UNHCR and UNDP sign a new agreement for Resilience Building in Syria
In order to advance their operational cooperation, UNDP and UNHCR are going to formulate programs to meet internally displaced and local population needs
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to confirm their commitment on working cooperatively together throughout the displacement cycle inside Syria from emergency to stabilization, early recovery, livelihood, and resilience.
Besides, UNDP and UNHCR will strengthen the capacity of existing vocational training centers, identify joint projects and support the self-employment through the start-up grants, and link it with the local markets.
In order to advance their operational cooperation, the two agencies are going to formulate programs to meet internally displaced and local population needs, and enhance the involvement and development of local civil society and private sector in partnership with international and local non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
“Resilience building initiatives will be designed in an inclusive participatory manner engaging both internally displaced people and host communities, and will provide protection services to empower their resilience to cope with the consequences of the on-going crisis and address negative coping mechanism”, said Sajjad Malik, UNHCR’s representative in Syria.
UNDP will coordinate with the UNHCR’s existing community centres and ensure referring its beneficiaries to these centres for better benefitting from the services provided by each agency.
More than five years into the crisis, the humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate and the people in Syria continue to suffer from climbing unemployment rate and increasing loss of livelihood opportunities. Therefore, UNDP and UNHCR seeks to join efforts in ensuring effectively response to the critical needs of internally displaced people and their host communities.
It is worth mentioning that the resilience-based approach is grounded in the UN’s core principles and universal values such as equity, participation and human rights