WaSH MASTER’S

The UNICEF Representative in Jordan Lectures at GJU

On Monday, April 22, 2019, The Department of Social Work at the Applied Humanities and Languages School (SAHL), at the German Jordanian University (GJU) in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) organized a lecture by its representative in Jordan, Robert Jenkins, to introduce the organization to the students and to highlight the programs and projects implemented in Jordan in the fields of childhood, youth, education and refugees.

During his lecture, Jenkins reviewed in the presence of the President of GJU Prof. Manar Fayyad, the mechanisms through which the organization and its projects operate. Explaining that in the past five years UNICEF has focused on the emergency response to the needs of Syrian refugee children.

He added that UNICEF had supported education and protection services for Syrian children in host communities, camps and water for Syrian refugees in the Azraq and Zaatari camps in cooperation with the Jordanian Government and local partners. Pointing out that the organization is now expanding its programs to include all the most vulnerable children in the Kingdom, regardless of their nationality and status.

He said that despite the positive trends in the country’s human development index, there was still a marked disparity between the various groups in society in terms of access to services and employment opportunities for young people, which were high. Noting that UNICEF is working with the government and local partners to implement their programs, this helps to mitigate these differences.

Jenkins also pointed out that UNICEF is carrying out training programs for the rehabilitation of youth to the labor market to contribute to the alleviation of unemployment rates. Stressing the importance of raising awareness of the impact of early marriage on girls and their children especially their opportunities in education.

He talked about organization’s work plan for the coming years in Jordan, which aims to build multiple long-term companies with the Jordanian government and institutions in various sectors including water, education and social protection. Fayyad highlighted the importance of the lecture which clarifies the role of UNICEF in supporting refugee issues and their suffering. Noting that the university attaches great importance to this issue through its programs such as the EDU-Syria Program which is funded by the European Union Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis (the Madad Fund) and the German Jordanian University, which aims to introduce the international community to the challenges, faced the Syrian students refugees in Jordan and disadvantaged Jordanian students in higher education. She added that the University is designing a new Master Program which is the first of its kind in the Middle East in the field of Humanitarian Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WaSH). The program which is funded by OFDA/USAID and UNICEF, aims to capacity building in Humanitarian Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WaSH) especially in the current refugee crisis. At the end of the lecture, which was attended by the Deans of Architecture and Built Environment School (SABE), the Applied Humanities and Languages School (SAHL), the Head and members of the Social Work Department at the School, a number of questions by the audience were answered regarding UNICEF and its role in refugee issues.