'Jordan needs $3.2 billion to deal with impact of Syria crisis in 2014'

[BLACKEAGLE]

Despite the limited resources and economic challenges in Jordan, the country has been doing all that is in its power to meet the urgent needs of Syrian refugees since the beginning of the crisis, a government official said on Monday.

Planning Minister Ibrahim Saif said the government has estimated the cost of hosting over 600,000 refugees at around $1.7 billion, including operational and capital investments.

In addition, “accommodating 1.1 million Syrians requires the budget allocation of $389.2 million annually to provide subsidised items and services”, Saif noted at the UN Emergency Directors and Donor meeting in Amman, which included representatives of countries hosting Syrian refugees.

According to a UN provisional overview of the funding gaps that was reviewed at the meeting, the total requirements for Jordan to mitigate the impact of the Syrian crisis is $2.1 billion for the current year ($1.3 billion for humanitarian areas, $741 million for development) and $3.2 billion ($1.95 billion for humanitarian requirements, $1.26 billion for development) for the year 2014.

Saif said the government has taken the decision to allow all Syrian students to register at public schools and “this has resulted in around 78,531 Syrian children enrolled in schools, while 70,000 children [are] out of school”.

The minister noted that Jordan provides healthcare services to Syrians free of charge, and these services are heavily subsidised.

He expressed the country’s appreciation for the international community’s support, but noted that “the funding gap is large”.

The one-day meeting aimed to urge donors to respond and provide support to meet the increasing demands and mitigate the impact on the host countries: Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey.

Saif expressed the country’s concern over the increased number of job seekers in the Jordanian labour market brought about by the protracted Syrian crisis.

“In many of Jordan’s northern cities, refugees are competing with Jordanians for low-wage jobs,” the minister said, adding that according to UNDP estimates, out of the 44,000 Syrian refugees of working age, no less than 30,000 refugees have found a job, half of them in the governorates of Irbid and Mafraq.

He also cited International Labour Organisation figures, which estimate that approximately 160,000 Syrians work in Jordan, mainly in the construction, agriculture and services sectors.

“These regular and irregular workers are competing for jobs in areas where about 15.6 per cent of the population is unemployed,” Saif said.

Addressing the meeting John Ging, chair of the Emergency Directors Group, said: “We are seeking to have [a greater] international response to support host communities and deliver in the most effective way.”

Nigel Fisher, the regional humanitarian coordinator for the Syrian crisis, said as a consequence of the conflict in Syria over two million refugees, the majority of whom are under 18 years old, have fled Syria.

Fisher noted that in context of this protracted multidimensional crisis, immediate humanitarian interventions, both national and international, “must be accompanied by concurrent recovery interventions to offset the measurable impact of the crisis”.

He said that while there are clear limitations to a full analysis at this stage of the Syrian crisis, it is nevertheless possible to draw a set of preliminary conclusions and make initial recommendations.

The recommendations he listed include developing a comprehensive strategy based on a shared regional understanding and approach to target three groups — refugees, affected national population and host governments — developing a joint top-level monitoring framework at national and regional levels, developing costing methodology and developing mechanisms for national leadership and coordination.


Support



•During 2013, Jordan received direct support of around $254.9 million distributed mainly on education (50%), health (27.3%), water (9.8%), municipalities (7.9%), energy (3%) and protection (2%)

•Under the Regional Response Plan, donors have contributed to financing 53% of what was requested for UN agencies in Jordan ($513.4 million)

•The NGOs submitted proposals to the government to implement projects worth $70 million
http://jordantimes.com/jordan-needs-32-billion-to-deal-with-impact-of-syria-crisis-in-2014