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  Photo: UNHCR

  Yasir is a 32-year-old father and an avid football player who was born in Mosul, Iraq. Yasir had his life turned upside down in just one day. After losing both legs in an explosion in Iraq in 2016, he fled to Turkey with his family in search of security and peace. In his new life, sports present an opportunity to feel included and empowered.

  Yasir lives in Samsun, Turkey with his wife, two children, his mother and father, and his two siblings. Soon after his arrival, he was introduced by members of the host community to the Association for Solidarity with Asylum-Seekers and Migrants (ASAM), an NGO partner of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

  In 2018, Yasir competed in the Para-Badminton Championship in Mersin and ranked third. He was one of two refugees in the championship. Yasir cherishes the help he received to get to this point. “Despite the limited possibilities, I was overjoyed when I ranked in the top three. It was my first time joining in a championship since becoming disabled,” he remembers proudly. “I am grateful for the support of my former basketball team coach.” Yasir also happily adds that his family supports and encourages him in all his sport endeavours.

  For those who are uprooted by conflict and persecution, sports present an opportunity to feel included, protected, and empowered. Thank you, France, Norway, and the Republic of Korea for continuing to protect and assist refugees in Turkey and elsewhere. As Yasir’s story demonstrates, such support is life-changing. See the full story here.

   

   

   

  Sports - a Beacon of Hope: UNHCR and ASAM
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  Photo: UNICEF

  With COVID-19, Yemen is facing an emergency within an emergency. Half the country’s health facilities are not working and there are constant outbreaks of cholera, because of poor water and sanitation. Yemen is facing the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world and that 24 million people need help.

  The Tamdeen Youth Foundation (TYF) has trained 14 community health volunteers to provide basic health services as well as deliver three water projects in Masaba, Kaiwan and Sabatbalibogai.
  Ahmed Damushki, Civil Engineer, Tamdeen Youth Foundation

  UNICEF has been working with the WHO, Yemen authorities and several CSOs, including Tamdeen Youth Foundation, Yemen NGOs Coalition and Field Medical Foundation to get lifesaving assistance to children who need it most.

  They are providing health services, clean water and better sanitation and keeping kids in school. This includes prevention messages on TV, radio and social media to reduce the spread of COVID-19 and distributing much-needed supplies for the pandemic. They are working to reimagine a world beyond COVI D, improving the lives of millions of children.

  UNICEF's partnerships with civil society continue to be critical to address the twin emergencies of conflict and COVID in Yemen. See the full story here.

   

   

  Two Crises in Yemen: Conflict and COVID-19
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  Photo: UNHCR/Ismail

  Rohingya refugee Onaisah Mohamad Harun expertly explains her father’s extensive drug and dosing regimen and complex schedule of doctors’ appointments for his cancer treatment. She knows it by heart. He was diagnosed with advanced oral cancer in 2019. The ensuing chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as multiple surgeries to his mouth and various other medical complications, left him hospitalized for months on end in the following years.

  While Onaisah’s mother juggled the demands of caregiving and managing the household, Onaisah rapidly became the primary manager of her father’s treatment regime. Onaisah attended a learning centre run by UNHCR’s NGO partner, the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation (TCF). This NGO also runs free clinics for refugees as well as provides support to UNHCR’s cash-based interventions for highly vulnerable refugees.

  I was lucky that I have been attending the Tzu Chi school. When my father was diagnosed, I was able to ask my teachers about my father’s illness, and they also showed me how to do research.
  Onaisah Mohammed Harun.

  Onaisah attended all the doctors’ appointments and then she started to memorize all the medical results, her father's medications and the scheduled treatments. When she didn’t understand something, she would ask her teachers or Sister Michele from TCF. With the help of the Tzu Chi school, Onaisah is able to help her father and now wants to be a doctor, who will give free treatment to people who cannot afford it. "This is the doctor I will be. I want to help people,” she says. See the full story here.

   

  The Healing Power of Love: UNHCR and TCF
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  Photo: WFP

  Over the past weeks, WFP interviewed field officers who helped the organization understand the full value of the UN Partner Portal and the significant gains in terms of fairness, transparency and efficiency the platform is bringing to WFP’s partnerships with NGOs. They discussed the impact this is having on the quality of WFP programmes and the lives of WFP beneficiaries.

  In my opinion, it is one of the best tools, if not THE best tool! With the UN Partner Portal, it is 3 times faster to arrange a partnership with a cooperating partner.
  Moise Konate, WFP Programme Officer, Burundi

  

  Moise Konate told us that compared to the past, the UN Partner Portal has reduced, from 3 months to only 1, the average time it takes to arrange a partnership between WFP and an NGO. This is because it involves all staff every step of the way: from the management of Calls for Expression of interest and partner registration to due diligence screening. As Moise put it, the UN Partner Portal “improves our teamwork and allows all staff to have a better understanding of partnerships”.

   

  The UN Partner Portal helps us connect with potential partners in a transparent way and collect information on them in a systematic manner!
  Sweswe Win, WFP Programme Officer, Mynamar

  

  Sweswe told us that the platform adds transparency to the entire process: the UN Partner Portal allows for partners to learn about the UN’s partnership processes and, concurrently, for WFP to gather knowledge on the experience and capacity of specific partners.
  “We can learn a lot about partners through the UN Partner Portal: we can see how they have been ranked by other UN agencies, what they do and how they have been doing it” she added.

   

  We used to deal with hundreds of partners, dozens of technical units in 18 different field offices. The UN Partner Portal helped us organize and structure the process. Now we know where to find partners information and how to engage with all the stakeholders from the start.
  Aziz Ahmed, WFP Programme Officer, South Sudan

  

  For Aziz, one of the first programme officers to work on the UN Partner Portal at WFP, the platform played a crucial role to simplify and rationalize the partnership processes as well as bringing all the UN Agencies together, facilitating knowledge sharing and enhancing coordination.

   

  The UN Partner Portal ensures fairness throughout the entire partnership cycle.
  Cleophas Basaluci, WFP Programme Officer, Democratic Republic of Congo

  

  Cleophas told us that one of the main benefits the UN Partner Portal brings to the partnership cycle is impartial visibility to all potential partners. This is because “the UN Partner Portal helps us source new NGOs which we have never partnered with. It allows us to see the story, motivation and expertise of partners, old and new, and measure these against the needs of the area we are working in.”

  WFP Field Officers Share their Thoughts on Why UN Partner Portal is a Spearheading Tool
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  Photo: Fernando Aramayo

  In the Salta Province of Argentina, UNFPA Argentina supports different projects to promote sexual and reproductive rights and the prevention of gender violence. Part of the UNFPA office team made a trip to the province to continue strengthening these initiatives.

  UNFPA Argentina, together with the government of Salta and the Argentine Red Cross and of the Spotlight Initiative, provided awareness-raising workshops focused on the promotion of sexual and reproductive rights, and the prevention of gender-based violence.

  We are convinced that sensitized communities and people can transform realities. And on this path, we continue to work with a strong focus on the territories where the largest gaps exist, so that women, young people and adolescents can make free and informed decisions and thus exercise their bodily autonomy. That is to say, that they have the power and the capacity to decide about their bodies and their future, without violence or coercion.
  Mariana Isasi, Head of the UNFPA Argentine Office

  

  Photo: Fernando Aramayo

  These workshops targeted women who are members of indigenous communities and state agents, including health personnel. Edgardo Sosa, General Manager of the Santa Victoria Este hospital, noted that is necessary to train doctors for access to contraceptives, how to use them, with the aim of demolishing the myths surrounding this issue.

  For more information see the full UNFPA Argentina article.

  Watch the project video here.

  UNFPA Argentina partners with Red Cross and the Salta Government to End Violence and Promote Sexual and Reproductive Rights
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  Photo: iStock

  The UN Partner Portal’s Helpdesk, called Zendesk, has a new helper named Rafiki, which means ‘friend’ in Swahili. It was developed by UNICC’s Application Delivery team to help users of the platform find answers to their most common questions. Rafiki is an answer bot that’s able to resolve questions and help solve issues related to onboarding, viewing and selecting partnership opportunities, such as how to register or how to apply for opportunities.

  The Zendesk support was previously handled by a human support team. With Rafiki, the goal is to improve the user experience for UN Partner Portal members by automating as much of the support process as possible, providing answers in real time.

  Always ready to help as a friend, Rafiki is a one-stop solution.
  Pallavi Kolluri, UN Partner Portal Project Delivery Coordinator, UNICC

  To access the bot, users can click on the ‘Ask Rafiki’ button that is displayed in the portal after logging in. Rafiki is available throughout the UN Partner Portal to help users at every stage.

  Rafiki the answer bot indexes articles available in the UN Partner Portal Resource library and is able to understand human questions (for example “How can I register?”) and find articles containing answers (for example “Registration in UN Partner Portal”). Rafiki offers an option to get in touch with the human support team in case users can’t find the answers they are looking for in the automated replies.

  Improving the user experience and responsiveness is the number one factor for a successful platform. Rafiki is our number one.
  Vinicius de Souza Antero, Full Stack Developer, UNICC

  

  Photo: UN Partner Portal

  Rafiki went live in January of 2022, after the project team piloted the technology for two months - to understand how well the bot could interact with the UN Partner Portal resource library. Now, the goal of the team is to keep improving current articles with further details and to add new content to the library, so Rafiki can be leveraged to its maximum potential.

  For more information see the full UNICC article.

  Meet Rafiki, UN Partner Portal’s Chat Bot
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  Slahadin Romodan, 34, one of founders and organizers of the Refugee Parliament. Photo: UNHCR/Kypriadi

  Slahadin Romodan, a 34-year-old from Eritrea, has just voted for the first time in his life.

  Slahadin has been in Switzerland with his wife and two children since 2016. He is doing a nursing assistant apprenticeship at a local hospital and appreciates the life that he has built here, but for him, true integration comes with feeling like he has a voice in Swiss society.

  As long as I am in Switzerland, I want to take part in decisions on my future and the future of my kids.
  Slahadin Romodan, one of founders and organizers of the Refugee Parliament.

  He and other refugees affiliated with the NCBI Schweiz, a nonprofit leadership training organization based in Washington, D.C., met last year to launch the Refugee Parliament with the support of UNHCR, and other organizations.

  Organized along similar lines as a regular parliament, the participants are divided into working groups and prepare proposals, which are then presented and voted on in a plenary. During the course of the day, working group representatives take the stand. Each makes an impassioned case for their proposal before the chair calls the participants to vote - a green card for “yes”, a red card for “no”.

  

  Nahid Haidari, 25, is one of founders and organizers of the Refugee Parliament. Photo: UNHCR/Kypriadi

  A lively young woman dressed in a red dress and a bright pink hijab, moves around the hall answering questions, providing instructions and solving issues. She is 25-year-old Nahid Haidari from Afghanistan, a co-organizer of the Refugee Parliament and one of its founders. She has been living in Switzerland with her mother and five siblings since 2011 and sees her future here. “I am Swiss”, she says proudly, as she talks about the close-knit group of Swiss school friends who helped give her a sense of belonging.

  The organizers have even bigger plans for the future. They want to promote meaningful engagement with parliamentarians across political lines and set up Refugee Parliaments in every Swiss canton - an important step in a federal state where political decision-making is decentralized.  

  The event was supported through UNHCR’s new grants for organizations led by displaced and stateless people.

  For more information see the full UNHCR article by Ariadne Kypriadi in Bern, Switzerland

  UNHCR Partnership - Refugee Parliament Gives a Voice to People Forced to Flee
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  Photo: UNHCR/Masciarelli

  Going to school was already a daily challenge for many displaced children around the world. Now there are fears some may not return after COVID-19 lockdowns lift.  One child missed two years of school while his family was avoiding social unrest in his home country of Nicaragua and then fleeing first to neighbouring Honduras, and later to Guatemala.

  At the age of eight, he finally returned to the classroom at the start of Guatemala’s school year in January. His mother, Lisseth,* said he had just started making friends when COVID-19 hit the country and the government ordered the closure of all schools.

  Even before the coronavirus pandemic shuttered schools around the world, disrupting the education of almost 1.6 billion students according to UNICEF, classrooms were closed to millions of displaced children.  UNHCR and UNICEF worked with local CSOs in Honduras and Guatemala – as well as Jordan, Kenya and Bangladesh - to provide educational opportunities.

  Similarly, following school closures in Bulgaria, refugee children initially struggled to participate in online education partly because they lacked devices, but also because of the language barrier, according to Borislav Grozdanov, a public information associate for UNHCR in Bulgaria. The Council of Refugee Women and the Bulgarian Red Cross are now providing donated laptops and tablets to refugee families and another NGO, Caritas Sofia, is offering online language courses.

  “All of my five children … are taking part in the online language courses,” said Wisam, a refugee from Syria who now lives in the Bulgarian capital. “I am very happy … they can continue practicing the language. But online courses can’t replace school. My children want to go back to school because they miss their friends and their teachers.”

  For more information see article by UNHCR staff.

  UNHCR and UNICEF – Learning during COVID-19
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  Photo: UNICEF/Madagascar

  UNPP has helped UNICEF in the Analamanga and Boeny regions of Madagascar, working with local partners at a specialised center for boys who have committed petty offenses. UNICEF with partners on the ground have sponsored a life skills program, supported with Danish Telethon funds, during which the young residents have the opportunity to work with peer educators.

  “When I first entered the centre, we considered ourselves prisoners. We follow orders. But the young peer educators listen to us,” said Fanantenana. “When I leave the centre, my dream is to go back to school and live a life far from the drugs and violence of life on the street.”

  According to the center’s director, children who take part in the life skills sessions are less violent and show greater respect to one another. “The life skills sessions and the peer approach used to engage with the boys have had a real impact. The boys feel more accepted and have greater aspirations for their lives,” he said.

  Thanks to Danish Telethon funds, extremely vulnerable adolescents in Analamanga and Boeny regions can benefit from the national life skills programme which aims to give adolescent girls and boys the knowledge and skills to deal with the challenges they face in life, create harmonious relationships between boys and girls, and to live more peacefully in their communities.

  See the full UNICEF article by Karim Hamed

  Over 16 interactive and entertaining sessions they benefit from guidance to improve their self-esteem, create peaceful relationships with others, and learn about a range of topics including gender equality and positive masculinity, sexual and reproductive health and substance abuse.

  These topics have particularly interested many of them as they are closely related to their previous life on the streets. In addition to the life skills programme, UNICEF also supports activities and improved living conditions in the centre through an NGO partner Grandir Dignement (Twitter: @GrandirD).

  Life Skills for Children in Conflict in Madagascar

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  UNICEF and CARE Launch Learning Platform in Egypt