Rethinking Humanitarian Aid for Refugees as Investment in Urban Water and Sanitation

This project is an international interdisciplinary initiative between engineers and social scientists in Jordan and the UK, designed to bring new knowledge and direction to global policy and practice on the settlement of and assistance to refugees. It addresses the critical issue of forced migration and its impact on natural resources and urban services. The project investigates water and sanitation provision in a refugee camp and a refugee-hosting urban centre in Jordan. It examines the hypothesis that the extensive resources spent on water and wastewater trucking to and from refugee camps in Jordan since the start of the Syrian refugee crisis in 2012 could have provided significant improvements in the quality and quantity of water available to refugees and host populations in urban centres had it been invested in these areas. It also explores the potential knock-on impacts on health and time (particularly of girls and women) for education, leisure and livelihoods. In addition, the project explores the issue of displacement and humanitarian aid. Through taking the costs of camps by modelling what can be achieved with the allocated resources for refugees and their host communities in WASH services and infrastructure.