Contribution from Dutch lottery

Yesterday, we received a 2.125 million euro donation from the National Postcode Lottery (NPL), the main charity lottery in the Netherlands, for a joint project in Sierra Leone of UNHCR and its main Dutch NGO partner, Stichting Vluchteling. The project aims at helping Sierra Leonean refugees return to their country, as well as supporting Liberian refugees in Sierra Leone. Additionally, UNHCR received an unearmarked one million euro donation from NPL director Boudewijn Poelmann. UNHCR has been one of the Lottery's 45 beneficiaries since 2003, when it received a one million euro donation. The NPL is the top private fundraiser for charity in the Netherlands. It devotes 60 percent of its net income to work in the fields of nature preservation and ecology, development co-operation, human rights and refugees.