From 12 to 15 December 2022, the Human Rights, Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) Education programme at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)  held its Agency-wide HRCRT capacity-building and planning workshop in Amman, Jordan.

The workshop, organised and facilitated by the Department of Education, targeted 15 HRCRT technical and administrative staff in all UNRWA fields of operations, including Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem), and Gaza.

It aimed at strengthening the capacities of the UNRWA HRCRT support cadre to maintain Agency-wide coherence and consistency with the HRCRT programme and maximize its impact. The workshop was an opportunity for UNRWA to take stock of the programme implementation and discuss ways for further improvements

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Moritz Bilagher, the UNRWA Deputy Director of Education, said, “The HRCRT programme is a key element of the wider Education programme in UNRWA. Therefore, we intend to further foster human rights education and school parliaments in all UNRWA schools, drawing from international best practices.”

Bilagher also highlighted a key finding of the 2021 ALO-SAF study, where evidence showed that the long standing UNRWA HRCRT Policy had a positive influence on academic outcomes.

As the discussions moved forward, the workshop participants shared their experiences and presented achievements, success stories, activities undertaken by school parliaments, challenges, opportunities, and updates regarding the HRCRT programme at the respective fields of UNRWA operations.

To further strengthen HRCRT programme and school parliaments, the workshop participants reflected on the current practices and improvement initiatives at the field level, learning from their experiences and identifying opportunities for innovative continuous improvement.

They also discussed HRCRT budget distribution to schools and the importance of developing a guide for school parliament coordinators in this regard.

On the subject of HRCRT programme monitoring and evaluation, the participants reviewed the process for collecting evaluation tools, proposed ways for enhancing HRCRT monitoring and evaluation, and discussed data analysis at the field level. They also agreed on their priorities for the 2023/2024 school year in light of these discussions.

Finally, the participants agreed on the necessity of keeping the HRCRT Programme as an Agency priority to continue empowering Palestine refugee students in realizing and exercising their rights, upholding human rights values, and contributing positively to their communities.