AdCom Sub-Committee Meeting 17 May 2011

Jordan Field Office

Challenges of poverty reduction in Jordan

AdCom Sub-Committee Meeting 17 May 2011

Jordan Field Office

Field Overview

Jordan currently hosts nearly 2 million registered Palestine refugees which constitute 40% of all registered refugees with UNRWA. In Jordan, 17.5% of these registered refugees live throughout UNRWA’s ten official camps. Additionally approximately 136,000 registered refugees are ex-Gaza refugees. We estimate an additional 150,000 ex-Gaza refugees are not registered with UNRWA.

Children and youth (0-24 yrs) constitute 45% of the registered refugee population. Approximately 90 % of registered refugees in Jordan are also Jordanian citizens under the Jordanian Nationality Law of 1954.

The Government of Jordan has been a generous host:

·  Governmental schools provide basic education to more than half of Palestine refugee children;

·  Ministry of Health subsidize 80% of hospitalization costs for those Palestine refugees who are Jordanian citizens;

·  The National Aid Fund (NAF) provides monthly cash assistance to poor Jordanians, including Palestine refugees.

·  The Department of Palestinian Affairs plays a crucial role in providing infrastructure, social and housing services inside the camps. For this we greatly appreciate the leadership of his Excellency Azayzeh, his deputies and staff throughout Jordan

UNRWA is sensitive to the ongoing social change in Jordan and in the region and how it may impact the Government’s ability to enhance support to UNRWA and Palestine refugees in Jordan to the same degree as in the past. There is pressure on the Government of Jordan to raise civil servant salaries to match inflation and rising living costs, there are also pressures to continue subsidies and to make capital investments to address water shortages and to promote economic investment.

The Jordan Field does not have disaggregated poverty data for Palestine refugees in Jordan and we therefore rely on national statistics. It is safe to assume that poverty inside the camps is higher because of limited employment opportunities in the camps and high mobility outside the camps. Using national statistics we estimate that 266,000 refugees live in poverty in Jordan while we are only able to modestly serve 54,000 people.

13.3% of Jordanian citizens live below the poverty line. 57% of the poor live in Amman, Irbid and Zarqa areas, all areas where there are significant refugee populations. The average household consumption of meat and poultry has declined by 42% between 2006 and 2008, and the consumption of vegetables has declined by 20%. This indicates possible rising trends in food insecurity and has adverse consequences for the health status of the population.

Our challenge in the upcoming FIP:

Our current response to the most vulnerable refugees is limited in scope and impact. Furthermore it is unsustainable as the SSN programme is not funded through the GF and it’s funding for 2012 and beyond is currently unconfirmed.

Our information about the most vulnerable refugees will be greatly bolstered by the first study in more than a decade of the socio-economic conditions of Palestine refugees in Jordan through the FAFO project. The DPA has commissioned a comprehensive survey of the camps with the generosity of three donors. A survey of refugees living outside the camps will give a broad understanding of poverty among the whole Palestine refugee population. Such data will allow us to provide better-targeted services.

Poverty is the greatest challenge currently facing the Jordan Field. Our efforts to address this issue will be heightened over the coming biennium while we seek to continue providing basic services to an increasing refugee population with a decreasing budget.

Findings from the Situation Assessment

In the past year we have conducted in-depth analysis on our cost by installation (100+) and personnel structure: 93% of the budget goes to service delivery, and 92% of the staff is engaged in direct service delivery to beneficiaries. This leaves the Field with limited options to cut costs without affecting levels of services. We are reviewing spending and service delivery targets on a monthly basis and have greatly improved our financial and human resource management.

Every year, approximately 2.8% of students leave UNRWA schools before completion of the school year. 70% of these students drop out without finishing the basic education cycle. Every year an estimated 2,300 children leave UNRWA schools with limited qualifications, thereby jeopardizing their future. The JFO is currently working to improve the physical environment of the schools. Many of the schools are dilapidated and physically unsafe, prompting many parents seeking educational alternatives (Government or private schools). Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that poverty is the main cause that takes children away from the classroom.

Successes identified in the FIP

Unlike other Fields, the JFO had no major flagship intervention in the last FIP and therefore cannot point to one significant success. This is a symptom of declining resources and difficulties in attracting donor funding for projects in Jordan. Nevertheless, with the commitment of 7,500 staff, we have a series of achievements that contributed to improving the quality of services to our beneficiaries:

1.  Elimination of floating classrooms: 18 additional classrooms are being constructed in 2010-2011. Once the construction is finished, there will be no more floating classrooms in UNRWA schools in Jordan, meaning that children will no longer be roaming the halls or studying outside because of a lack of classrooms in some schools.

2.  There has been a step-change in programme-oriented result-based budgeting enabling our managers to allocate resources more efficiently.

  1. The Health Department successfully implemented the e-health system at Nuzha Health Centre (HC), and will roll it out to five additional HCs before this year ends.
  2. The antibiotic prescription rate shows a decline from a baseline of 32% in 2009 to 29.4% at the end of 2010.
  3. Quality of laboratory services has increased with the replacement of old laboratory equipment with automated analysis equipment.
  4. 5,130 unsafe school desks have been replaced to increase the safety of children and eight schools were rehabilitated to meet safety standards.
  5. Employability rate of our Vocational Training Centre graduates remains high (85% for men and 90% for women) and out of the 100 best graduate teachers nation-wide, 90 were from UNRWA Faculty of Education, Science and the Arts.

In the next biennium, the JFO will focus its efforts on the following priorities:

Maintaining the existing levels of core services to the greatest extent possible, and addressing the most critical safety and security issues. For example, the Field will focus on rehabilitating additional unsafe school buildings. The Field also seeks to improve the safety and security of children while at school through critical changes to the layout of the buildings. We also strive to replace rented schools with purpose-built schools that will provide economies of scale and a proper learning environment. Overall, we will continue to address crucial challenges in quality of service delivery.

With the current income projections, we expect a deficit in the draft budget for 2012-2013 despite a series of austerity measures including headcount and capital improvement freezes. Such austerity measures can only partly relieve financial pressures and would further degrade the quality and quantity of our services.

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