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Mercy Corps’ programs in Jordan address two critical challenges facing this Arab kingdom: the rising scarcity and expense of water, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable – people with disabilities, refugees, women, and youth.
Promoting Water Savings and Efficiency
While it remains one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, Jordan’s water resources are rapidly depleting. Jordan barely has enough water to meet residents’ daily needs. Mercy Corps is responding to Jordan's water crisis by distributing grants to community-based organizations that use the money as a revolving loan fund for household water savings and efficiency initiatives. Projects include helping residents install rainwater-harvesting cisterns and switch to more effective techniques for irrigating their lands and watering their livestock. Over the project's five-year lifespan, 135 rural community-based organizations (CBOs) have received grants of approximately US$15,000. Mercy Corps’ USAID-funded Community-Based Initiatives for Water Demand Management Project is implemented in partnership with the Jordan River Foundation, a well-respected local civic organization, and the Royal Scientific Society – the largest applied research institution and technical service provider in Jordan. Thirty community based organizations have also received larger, non-revolving grants for communal water demand management projects such as school or mosque rain water harvesting systems.
Through the program, 165 grants have been awarded to community-based organizations to fund water saving and household water-efficiency projects. As a result, water efficiency has increased, benefiting 21,000 people.
Inclusion of Disabled Persons in Jordanian Society
Stigmatization and marginalization of persons with disabilities is still pervasive in Arab culture. According to the World Health Organization, there are 238,000 disabled children in Jordan, but it’s estimated that institutions and community-based organizations serve only 7% of them. An even smaller percentage (1.5%) of disabled children are mainstreamed in elementary schools. Mercy Corps Jordan is providing special educational services to help persons with disabilities become more independent and self-reliant.
Mercy Corps and implementing partner Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development (Zenid) have been working to improve the quality of life for persons with disabilities since 2007. Through the program, persons with severe to moderate disabilities are able to access special education services. The program also covers school fees, supplies, and transportation to school. Additionally, trainings are offered to parents on how to manage their children’s disabilities at home.
With USAID funding, Mercy Corps is working to build the capacity of 75 community-based organizations to include people with disabilities in their existing vocational, educational and recreational programming. The project will use a community-based approach to help these organizations increase access to education, employment opportunities, and give hope for the future to 750 people with disabilities, while engaging family and community members as stakeholders.
Helping Vulnerable Iraqi Refugees
Up to an estimated half-million Iraqis have fled to Jordan since 2003, part of what the UN High Commissioner for Refugees calls "the biggest displacement crisis in the Middle East," in nearly 60 years. Most arrive with little more than the clothes on their backs. The Jordanian people, in keeping with traditions of Arab hospitality, have welcomed fleeing Iraqis — but this small, resource-scarce country is straining to meet their needs.
Most Iraqis in Jordan are not legal residents, and cannot seek formal employment or access government services. Despite Jordan's decision to allow Iraqi children to attend Jordanian schools, enrollment remains low due to cross-cultural difficulties, fears of disclosing illegal residency, overcrowded schools, and regulations that prevent children from enrolling if they've been out of formal school either in Iraq or in Jordan for more than three years. Mercy Corps is helping the most vulnerable Iraqi children by providing positive educational environments for Iraqi children and youth in their new communities.
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