Jordan Situation Report | November 2024

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Residents of Jordan confront a number of challenges, with hardships falling particularly hard on refugees. About half of all refugees in Jordan are under the age of 18. The poverty rate among Jordanian citizens is nearing 16%, and soars to 80% for Syrian refugees. Domestic violence is a major problem in Jordan. Almost three-quarters of women and girls have experienced some form of abuse. Nutrition for young children does not meet international standards, with only 26% of babies under 6 months old being exclusively breastfed. In education, Syrian refugee children are significantly falling behind. In refugee camps like Za’atari and Azraq, most children aged 10 to 12 are unable to read a simple story.

Social Services for Refugees

Jordan relies heavily on external programs to fund resources for refugees. Troublingly only 32% of UNRWA funding for the 2024 emergency appeal was met, leaving thousands of households without proper life-saving winter resources: hygiene kits, warm clothes, and blankets. A devastatingly cold winter is forecast – with temperatures expected to drop as low as 6 degrees Fahrenheit — the coldest temperatures in 40 years. This looming winter season poses a grave danger to people without access to protection from the elements.

There is also a significant funding gap for the international agreement to support Syrian refugees in Jordan. By mid-2024, only 7% of the nearly $2 billion required had been pledged. This marks the lowest level of international support for Syrian refugees since the plan’s inception in 2015, jeopardizing a decade of progress of integrating refugees into national health and education systems.

The neglect of social services for refugees leaves families in a perpetual limbo, unable to integrate into Jordanian society or to seek a better life elsewhere, given the extremely limited opportunities for resettlement.

Food Security and Nutrition

Nearly three-quarters of Jordanians report concerns with food availability and affordability, while two thirds report that they regularly run out of food before they can afford to buy more. The distribution of food, as with warm clothes and hygiene kits, is dependent upon external actors collaborating through projects to coordinate distributions.

Emigration, Economy, Livelihoods

Driven primarily by limited economic opportunities, the percentage of all Jordanians expressing a desire to leave the country has jumped from 22% to 42% since 2016. Young adults are especially inclined to emigrate, with 54% considering leaving.

The World Bank predicts economic growth will slow to 2.4% in 2024, due to ongoing hostilities in the region, and real GDP growth continues to decline as critical sectors are hit hard by escalating conflict: trade in the Red Sea, transport, communication, manufacturing, retail, hospitality.

Health

Jordan is finalizing a new advanced central warehouse for medicines and medical supplies, a 4,800 square meter expandable facility with 24 refrigerated vans for resource distribution. The warehouse will streamline aid distribution and access to medical supplies across the country.

Water, Sanitation, Hygiene

Jordan is the second most water-scare country in the world, as its agriculture consumes over half of the supply that it shares with other countries, so Jordan provides just 17% of the amount of renewable water per person it should be delivering annually. Pumping water up to 200 miles away into the city, including the leakages and unmetered use, is a tremendous cost.

Anera’s Response

Anera’s product donations team delivered docetaxel to Jordan’s Ministry of Health to treat different types of cancer. Anera is also coordinating a shipment of lanadelumab injection for patients with a rare genetic disease into Jordan – both shipments are donated by Direct Relief.

Through Anera’s Empowering Health project, supported by UMCOR, over 9,000 treatments and lab tests have been made accessible to Syrian refugee patients.

Our efforts to support food security and livelihoods through our rooftop gardens project continues, constructing rooftop gardens and providing agricultural training in Marka and Wehdat.

Through the Youth for Sustainable Environment project, Anera will empower active contributions from youths to work towards sustainable green development via WASH practices, green skills, and community engagement. Supported by the Alumbra Innovations Foundation through the David Rock Middle East Water Fund, the project prepares 30 youth from Zarqa city with hands-on skills, green entrepreneurship strategies, and behavioral changes necessary for technical and vocational training.

Finally, our Youth Entrepreneurial Pathways for Resilience project, supported by Abdalllah Ghurair, offers vocational skills training for refugees that will allow them to earn an income and find employment. The project will engage 125 youths in Souf and Jerash refugee camps, providing training in tracks for plumbing, digital skills, hospitality, and tourism.

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