microfinance department

UNRWA establishes what will later become its Microfinance Department in an effort to provide sustainable income-generation opportunities to Palestine refugees. The department grows exponentially over the next two decades; in 2008, it becomes the largest microfinance service provider in the oPt and the second-largest in Syria. It will later launch loan products specifically targeting home-based women entrepreneurs, in 2010, and young people, in 2012. The ‘Mubadarati’ loan for young entrepreneurs is the first youth microfinance product of its kind in the region.