Education Support from TİKA to Palestinian Refugees in Jordan

Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TİKA) and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) signed an agreement to renovate the girls’ school in the Palestinian refugee camp located in the capital city Amman.

With the agreement between TİKA and UNRWA, the girls’ school, which serves 1,500 students between the fourth and tenth grade, is going to be renovated and supplied with equipment. The school is located in the Amman New Camp, one of the 10 UNRWA Palestinian Refugee Camps, where 57,000 registered refugees reside.

The agreement was signed by Jordan Director Roger Davies on behalf of UNRWA and by Amman Program Coordinator Esin Acar Ergin on behalf of TİKA.  The ceremony was attended by Turkish Ambassador to Amman Murat Karagöz as well as the members of the school’s student council, teachers, administrators and the members of the camp committee.

Roger Davies thanked TİKA and Turkey for TİKA’s generous contribution as UNRWA and Palestinian refugees are going through such hard time and he emphasized that this project is a step towards solidifying the sustainable partnership between TİKA and UNRWA.  Davies pointed out that Turkey’s contribution affirms the importance of supporting the Palestinian refugees in Jordan and protection of their right to education.

Turkish Ambassador to Amman Murat Karagöz gave a speech during the ceremony and said that UNRWA goes beyond providing humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian refugees and serves as a key element of the political stability in the region.  Karagöz stressed that as a founding member of UNRWA and the Chairman of the Advisory Commission, Turkey will do everything in its power to help UNRWA overcome its financial problems and Turkey’s educational support will help reduce extremism and terrorism in the region.

TİKA Amman Program Coordinator Esin Acar Ergin also said that education is the foundation of inclusive and sustainable development and it is one of the prioritized cooperation areas for TİKA.  Ergin expressed that they especially place great emphasis on the education and empowerment of girls and said that TİKA’s assistance for building facilities, repairs, equipment support, training of teachers and scholarships, the new generation is supported to get an education under the best possible circumstances.  Ergin highlighted Turkey’s determination on development cooperation and reminded that Turkey is the world’s biggest donor country in terms of official development assistance.

USA’s Decision to Stop its Assistance

The spokesperson for the United States Department of State, Heather Nauert announced on August 31 that the USA decided to completely stop its financial assistance to UNRWA.

USA government had suspended a big portion of the funding it provided to UNRWA in early 2018.  According to the American media, Washington was providing assistance amounting to 365 million Dollars to UNRWA.

UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to help Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, West Bank, and Gaza.

There are currently 5.9 million Palestinian refugees in and out of Palestine.  UNRWA’s assistance is of vital importance to Palestinian refugees.