No hope of earning an income for Syrian women in Jordan

Aisha Shtiwi Humanitarian, Refugees and IDPs, Women's Economic Empowerment

As decision makers meet in Brussels to discuss the situation of Syrian refugees, Aisha Shtiwi shares the story of Ghozlan, one of millions of women refugees who can’t access work. “Our suffering started when we arrived. I went to every single place to find work in the camp, but no one hired me”, said Ghozlan, a young Syrian woman we …

Turning waste into work in Za’atari refugee camp

Alixandra Buck Refugees and IDPs, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

As Za’atari refugee camp continues to hosts a large amount of Syrian refugees, new recycling initiatives are offering opportunities for work. Soman Moodley and Alixandra Buck, introduce a new case study on the ‘cash for work’ initiative.  Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan is home to nearly 80,000 Syrian refugees. With no immediate prospect of returning home and limited opportunities to …

How recycling helped me regain my purpose

Jasem Al-Wrewir Refugees and IDPs, Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

As a Syrian refugee living in Za’atari Refugee Camp in Jordan, Jasem Al-Wrewir’s opportunities to work are very limited. However, Jasem is using his skills and expertise, developed over a 15 year career in waste management, to improve camp conditions for refugees and minimize environmental impact. Here he reflects on the opportunities and limitations of cash-for-work programmes, as well as …

Cleaning up complexity: Making information useful for all

Grace Lyn Higdon ICT4D, Methodology

In 2015 Oxfam was awarded a Humanitarian Innovation Fund (HIF) grant to support field staff to capture (currently undocumented) informal feedback which is received face-to-face by creatively using ICTs to enable responsive and accountable uses of information. Below Grace Higdon, Project assistance within Oxfam’s ICT in Programme team, takes us through some of the project’s outcomes. n June 2016, Oxfam …