Cash for Work Programmes and Syrian Refugees in Jordan
A Jordanian survey was conducted and showed that 1.4 million Syrian refugees are living residing the country which means that more than half of the Syrians living there are not officially recorded in the country nor do they have official papers.
In 2013 a massive number of Syrian refugees fled to Jordan, so to respond to this they opened camps for them such as Azraq and Zaatari which is the largest camp for Syrian refugees with 90.000 residents leading to a great pressure on the infrastructure and resources of the city especially near the Syrian borders this has also put strain on the country’s governmental budget due to its unemployment problems costing the kingdom more than 2.5 billion dollars a year resulting in that the aid they use to provide the refugees with has dropped causing their debt to increase burdening the economy growth . But Jordan had to create job opportunities for the coming Syrian refuges which resulted in unpleased Jordan citizens because now Syrian people were competing with them over job opportunities and consuming their resources which put the kingdom in a critical situation.
In Jordan Syrian refugees aren’t allowed to work without an issued permit from the government as a mean of protecting the labor market so almost 99% of Syrian refugees in Jordan work in informal sectors making them more exposed to abuse. So sometimes as a refugee it is very hard to find a job opportunity in your host country and not feel like a burden, let alone gain a decent income compared to the existing citizens which destroys their dignity and self-pride creating isolation leading to severe social segregation.
As cities suffer from increase in population due to several factors the government tries to supply the residents with their basic needs and resources furthermore trying to solve post urbanization problems such as unemployment and housing shortage. In addition to that governments try to make their cities more livable. Therefore, this has raised the concept of urban regeneration which works by placing the community in the position of deciding what they want to do with their urban spaces. When it is well planned it seeks abandoned spaces in the city and revitalizes them to create a better space. This requires government support, a well followed plan also a dynamic energy such as the local community which would make it more efficient on the longer term while taking into consideration environmental, cultural as well as social aspects. Based on that when creating a design or an intervention for a specific area the most important thing is to include the people in what we call a participatory design process with the goal of creating a place that satisfies their needs because they are the most important factor in such decisions since the quality of a project is measured by how much it facilitates its users lives , as it should be a down up process not an up down one.
As a result, the Jordanian ministry of the environment in partnership with the foundations GIZ* and AVSI** had a collaborative idea to try to integrate the Syrian role in the Jordanian society by providing them a small role in an urban regeneration community participation project in which they get paid for in exchange, through a cash for work programme it is also a way for them to relief stress and eliminate the feeling of being a burden they normally suffer while being estranged in their host communities. The type of work involved creating better situations of green public spaces and Eco urbanism such as renovating public areas in a rural village with around 11,000 residents in the south desert of the Jordanian kingdom.
