An urban refugee dividend? Rethinking humanitarian aid as WASH investment in Jordan

Since the start of Syria’s prolonged civil war in 2011, refugees have been moving to neighbouring countries, including to Jordan.

Most of the Syrian refugees in Jordan don't live in formal refugee camps, but in urban, peri-urban and rural areas. But these refugees receive only limited support from international organisations, despite a situation where public services struggled to meet demand – even before their arrival.

This working paper presents the findings of a study which compared the provision of water and sanitation (WASH) for Syrian refugees in a camp with those in an urban neighbourhood in Jordan.

It identified how urban refugees are particularly impacted by existing water scarcity, and showed that for a fraction of the cost of installing a network in a camp, many more refugees and their hosts could have benefited from investments in an urban setting – where most refugees are living.

This should inform future decision making about how and where to host refugees in future crises in ways that are environmentally as well as economically sustainable.