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Postcode Lotteries in Netherlands and Sweden give nearly 4 million euro

News Stories, 23 February 2012

© Bertil Strandell
Goodwill Ambassador Barbara Hendricks, accepting the check from the Swedish Postcode Lottery host Rickard Sjöberg.

THE HAGUE, 22 February (UNHCR) – The Postcode Lotteries of the Netherlands and Sweden have again provided generous support to UNHCR, with donations of nearly 4 million euro that includes funding to improve education in the world's largest refugee camp.

Struck by the conditions in Dadaab refugee Camp in Kenya, where more than 450,000 refugees are living in a complex that was originally opened 20 years ago for 90,000 refugees, the Dutch Postcode Lottery this year decided to go even further than its support in previous years.

At an exceptional event in the Dutch *Rijksmuseum*, the Lottery donated 3 million euro to UNHCR, including funding for a joint project with WFP to improve education in Dadaab.

The money will enable the partner organizations to provide better schooling to more children. The current camp complex, designed for a much smaller number of refugees, doesn't have the equipment and facilities to educate the more than 153,000 refugees of school age now in Dadaab.

The donation will be used to make quality education available to an entire generation of Somali refugees in Dadaab. UNHCR and WFP have been working for two decades to improve the lives of Somali youths in Dadaab – the largest refugee camp in the world – through providing education and incentives like school meal programmes.

In particular, the new project will target the low enrollment rates for girls and offer an education opportunity for thousands of teenagers who have never attended primary school. The funding from the Dutch Postcode Lottery will also give UNHCR and WFP the resources to target new arrivals at the camp and improving existing education in Dadaab.

In Sweden, UNHCR received its annual cheque of 1 million euro on 13 February at the annual Postcode Lottery gala in Stockholm, where Honorary Goodwill Ambassador for Life, Barbara Hendricks, gave a magnificent performance.

"The generous support from the Postcode Lotteries will provide more

and better protection of refugees, especially in areas where UNHCR faces

immense challenges this year," said the famous soprano, accepting the cheque on behalf of UNHCR.

Increased financial pressure during the economic downturn has made partnerships such as those with the Postcode Lotteries even more important for UNHCR than in the past.

They provide valuable contributions that directly improve the lives of refugees worldwide. They also reflect everything UNHCR seeks in corporate partnerships: awareness-raising with customers, staff and clients about the work of UNHCR combined with substantial and predictable financial support.

By Femke Joordens in The Hague

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