UNRWA cuts local salary costs by one-fifth to avoid agency collapse

In response to a desperate funding situation, Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA, has delivered a grim message to his staff: a 20 per cent reduction in working hours per week in all fields of operation. A UN official close to the process tells Development Today that as significant and austere as this cost-cutting measure is, it makes up only a small part of the agency’s financial deficit.