In August 2013 REACH, funded by the British Embassy in Amman, began an assessment aimed at facilitating more evidence-based assistance to host communities in northern Jordan. As part of this process, on January 19th 2014 REACH launched the first of a series of coordination workshops with government officials across northern Jordan. The purpose of these workshops is to identify what government officials feel are the service areas which require the most urgent international assistance in order to meet expanding demands caused by the increased Syrian refugee population in their respective governorates.
The first of six workshops took place in Ajloun and was chaired by Governor Dr Mohammed Smeran, who expressed his support and shared vision for more targeted and coordinated investments
In the next two weeks, workshops will also take place in Balqa, Irbid, Jarash, Mafraq and Zarqa.
“I would like to thank REACH for organizing this workshop, which I see as the starting block for addressing key issues in Jordan that are related to the Syrian crisis”, he said.
“It is important not to forget the dialogue started here today. These workshops are to set the momentum for closer collaboration between REACH and the Jordanian local government in order to ensure that aid provided by the international community is better targeted and more effective. Specifically as a result of this programme, REACH expects to provide a sharper picture of the needs and capacity constraints of our Jordanian local government counterparts at the local level to meet the extra demands placed upon them by the Syrian crisis,” Adam Bergman, REACH Programme manager.
