JENIN, November 18, 2008 (WAFA)- The Refugee Affairs Committee inaugurated, Tuesday, a Palestinian handicrafts fair to showcase handicrafts of UNRWA cash-for-work beneficiaries in Jenin, north of the West Bank.
Under the auspices of the Jenin Governorate and Municipality, and in cooperation with UNRWA Cash-for-Work Project, The Refugee Affairs Committee inaugurated, a trade fair to exhibit handicrafts produced by former and current beneficiaries of the project, who were trained to do embroidery at the Jenin municipality and received a subsidy for their work. The fair will be open till November 20.
The refugees who gained work at the Jenin municipality presented their works and talked about the impact that the project has had on their lives. All income generated through this handicrafts fair will be donated to impoverished refugee families.
The Jenin embroidery initiative is just one of the work placements under UNRWA’s Cash-for-Work project. Each month, the project offers 2,100 short term posts in municipalities and village councils, and another 2,050 in UNRWA camps. The program targets mainly laborers without employable skills, who are the hardest hit by the ongoing economic decline in the West Bank .
The Cash-for-Work project, funded in large part by ECHO, is intended to alleviate vulnerable refugee families’ economic hardship and to help refugees to develop employable skills. The need for the program remains high in a context of a steep economic decline and swelling unemployment in the
