Together We Stand

[ 25 ] diate humanitarian relief, UAE teams worked to address the formidable developmental challenges compounded by the floods. The initial emergency response has been followed by longer-term programming, which now runs at around US$300 million per year. The PAP was officially launched in January 2011 and largely focuses its projects in the Pakistan Federally-Administered Tribal Area (FATA) and the adjoin- ing districts of Buner, Dir and Swat in Malakand Division of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) province. Early projects included the reconstruction of two bridges over the Swat River in the heart of the KPK province, to replace those destroyed in the floods. Both bridges were completed in early 2013 and are designed to resist the effects of earthquakes and floods through strengthened walls and water breakers. The Khalifa Bin Zayed Bridge now connects approximately 70,000 people on either side of the river in the Barikutn area, and the Sheikh Zayed Bridge is able to accommodate more than 4,000 vehicles per day, significantly improving the livelihoods of people in the north-western area of Pakistan. Economic development has been further supported through the construction of two highways in north and south Waziristan, one of which reduces the journey from Karachi to Kabul in Afghanistan by 400 kilometres. The UAE benefits from close cultural and religious links to Pakistan, which helps its development teams to tackle themes and parts of the country that are largely inaccessi- ble to other international aid actors. Through the PAP, for example, the UAE is spearheading vaccination campaigns in the remote tribal areas of the FATA region, where many international vaccination teams have been unable to work. The initiative was launched in 2012, when His Highness the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed al Nahyan, announced a partnership with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to enable the purchase and delivery of life-saving vaccines for millions of children. The tremendous response to the vaccination campaign has meant that, from a relatively modest target of vaccinat- ing 3.6 million in 2013, UAE vaccination teams were able to reach more than 8 million children in that year alone. Demand for vaccinations prompted an extension to the campaign, reaching a total of 13.2 million children in just four months of 2014, with distribution of a further 28.8 million vaccines in early 2015. The UAE has similarly long-standing commitments in Yemen, where aid actors are in the midst of a large human- itarian effort. As well as meeting immediate, short-term needs such as through food distribution programmes, UAE organizations are laying the foundation for the longer-term reconstruction and development effort that will follow, by restoring vital infrastructure. In response to intensified conflict, the UAE greatly scaled up its humanitarian activities in Yemen in 2015. In August of that year, the UAE Red Crescent launched a nation- Supporting Syrian refugees and host communities Working inside Syria and the surrounding countries, the UAE has spent a total of US$599.3 million, and recently committed a further US$137 million, in response to the Syria crisis, implementing projects directly or working with local and international partners. Looking ahead to a post-conflict era, the UAE is also one of the original three contributors to the Syria Recovery Trust Fund, donating US$15.6 million. The main thrust of the UAE’s response to the Syria crisis to date has been in Jordan. In addition to working directly with Syrian refugees, the UAE has endeavoured to improve the country’s resilience to the crisis by committing US$1.25 billion to the Government of Jordan to be disbursed over five years (2012- 2017) in order to help to alleviate some of the pressure on Jordanian infrastructure and public services. Some of the UAE’s assistance programmes further support the country’s resilience by targeting vulnerable Jordanians as well as Syrian refugees. For example, UAE mobile clinics run in partnership with the International Rescue Committee (IRC) provide health care to refugees living in informal tented settlements in remote areas, where they would not otherwise have access to treatment. These clinics, operating in the north of the country, have so far provided medical assistance to 18,000 Syrian refugees and Jordanians. Taking a longer-term view of refugees’ needs, the UAE has supported several educational and capacity-building projects. For example, while continuing to provide emergency shelter and relief at the Mrajeeb Al Fhood refugee camp in Jordan, which is expanding to a capacity of 10,000, the UAE cooperated with the United Kingdom and Norway to provide education and vocational training. In the Duhok and Erbil governorates in Iraqi-Kurdistan, the UAE provided funding to the IRC of US$2 million for a project under the ‘No Lost Generation’ initiative to empower children and young people by providing education and livelihoods opportunities. UAE mobile clinics, run in partnership with the IRC, provide health care to refugees in remote areas Image: UAE Government T ogether W e S tand