The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has appointed Mr. Michael Ebye Amanya a Ugandan national, to the position of Director of UNRWA Affairs in the Syrian Arab Republic as of February 15 2019.
Mr. Amanya joined UNRWA in March 2017 as Deputy Director of Programmes, Syria Field Office. In that role, he supervised the development and implementation of programmes for the 438,000 Palestine refugees in Syria.
“I am excited to be able to continue building on our work with and for the Palestine refugee community of Syria. After eight years of conflict, Palestine refugees continue to be one of the most vulnerable groups in Syria with immense humanitarian needs,” Amanya said. “I look forward to ensuring that UNRWA continues to provide quality services and emergency assistance to support Palestine refugees.”
Amanya has spent more than 25 years working in the humanitarian assistance field, including with the International Rescue Committee and Action Aid. He was the first Regional Director for the Middle East for the International Rescue Committee (IRC) between 2007 and 2010.
Subsequently, he became the IRC’s Regional Director for the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in 2012 and led a programme that provided assistance to 2.5 million displaced and vulnerable Congolese.
Earlier deployments with IRC and Action Aid saw him develop and implement programmes in response to the Rwandan genocide, Darfur conflict, the refugee crisis in Western Tanzania and internal displacement in Northern and Western Uganda.
Amanya received his Bachelor of Arts in social work and social administration and Master of Arts in social sector planning and management from Makerere University in Uganda.
UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntary contributions and financial support has been outpaced by the growth in needs