Background to the evaluation
UNRWA’s Department of Internal Oversight Services (DIOS) contracted IOD PARC to conduct an evaluation of its Emergency Appeals (EAs) for the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) and the Syria Regional Crisis covering the 2016-2021 period. The EAs are the funding mechanism supporting emergency humanitarian interventions targeting Palestine refugees in the oPt, Palestinian refugees from Syria (PRS) in Jordan and Lebanon, and Palestine refugees in Syria that are not covered or are partially covered by the Agency’s regular Programme Budget (PB) or discrete projects’ budget. The EAs have a short cyclical programming nature and funding cycle, one year maximum, and are issued in response to continued humanitarian needs that result from the complex protracted crises and at the onset of sudden humanitarian needs due to conflict, economic or health crises or natural disasters. For example, as the COVID-19 crisis hit, the 2020 and 2021 EAs contributed to the continuation as well as the expansion of key health and education services during the pandemic, especially for particularly vulnerable refugees.
