This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004200 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR NEA AND PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREF PREL KPAL KWBG SY LE JO UNRWA
SUBJECT: UNRWA SEEKS ADDITIONAL USD 1 BILLION IN 
MEDIUM-TERM PROGRAM NEEDS 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  In a May 19 briefing, UNRWA unveiled its 
draft medium-term plan (MTP), designed to make up for ten 
years of austerity measures and underfunding.  The ambitious 
plan, valued at USD 1 billion over five years, includes 
much-needed improvements in basic education and health 
services as well as more politically controversial plans to 
rehabilitate refugee camps.  Although the draft plan 
presented on May 19 included programs to be implemented in 
2004, UNRWA's Comptroller later confirmed that the MTP would 
not be launched until 2005 and that UNRWA would seek approval 
from the UN's ACABQ for MTP-related modifications to the 
agency's current budget.  UNRWA has not yet decided how to 
divide the plan's costs between its General Fund and project 
budgets, nor has it made any decisions regarding the issuance 
of an additional appeal to cover these costs.  While most 
donors welcomed UNRWA's  strategic planning efforts, they 
also cautioned that they would be unable to meet the full 
needs outlined in the plan.  Donors and host governments 
urged UNRWA to prioritize its medium-term needs and consult 
closely with key stakeholders on development of the plan's 
budget.  UNRWA Deputy ComGen AbuZayd pledged to hold further 
consultations on the prioritization and budget of MTP needs 
and welcomed refcoord's suggestion that MTP discussions be 
included on the agenda of the September 2004 meeting of major 
donors and host governments.  End summary. 
 
¶2.  (U) In a well-attended May 19 meeting in Amman, UNRWA 
briefed donors and host governments on its draft medium-term 
plan (MTP).  Director of Operations Lionel Brisson explained 
that UNRWA started thinking about the agency's longer term 
needs in the summer of 2003, in hopes that the roadmap would 
create progress toward a regional peace settlement and pave 
the way toward economic recovery.  UNRWA first began work on 
five-year plans for the West Bank and Gaza fields that could 
be incorporated with Palestinian Authority plans for economic 
recovery and presented to the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee in 
late 2003.  Unfortunately, political conditions deteriorated 
so extensively that the economic recovery plan has not yet 
been launched.  At the same time, however, UNRWA began 
planning for a one-time, high-level conference in Geneva that 
would debate the agency's medium-term needs (although not the 
MTP itself) and decided to expand its medium-term planning 
efforts to all five fields of operation. 
 
¶3.  (U) Acknowledging that the MTP's five-year cost of just 
over USD 1 billion "may look ambitious," Brisson argued that 
the programs included in the MTP constitute the bare minimum 
required to compensate for years of austerity measures and 
underfunding and bring UNRWA services back up to the level of 
services provided by host authorities.  In the education 
sector, for example, UNRWA needs additional funds to reduce 
average classroom occupancy rates to 40 pupils (most 
educational norms call for a maximum of 30 pupils per 
classroom), reduce double-shifting from 92 percent to 70 
percent in Jordan, and modify classrooms and existing 
curricula to introduce new information technology and foreign 
language courses required under the host authorities' 
curricula.  According to Brisson, the MTP programs focus on 
rehabilitation of services, upgrading of infrastructure and 
socio-economic development initiatives for the Palestinian 
refugee community.  As part of the plan, UNRWA also seeks 
funds to create new headquarters-based planning units, 
including a research unit, an urban planning unit and new 
units in the education department for research and planning 
as well as program monitoring and evaluation.  Brisson and 
UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Karen AbuZayd emphasized 
that the MTP is still very much a draft document and pledged 
that the agency would wait for feedback from the Geneva 
conference and from individual stakeholders before finalizing 
the plan. 
 
¶4.  (U) While welcoming UNRWA's efforts at strategic 
planning, most donors were extremely cautious about their 
governments' abilities to meet the needs outlined in the MTP. 
 Norway, the European Commission (EC), the Netherlands, 
Sweden, Switzerland, and the U.S. all urged UNRWA to 
prioritize its medium-term needs and break the USD 1 billion 
budget into more realistic programs.  Brisson acknowledged 
that some MTP programs, such as the USD 336 million rehousing 
and camp rehabilitation schemes, should be deferred until a 
regional peace settlement is reached and the political 
climate is more conducive to such expensive programs.  Donors 
and host governments alike urged UNRWA to consult closely 
with key stakeholders as it identified MTP priorities and 
refined budget plans. 
 
¶5.  (U) At the May 19 briefing, UNRWA could not answer 
donors' questions about the agency's preliminary budget plans 
for the MTP.  Brisson and AbuZayd said the agency had not yet 
decided how to divide costs between the agency's General Fund 
and program budgets, nor had it decided whether to issue a 
special appeal to cover the new medium-term programs. 
AbuZayd said the agency would welcome suggestions from donors 
as to which programs (e.g., new IT and special needs 
education programs) should be incorporated into UNRWA's 
regular program costs.  Dismissing the agency's chronically 
underfunded project budget as "fiction," Brisson said the 
agency would prefer not to rely on the project budget to 
implement the MTP's top priorities.  He added that UNRWA 
hoped to have an MTP budget document ready for donor 
consideration in September.  AbuZayd welcomed refcoord's 
suggestion that the MTP be included on the agenda of the 
September 2004 meeting of major donors and host governments, 
the agency's next regular consultation with key stakeholders. 
 
¶6. (U) Although the draft MTP documents circulated to donors 
before the briefing (posted on 
www.un.org/unrwa/genevaconference) include programs to be 
implemented in 2004, UNRWA Comptroller Ramadan Al-Omari later 
confirmed to refcoord that the agency will not implement MTP 
programs until 2005.  In a May 25 e-mail, Al-Omari said that 
the MTP would not be finalized until late 2004 and that any 
necessary changes to the current UNRWA budget would be 
presented to the UN's Advisory Commission on Administrative 
and Budget Questions (ACABQ) when it conducts its 
mid-biennium budget review for UNRWA.  The agency therefore 
will not launch the MTP until 2005 and the entire USD 1 
billion budget cycle will be pushed back to cover the years 
2005 to 2009. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Comment:  UNRWA has made a good-faith attempt at 
needs-based budgeting, identifying programs that have gone 
sorely underfunded in past years or, in the case of 
education, reflect expensive new requirements that UNRWA 
simply cannot meet without an extra infusion of cash. 
However, UNRWA's argument that its services have fallen 
behind those of host authorities is, in some cases, 
disingenuous as host authorities have implemented key changes 
in their services that UNRWA is not prepared to consider.  In 
the health sector, for example, host authorities provide free 
basic medical care only to their poorest citizens, while 
UNRWA provides free basic medical care -- and medicines -- to 
all registered refugees regardless of income level.  Some of 
the MTP's other elements, including large-scale refugee camp 
rehabilitation and expansion of microcredit lending schemes, 
may be better considered in the context of a regional peace 
settlement.  It was clear from the May 19 meeting that 
further, detailed consultations on MTP priorities and budgets 
are required before the agency can move forward on the plan. 
UNRWA officials seemed to understand this message and 
hopefully will follow through on the consultations promised 
by AbuZayd. 
GNEHM