EXECUTIVE SUMMARY . 7 Executive summary In 2017-18, MOPAN, the Multilateral Organisation Performance Assessment Network, assessed the performance of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). The assessment looks at UNRWA’s organisational effectiveness (strategic, operational, relationship and performance management aspects) and the results it has achieved against its objectives. This is the second MOPAN assessment of UNRWA; the first was conducted in 2011. CONTEXT UNRWA was established in 1949 as a temporary agency. It is mandated to provide protection and assistance through the delivery of relief, human development and protection services to Palestine refugees registered with the Agency and to other persons eligible to receive UNRWA services, including persons displaced by the 1967 hostilities, in its five fields of operations (the Gaza Strip, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank including East Jerusalem). UNRWA is greatly affected by its operating context, primarily the absence of political solution regarding a Palestinian state, but also in recent years the Gaza blockade and the Syrian civil war. This has been coupled with increasing programme costs, increased refugee needs and protection concerns. The unimpeded operation and provision of services by UNRWA is recognised by many as playing an important role in the stability of the region. UNRWA is primarily funded from voluntary contributions. While UNRWA’s current Medium Term Strategy (MTS) 2016-2021, endorsed by donors and host governments, is well-articulated and consciously aspirational, the financial backing and predictability of funds to deliver on its objectives has not been forthcoming from donors. The perennial budget shortfall crisis of the Agency was exacerbated in January 2018 by the withdrawal of USD 300 million in planned funding from the US Government, increasing the organisation’s deficit significantly. UNRWA responded to this particular budget crisis by intensifying its fundraising efforts, extensive internal cost saving and austerity measures. Progress achieved on these fronts allowed operations to be largely maintained, although not without detriment to some services. The austerity measures have had a number of effects on UNRWA’s work including increases in class sizes, reductions in some services and in maintenance, redundancies and hiring freezes. The Agency’s funding outlook remains deeply challenging, given its current financial deficit, increasing demand for its services and the cumulative impact of emergencies and protracted humanitarian crises. KEY FINDINGS Overall, UNRWA in 2018 is an organisation that is competent, resilient and resolute. The organisation is achieving humanitarian and development results in a challenging and resource-constrained environment in ways that reflect a well-managed organisation. By and large, its organisational performance remains on a positive trajectory. The agency has robust organisational reform and improvement processes. With iterative learning and adaptation, this has resulted in more effective programmatic approaches, characterised by a high technical competence. This is particularly strong in education and health where the operating structure of UNRWA has encouraged and facilitated innovation within its fields of operation. Reform processes in other service areas such as relief and social services and camp services, though well sighted, have been more vulnerable to the funding crisis, and progress has been less developed over the assessment period.