Program Details: Jordan

Suleiman Al-Saedine works with a baby goat. He is training to become the head of a farming cooperative. Photo: Mercy Corps Jordan

Mercy Corps programs in Jordan address two critical challenges facing the Arab kingdom: the rising scarcity and expense of water, and the strain and tensions arising from the presence of hundreds of thousands of Iraqi refugees.

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 because of several factors, including 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 relief items and educational opportunities. In this effort, we strive to also include Jordanian beneficiaries — both to address their needs and to minimize tensions between the two populations.

With support from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in 2007 we fed more than 150-200 daily during Ramadan through our local partner Tkiyet Um Ali, and delivered monthly food packages to 530 families. Today we're partnering with the Community Centers Association to provide cash assistance, counseling and vocational and life skills training to those in need. UNCHR is also supporting our efforts to help Iraqis and Jordanians with disabilities lead independent, integrated lives in their communities by supporting activities of the Jordan Hashemite Fund for Human Development/Queen Zein Al-Sharaf Institute for Development (JOHUD/ZENID), the largest Jordanian nonprofit organization. Together we've crafted "Independent Living Plans" for more than 500 people with disabilities and organized four Peer Empowerment Support Groups — two for adults and two for youth — where participants share experiences, build confidence, and devise strategies to increase their independence.

We're providing positive, educational environments for Iraqi children and youth in their new communities through informal and non-formal studies funded by the U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. Our local partners are Questscope, an international nonprofit specializing in supporting at-risk Arab youth, and JOHUD/ZENID.

Fostering Learning Options in Al-Salt
With government education programs stretched to the limit in many parts of Jordan, children have no opportunity for constructive play or learning after school. Yet informal education and recreation opportunities are instrumental to a child's growth. Mercy Corps is testing a program for after-school programming developed by the Middle East Children's Institute (MECI) in the rural community of Al-Salt. With support from the MECI and the Abu Hassan family (a well-established family originally from Salt), the program aims to reach 200 elementary school children in its first year, as well as work with 15 young women from the area to gain experience and skills and lead an oral history preservation initiative.

This program represents a unique partnership among Mercy Corps, MECI, the Ministry of Education, UNICEF and the Abu Hassan family in cooperation with the Municipality of Salt.

Promoting Water Savings and Efficiency
While it remains one of the most stable countries in the Middle East, Jordan is one of the ten most water-deprived countries in the world. The increasing scarcity and cost of water in Jordan is a serious challenge, particularly for rural households. Over the next two decades, a growing population, a fractious regional political context and climate change are expected to exacerbate water shortages.

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 to 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, more than 120 rural community-based organizations will receive grants of approximately US$10,000.

Mercy Corps leads this USAID-funded project — called Community Based Initiatives for Water Demand Management — with two partners: 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. Recent support from development contractor DAI enabled us to expand this program to another seven community-based organizations.

By July 2008, Mercy Corps had delivered training, grants, and follow-on support to 70 community organizations in eight governates — who had in turn made nearly 400 loans to households. In one three-month period, data from 30 community organizations showed they'd saved the equivalent of a year's worth of water for 180 Jordanians through a combination of water harvesting and better maintenance of residential plumbing networks.

Last updated: July 2008