MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
I am pleased to announce Australia has allocated a total of $718,000 to assist Palestinian refugees through small business loans and the provision of better health services.
There are about 3.4 million refugees registered with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, (UNWRA).
The Australian Government is providing $355,000 to AUSTCARE to support two micro-credit schemes implemented by UNRWA in an effort to alleviate poverty, increase employment opportunities, and promote the growth of businesses in the Gaza Strip.
Over 850 people, a large proportion of them women, will receive loans to help them establish small-scale enterprises. Since UNRWA introduced the two schemes in 1991, over $9.2 million has been provided in loans.
World Vision Australia will also receive $363,000 for the first year of a project which aims to ensure that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon have greater access to health care.
The funds will be spent on training health workers, providing mobile clinics to visit refugee camps which receive no other support, coordinating sanitation, removing garbage, chlorinating water and, in addition, Australia has committed an additional $750,000 to continue humanitarian projects in the Occupied Palestinian Territories, which commenced last year.
Media contacts:
Innes Willox (Minister's Office) 02 6277 7500/0411 414 695
Mark Giffard (AusAID Canberra) 02 6206 4840