GAZA, July 18, 2010 (WAFA)- The European Union has today announced a contribution of €2 million to support the largest ever youth initiative in Gaza - Summer Games – and to support UNRWA’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) - a crucial tool to modernize the Agency, a press release said.

The EU's High Representative, Catherine Ashton, and John Ging UNRWA’s Director in Gaza signed the agreement at an UNRWA School in Gaza City where Baroness Ashton saw firsthand the Summer Games and was briefed on UNRWA’s Summer Learning program which provides two months of intensive remedial education for 40,000 children who failed their end of semester exams, the EU press release added.

It elaborated that €1 million of the EU donation will support the 1,200 summer camps run by UNRWA over a course of eight weeks accommodating 250,000 children.

Ms. Ashton toured one of the camps, where the children presented Ms Ashton with a kite they will fly in her honor at their upcoming Guinness World Record attempt on 29 July.  Baroness Ashton stated, “I am very glad to see that UNRWA's summer camps give to the children of Gaza the much-needed opportunity to acquire concrete creative skills and built the necessary coping mechanisms and self-esteem for a more stable future”.

Expressing appreciation for the generous and timely funding support, John Ging stated, “Baroness Ashton’s second visit to Gaza in less than four months and the additional funding she provided today are invaluable for our joint efforts to bring about the positive development of the next generation of Palestinians who are otherwise in danger of becoming a lost generation.”

The European Union is the largest multilateral provider of international assistance to Palestine refugees. Over the period 2000 to 2009, the EU alone, excluding EU member states, has provided more than €1 billion of support to the Agency, the press release concluded.