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Our partnership with UNHCR to launch #KnitForRefugees

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Monday, 1 July 2019

We partnered with UNHCR, The UN Refugee Agency and Kniterate to launch a global campaign to proactively and collectively shed light on an important issue facing Syrian and Iraqi internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees in the Middle East North Africa region as winter approaches. 

Currently around 14 million Syrians and Iraqis are displaced in the region: The needs in the region remain significant. Last year, UNHCR was able to reach 3.6 million Syrian and Iraqi IDPs and refugees with winterization assistance. But urgent funding is needed to ensure that life-saving winterization assistance is in place before freezing temperatures grip the region, exposing tens of thousands of families. For many, this will be the ninth consecutive winter in displacement.

UNHCR’s Twitter campaign aims to generate awareness through the power of the service and share a strong call to action by encouraging people to act and make a difference through donations in advance of the winter season. Through a partnership with London-based Kniterate (@Kniterate) the innovative campaign will demonstrate the power of Tweets, as a compact digital knitting machine begins to knit a scarf featuring participating Twitter accounts. 

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The campaign will be rolled out across multiple regions, kicking off in the UAE. UNHCR’s official global account on Twitter @Refugees, Tweeted a video around the cause calling on people to Retweet the Tweet in order to knit the first part of the scarf live on Twitter. The same campaign will be rolled out in several countries in the coming months until winter starts.

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This partnership with Twitter is really significant for UNHCR. Funds raised through this campaign will support our efforts to provide life-saving interventions to the most vulnerable refugees this winter. Every year we see firsthand the desperation faced by refugees in the region during the winter season. We hope that through this initiative, we will not only raise awareness of the plight of refugees but also raise the necessary funds to ensure that no refugee is left out in the cold.

Ayat El-Dewary

UNHCR Officer in Charge in the UAE

‎@ayateldewary‎

Concluding on 30 November 2019, the results of the campaign will be shared during the Global Summit of Refugees in Geneva. 

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