Shattered Lives: Challenges and Priorities for Syrian Children and Women in Jordan

"As of 4 June 2013, there are 470,573 Syrian refugees in Jordan. 53% are children under 18 years of age. The majority of Syrian refugees live in host communities in Jordan, mainly in the northern and central governorates. Approximately 120,000 Syrians live in Za’atari camp, Jordan’s largest refugee camp."

The report details the needs of refugees, giving information for the international community to develop a shared response. At the time of publication, United Nations (UN) agencies and international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) provide refugees in camps with shelter and access to basic services. Refugees in host communities also receive assistance from UN agencies and INGOs, as well as community-based organisations (CBOs), and are granted free access to basic public services by the Jordanian government.

It is guided by two overarching questions:

• What are the key challenges in realising the rights of Syrian girls, boys, and women in Jordan?
• What are the priority recommendations for action in the following programme sectors?
  • child protection and gender-based violence;
  • education;
  • water, sanitation, and hygiene;
  • nutrition and health;
  • mental health and psychosocial support; and
  • adolescent development and participation.

Contextual lenses of analysis - gender, age, and area of residence - helped to identify differences in the experiences of Syrian girls, boys, and women. Key challenges are detailed on pages 4 and 5 of the document. [Editor's note: for a summary of the adolescents section, pages 39-41, please see the Related Summary section below.]

Some findings and recommendations related to communication for development are the following (Please see the original document for the entire list of recommendations.):

• Child Protection and Gender-Based Violence
  • Improve identification of and outreach to the most vulnerable Syrian children and women.
  • Ensure that children engaged in the worst forms of child labour and their families receive targeted assistance and support, including access to education and alternative livelihoods.
  • Ensure that the practice of early marriage is addressed through a community-based approach, in particular though the involvement of women, community, and religious leaders.
  • Provide sustainable solutions for boys and girls at risk of recruitment or use by armed groups through vocational training, life skills, formal/informal/non-formal education, and psychosocial support, and engage state and non-state actors to help prevent recruitment.
  • Ensure that all child-protection-related interventions for Syrian refugees in host communities are linked to and help strengthen national and sub-national child protection systems in Jordan.
  • Empower women to take an active part in the prevention of gender-based violence through community-based initiatives on early marriage and domestic violence. Ensure access to services for married adolescents and survivors of domestic violence.
  • Continue to provide "Code of Conduct" training, and ensure all volunteers and staff of agencies working in camps have been trained and signed "Code of Conduct" agreements.
  • Conduct awareness raising and training for humanitarian staff on the protection of refugees from sexual exploitation and abuse, and create an effective complaint mechanism and response system.
  • Build and strengthen community-based child protection committees and empower them with the knowledge and skills to protect children and respond to neglect, abuse, exploitation, and violence including through referral to appropriate agencies. Link community-based child protection committees to other existing structures such as parent-teacher associations, school councils, and child friendly spaces. 
• Education
  • Dialogue with the Government of Jordan to eliminate registration requirements blocking admission to public school in host communities, and advocate for placement exams for Syrian students to ensure they are placed in the appropriate grade levels.
  • Continue outreach on school enrolment in Za’atari camp, and scale up outreach efforts to Syrian families, school staff, and local authorities in host communities. Involve local child protection committees and religious leaders in outreach campaigns.
  • Mobilise Syrian adolescents and local child protection committee members to accompany children to school.
  • Enforce zero tolerance of violence at schools, and train all school staff on positive discipline and non-violent classroom management. Develop a code of conduct for all school staff.
  • Address aggressiveness in students by increasing the number of recreational activities offered, strengthening psycho-social support services, and developing a school-level behavioural modification programme which involves school staff, students, and parents.
  • Support the Ministry of Education in their planning.
  • Support an increase of double-shifted schools and the installation of prefabricated classrooms.
  • Ensure relevant, ongoing teacher training, including for newly recruited teachers for both camps and host communities. 
  • Support the Ministry of Education in establishing services for inclusive education for children with physical, sensory, intellectual, or mental health impairments, and strengthen referrals from schools to psychosocial services.
  • Provide Syrian children with basic school supplies in host communities, and continue to support the distribution of school supplies in Za’atari camp. Advocate with the Ministry of Education to streamline the provision of textbooks.
  • Advocate with donors to dedicate resources to informal and non-formal education for all children who are not involved in formal education. 
• Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) 
  • Dialogue with the Government of Jordan about the growing problem of untreated wastewater from private, basic washing and open pit toilets in Za’atari camp, and agree on treatment options for on-site wastewater.
  • Scale up hygiene promotion activities to reach all refugees in camps, and continue outreach to refugees in host communities. 
  • Mobilise the community in camps to ensure WASH facilities are well maintained through the establishment and support of local WASH committees. Increase awareness about the importance of water conservation and good hygiene with children and families in schools, child and adolescent friendly spaces, and infant and young child feeding centres. 
• Nutrition and Health 
  • Continue to promote breastfeeding for children up to the age of two, and limit access to formula in Za’atari camp (reserving for exceptional medical needs).
  • Reach all mothers with children below the age of two with education about good infant and young child feeding practices, as well as fortified foods.
  • Ensure all Syrian children have access to routine immunisation in Jordan, and support the national campaign against measles and polio. 
• Mental Health and Psychosocial Support
  • Create more child and adolescent friendly spaces that provide structured play, recreation, leisure, and learning activities that are carried out in safe, community supported, inclusive, and stimulating environments.
  • Train Syrian adolescent and adult volunteers on the principles of psychosocial well-being, and provide ongoing mentoring and support for volunteers' own well-being.
  • Provide support to those parents needing help reconnecting with their children, and include parenting sessions in community mobilisation activities.
  • Provide ongoing psychosocial support training and mentoring for Jordanian teachers and Syrian assistant teachers.
  • Train all child protection staff on the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, and ensure that staff adheres to these guidelines. 
  • Build the capacity of CBOs to provide quality psychosocial support to Syrians and to be able to identify people requiring specialised support and referral.