UNRWA–United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East: NPM Organizational Development Approach

Abstract

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) was established as a subsidiary organ of the General Assembly pursuant to General Assembly resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 and commenced operations on 1 May 1950. UNRWA was established in response to the Palestine refugee crisis to provide emergency and relief services for Palestine refugees who were displaced to neighboring countries. The mandate of the UNRWA has evolved since its establishment. The Agency role extended to become a quasi-governmental role, providing health, education, socioeconomic development, and other services for its audience. The Agency was subject to many reforms in response to the developments in the political, operational, and financial context. The Agency began a comprehensive reform process that aimed at restructuring the UNRWA management system. The UNRWA identified several areas for reform, with an emphasis on its organizational structure as the main area of intervention. Organizational reform aimed to establish a new system of policies and practices, which aimed to adopt new policies and practices in different areas such as staffing and recruitment, performance management, compensation and rewards, and staff training and development. The new policies were meant to provide the Agency with an integrated system for staff management with an underlying message of implementing new practices. The uniqueness of the organization as a non-political IGO with a developmental and humanitarian service role provides an appropriate setting for this research study that can bring insights on deploying new policies and practices in an IGO context. This paper aims to address the role of the UNRWA, its functions, funding, and the implications of implementing the new practices and investigating their impacts on its operations.

Keywords: UNRWA, Reform, Quasi-governmental

DOI: 10.7176/DCS/13-7-04

Publication date: December 31^st 2023