UNRWA AND THE PALESTINE REFUGEES: A GENEALOGY OF "PARTICIPATORY" DEVELOPMENT

This article traces the evolution of the approach of United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) to refugee participation over the past 60 years through a discussion of the Agency's programmes and its relationship with the refugees it serves. The article identifies a range of participatory approaches: participation in economic reintegration; participation in the management and delivery of Agency services; participation in project planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation; and stakeholder participation. The article illustrates how the evolution in UNRWA's approach to participation represents a significant shift in the Agency's relationship with the Palestine refugees. While UNRWA traditionally viewed participation as a means of programme implementation, the new approach acknowledges participation as a human right with the primary objective of empowering refugees to realize their rights and improve social equity within the framework of the Agency's mandate, values, and other UN principles. The article concludes that the fundamental challenge for stakeholder participation will be to find ways to facilitate the participation of refugees in the search for and realization of durable solutions to their long-standing plight.