UNHCR Egypt Representative Ms. Elizabeth Tan met with 350 teachers from all governorates in Egypt who have benefitted from the Active Learning Training programme, which was successfully implemented from the 31st of October to the 5th of November 2016. The event, held in the Student’s Union building, was organized by UNHCR in collaboration with the Ministry of Education. Ms. Tan thanked the Government of Egypt and the Ministry of Education for their generosity in hosting refugees, as well as giving their children access to public schools. The Representative also thanked the teachers, and acknowledged the efforts and patience they show the refugee children that may face difficulties in adapting in a new environment. Ms. Tan said that UNHCR is committed to support the Ministry of Education in delivering high quality education and ensuring that schools are a safe learning environment for both refugee and Egyptian children.

NilFurat Project aspires to create a common space for learning and intercultural dialogue between women from the local host community and refugee communities in Egypt. Building on the richness of cultural diversity, 70 Egyptian, African, and Syrian women, in Cairo, have been able to acquire training and exchange knowledge through art and production.

UNHCR Egypt extended its reception hours last week and received 3,876 individuals (1,709 families), approaching the office to renew their documents, update their information and add new family members to their records. Continuous verification contributes to a better understanding of the profile and needs of people registered with UNHCR. This exercise has also considerably reduced the waiting period to obtain a renewal appointment in our offices, which decreased from 3 months to 1 month. Additionally, 86 Syrian families also had the opportunity to complete their vulnerability assessment interviews.

UNHCR and the Ministry of Education held the opening ceremony of their joint teacher training programme for 2016. The training focused on developing the required skills for Arabic Language teachers who are working with primary students. The event was attended by Ms. Marian Schilperoord UNHCR Senior Operations Manager who gave a speech about the importance that UNHCR gives to the education of refugees. Ms. Schilperoord thanked the Ministry of Education for its generosity in admitting Syrian and Sudanese refugees in public schools at same footing as Egyptians. While Ms. Mai Mahmoud, UNHCR Associate Protection Officer presented UNHCR’s mandate to help the teachers understand better the circumstances of the refugee student they meet every day in their classroom.

An extension of the grace period until April 4th, 2017 to request free work permits for Syrian workers was announced by the GoJ in late December

The Ministry of Labour confirmed that additional health certificates would not be required for issuance of work permits (22 January 2017).​

In July 2019, the GBV Working Group focused on risk mitigation intervention with the support of UNFPA GBVIE specialist from the roving team. The main purpose of the intervention is to assist humanitarian actors and communities in Jordan to coordinate, plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate essential actions for the prevention and mitigation of GBV across selected sectors of humanitarian response to the Syria crisis. Because of the protracted crisis and the need to strengthen resilience and national capacity this initiative aims as well at involving for the first-time relevant Ministries.

On the occasion of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign, the SGBV SWG organized a joint art event in collaboration with the Greater Amman Municipality under the national theme "Break the silence on Economic violence". Over 400 participants attended the event including the general public, donor agencies, humanitarian and development actors, beneficiaries of the programs and refugee volunteers.

UNHCR in SUDAN ENGAGES IN COVID-19 PREVENTION AND RESPONSE: To protect refugees and IDPs as well as their hosts in Sudan from COVID-19, UNHCR and partners have rolled out a massive prevention, preparedness and response programme. The Agency joined WHO and UNICEF in spreading risk awareness by translating posters in refugee languages, by briefing volunteers and IDP leaders, tens of thousands of text messages sent to urban refugees in Khartoum. In addition, in recent weeks, UNHCR delivered 1 million bars of soap to IDPs, refugees and their most vulnerable Sudanese neighbours. The Agency also established a surveillance system in refugee camps for immediate isolation of potential cases, reporting to the health authorities and subsequent testing. According to the results, so far the virus which is spreading fast in the country has not infected any refugee.

UNHCR’s Age, Gender and Diversity Accountability Report 2020 – People at the Centre: The Intersection of Age, Gender and Diversity. This report reflects the progress made on the core actions under Age, Gender and Diversity (AGD) Policy and presents many achievements and good practices, as well as gaps and challenges that remain in systematically integrating AGD considerations. Please see the report https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/87615 Also please refer to UNHCR AGDs Policy of March 2018 https://data2.unhcr.org/en/documents/details/87614