24 October 2012
Madrid, Spain
For the second year, the Spanish foundation Intervida has donated 200,000 euros in support of Palestine refugees in the Gaza Strip through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In 2011, some 70 per cent of refugees in the Gaza Strip relied on UNRWA aid, a figure seven times higher than before 2002.
The second agreement signed with Intervida will further strengthen the foundation’s support for children’s mental and nutritional health, as well as their education.
The school psychosocial support programme, which has received half of the total contribution, will provide children with life skills and coping mechanisms tailored to the circumstances in which they live. By mitigating the negative effects of ongoing violence, economic hardship, and rights violations in the Gaza Strip, the programme aims to improve the overall health and well-being of refugee children in Gaza. UNRWA will employ 99 counsellors to offer individual and group counselling to 57,000 children in UNRWA schools from Grades 1 to 9.
The school feeding programme, which has also received an equal contribution of 100,000 euros, will provide nutritional supplements to students in UNRWA’s 247 schools in the Strip. The Agency estimates that the programme will reach 226,500 children during 2012-2013 academic year. Thanks to Intervida’s contribution, approximately 23,000 meals will be served that include sandwiches, yoghurt, fruits, juice, and milk.
- Ends -
Background information:
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, microfinance and emergency assistance. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions.
UNRWA’s Spanish Committee works to support UNRWA’s human development and humanitarian programmes and to raise awareness within Spanish society of the situation facing Palestine refugees.
For more information, please contact:
Cristina Poveda
Communication and Marketing
UNRWA Spanish Committee
Mobile: (+34) 638 879 561
Office: (+34) 917 027 059
cpoveda@unrwace.org
María González
Communication
UNRWA Spanish Committee
Mobile: (+34) 638 879 561
Office: (+34) 917 027 059
mgonzalez@unrwace.org
InterTech 
