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OTTAWA — Twenty-two young Palestinian refugee women living in Lebanon will undertake undergraduate university studies in that country, thanks to a scholarship fund managed by Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

This year, the Scholarship Fund for Palestinian Refugee Women in Lebanon will enable these young women to undertake or continue their studies in fields such as medicine, biology, chemistry, engineering, business administration, mathematics, and science.

“This unique scholarship fund aims to give hope and ensure a better future to Palestinian women facing difficult economic circumstances in Lebanon,” said Roula El-Rifai, Senior Program Officer in the  Middle East Unit at IDRC. “Precarious living conditions for the Palestinian community in that country have forced many female students who have completed their secondary school to abandon their studies because higher education is too expensive.” 

Established in 2000, the Scholarship Fund has already helped 113 Palestinian women. “The fund has encouraged this group of highly qualified women whose skills are needed by the Palestinian community,” explains El-Rifai. “Their qualifications will be recognized and their employment prospects greatly improved. These women will now be able to improve their lives and contribute to the well-being of their families and their communities”.
 
“Studying was always my dream,” says Nisreen Abu-Ardineh, who is completing an engineering program at Beirut Arab University. She is the first member of a family of six children to pursue higher education. Hana Jaraman, 27, and married at the age of 17, is in her fourth year of a mathematics program. “University was my farthest dream ...my family could only pay for my brother’s education,” she explains.

Statistics show that these students are excelling in their studies, and, as a group, have attained average grades of over 80%.

Since its inception, the Scholarship Fund has raised US$2.2 million and benefitted from contributions by the government of Qatar, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United States, France, Spain, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries Fund for International Development, and IDRC. In Lebanon, the funds are administered by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is one of the world's leading institutions in the generation and application of new knowledge to meet the challenges of international development. For more than 30 years, IDRC has worked in close collaboration with researchers from the developing world in their search for the means to build healthier, more equitable, and more prosperous societies.  
   

2004-03-02

News 14 of 15