In August, UNHCR and implementing partners in Kakuma distributed 130,000 reusable facemasks donated by the Government of the United States.

The National Council of Churches in Kenya (NCCK) donated medical equipment and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to UNHCR health partners in Kakuma to enhance the fight against COVID-19. The donation includes pulse oximeter, oxygen concentrators and cylinders, suction machines, infrared thermometers and assorted PPE.

In a press release, UNHCR urged more support for refugee higher education to withstand the impact of COVID-19 pandemic. UNHCR published its annual DAFI report on 28 September highlighting data on refugee tertiary enrolment.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi concluded his visit to Syria and Jordan with a pledge to maintain assistance to the most vulnerable as the situation in Syria continues to be extremely difficult for Syrian and refugee populations. Following a recent spike in COVID-19 infections in Syria and Jordan, including the first six confirmed cases in Jordan’s two main Syrian refugee camps, UNHCR continues to ramp up measures to confront and contain the spread of COVID-19 among UNHCR’s persons of concern.

Rozma Ghafouri, 29, an Afghan refugee living in Iran, won the 2020 Nansen Refugee Award for the Asia region, for her commendable work helping children at risk in Shiraz, Iran. As a football coach and a youth counsellor, she draws on her own at-times harsh childhood to get young refugees and undocumented Afghans aged between 11 and 15 – out of work and back into school.

UNHCR's report on consequences of underfunding, released on 18 September, describes the COVID-19 pandemic as a ‘force multiplier’, increasing the needs of the displaced population including refugees in many countries while also making those needs more difficult to address.

IKEA Foundation contributes $3.5 million to support FAO's work with refugees and host communities in eastern Africa: FAO, in collaboration with UNHCR proposes to strengthen partnerships between the public and private sectors to address the development challenges faced by refugee hosting countries, and promote sustainable and inclusive socio-economic development. The project is funded by the IKEA Foundation who will provide $3,500,000 over a period of 4 years. After exploring innovative joint approaches for the delivery of CRRF in Africa, a collaboration was established with selected private sector entities for the development of value chains that can provide a lucrative, yet fairly risk-free market engagement of vulnerable populations in displacement setting, while also contributing to socio-economic integration of refugees. Targeting Kenya and Uganda, the partners in this project include private sector partnership (INSTA and KadAfrica), the Office of the Prime Minister, Ministries of Agriculture, UNHCR, WFP, ICRISAT and Egerton University.

Progress related to the Global Compact on Refugees (GCR) in Ethiopia – as expressed in the Government of Ethiopia’s pledges at the 2016 Leaders’ Summit and subsequent pledges – gives cause for optimism. The promise of working towards an effective enabling environment and real tangible results for refugees and host communities has been furthered by two major advancements in 2019: The promulgation of a new Refugee Proclamation (No 1110/2019), allowing for increased freedom of movement and opportunities for the right to work; and the four (4) new pledges Ethiopia made as a co-convener of the December 2019 Global Refugee Forum (GRF). Ethiopia continues to show a firm commitment to the spirit of the GCR and was an early leader in pursuing the CRRF – a promise that is clearly enduring. https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-2019-pledge-progress-report-summary

A series of fires at the Reception and Identification Centre in Moria (Lesvos, Greece) on 8-10 September left 12,000 asylum-seekers and refugees without shelter. UNHCR is supporting the government-led response by scaling up immediate support to this urgent crisis and is seeking to mobilize additional resources to prevent the spread of COVID-19 through adequate health and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) capacity.

80% of protection clusters (21 out of 26) report escalating conflict and/or political instability since the outbreak of COVID-19. This is undermining efforts to curb the spread of the virus, triggering new displacements, reducing safe access to vital health and sanitation services and impeding life-saving protection and humanitarian services.