law and the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence. UNRWA has a single integrated budget framework comprising its programmes, projects and emergency appeals. An important use of projects is to provide the space for furthering quality and learning within UNRWA’s core programmes. The Agency is increasingly mindful of the importance of ensuring that projects’ success does not lead to unsustainable demands on the already-stretched programme budget. There is limited scope within the current mandate and limited capacity for senior management to take the lead in developing alternative financial frameworks for UNRWA. While various initiatives are underway to diversify the Agency’s funding base and enable it to access further flexible (and core) funding, a fundamental disconnect remains between the Agency’s mandate (coupled with the associated calculation of basic needs) and its current financial framework. KPI 2: Structures and mechanisms support the implementation of global frameworks for cross-cutting issues at all levels. This KPI looks at the articulation and positioning within UNRWA’s structures and mechanisms of the cross-cutting priorities to which the organisation is committed, in pursuit of its strategic objectives. Cross-cutting themes of protection, gender, disability inclusion and human rights are specifically addressed by UNRWA. These cross-cutting areas are supported by dedicated policy statements in the MTS and other Agency documents. Each area is also integrated to some degree within UNRWA’s results frameworks. There also is evidence of UNRWA staff capacity building in these areas and of accountability for the cross-cutting areas, internally and externally (e.g. UN-SWAP, international human rights mechanisms). UNRWA is committed to the protection of human rights at the highest level. The Medium Term Strategy contains UNRWA’s most recent policy statement of its commitment and approach to addressing human rights of Palestine refugees through all aspects of its work, highlighting rights as a strategic priority for the 2016-21 period. The MTS further recognises UNRWA as a duty bearer working to fulfil the human rights (including food, shelter, education and health) of its beneficiaries and takes note of the interlinkage of human rights and human development. For UNRWA, human rights and its work on protection are intrinsically linked, yet addressing protection is a challenge for the Agency. The MTS defines protection as “what the Agency does to safeguard and advance the rights of Palestine refugees, including through the direct provision of services and other activities”. UNRWA is tasked with the monitoring, reporting and advocacy of Palestine refugees’ human rights at an international level to prevent violation of these rights and seek accountability and remedial measures for violations that occur. UNRWA is working to mainstream protection, institutionally and strategically, in a challenging environment. As the Agency wrestles with what protection means in real operational terms and for its organisational structure, it is facing a deteriorating protection situation in many of its field offices and has limited resources to address protection concerns. UNRWA has struggled to report on the protection indicators regarding individual protection cases currently in the MTS, and these have been removed from the results-based monitoring system, although they are still reported on separately in some cases.