UNDP work in Syria in context of Syria Strategic Response Plan

NEW YORK, Jan 26 (KUNA) -- UN Development Programme (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark said their work in Syria takes place in context of Syria Strategic Response Plan, and offers emergency livelihood and other support with a focus on most vulnerable, including female-headed households and people with disabilities.
During the first regular session of the UNDP Executive Board, Clark confirmed that almost four years into the crisis in Syria, nearly 200,000 people have been killed, close to seven million are internally displaced, and more than three million have fled to neighboring countries.
The fighting, she added, has drastically rolled back the country's human development and pushed over three-quarters of the population into poverty - 4.4 million people are estimated to be living in extreme poverty.
Clark stressed that host communities in neighboring countries have struggled to cope with very large numbers of refugees. "I witnessed the pressure last September, during my visit to Lebanon with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres." The officials visited joint UNDP-UNHCR initiatives designed to help the local economy and create jobs, and "we are both strong advocates for support for the neighboring countries." UNDP is involved in similar work in Jordan, which, like Lebanon, has one of the highest numbers of refugees per capita in the world. In Iraq, which faces a complex overlap of refugee and internally displaced people crises, as well as in Turkey and Egypt, which also host large numbers of Syrian refugees, she added.
During her speech, she urged all partners to put their full weight behind the Syria Strategic Response Plan for 2015, and the Regional Refugee and Resilience Plan (3RP), which were launched in Berlin, Germany, in December.
Furthermore, Clark touched upon engagements Central African Republic, South Sudan, which she said the situation there continues to be very challenging.
"Our work with the National Platform for Peace and Reconciliation and other partners aims to expand the space for grassroots-level dialogue aimed at fostering peace and reconciliation, complementing the official peace talks at the leadership level," she said.
She also briefed about the UNDP's work in Yemen, Mali, Ukraine Philippines and other countries and crisis such as Ebola.
Nevertheless, Clark affirmed that 2015 is a critical year for global action on development.
UNDP is fully committed to playing its part in making 2015 a launch pad for stepped up efforts to advance human, sustainable, and resilient development for all countries and peoples, she concluded. (end) mao.bs