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Jordan

Jordan is considered an anchor of political stability in the Middle East region. The country has extensive experience in hosting refugees, having continuously taken in Palestinian refugees since 1948. According to UNWRA, today there are over two million registered Palestinian refugees living in Jordan. Since 2011, a further 670,000 people have fled the war in Syria to Jordan.

The densely populated Amman. — Many people from Syria have also found refuge in the Jordanian capital Amman. Photo: Engagement Global

About 80 per cent of the Syrian refugees live in Jordanian municipalities, especially in the north of the country. In some local authorities, the population has doubled as a result of their arrival. In many places, municipal services had already reached the limits of their capacity. Welcoming the refugees into society and providing them with services such as energy, waste collection, education and health services then overwhelmed many municipalities. The Kingdom of Jordan is also among the 20 most water-scarce countries in the world. The influx of Syrian refugees is placing additional strain on scarce water resources.

Strong interest in cooperation for water and solid waste management

View of an arid valley in Jordan. A garbage truck is parked next to a landfill. — Managing solid waste is one of the biggest challenges in the Middle East. Photo: Engagement Global

Other major challenges facing municipalities include the treatment and disposal of wastewater, and solid waste management. Among other things, municipalities want to improve the purification of wastewater in the future so that more of it can be reused in agriculture. The recycling of plastic and paper, the collection of recyclable materials and waste avoidance are also important municipal concerns. In addition, Jordanian municipalities wish to use more renewables such as wind and solar. And they would also like to improve education and employment opportunities, especially for women, young people and refugees, and promote social cohesion between locals and refugees.

Because Jordanian municipalities hold the technical expertise of German municipalities in these areas in such high regard, many Jordanian municipalities are very interested in sharing with German partners on these topics and in carrying out joint projects.

Partnerships have already achieved a great deal

Several people stand in a circle in front of a composting plant. — Expert trip of a German delegation to the composting plant of Deir Alla in Jordan. Photo: Engagement Global

Since 2017, nine partnerships between German and Jordanian municipalities have implemented twelve projects, or are still doing so. In some cases, technologically simple solutions have sometimes proved very useful. This is the case for instance in waste management, where long-term solutions can be implemented with little know-how. However, partnership projects also tackle technically demanding challenges. Sharing municipal expertise has enabled them to succeed.

Shared goals with official German development cooperation

As part of its official development cooperation, Germany is supporting Jordan primarily in mitigating the impact of the crisis in neighbouring Syria on Jordan and its population. After the USA, Germany is the second largest bilateral donor in the Kingdom of Jordan. The two sides have been cooperating for more than 60 years. Since 2012, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has provided Jordan with almost 2.5 billion euros.

Bilateral development cooperation focuses on the following priority areas: