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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The government and the international community on Monday endorsed the 2020-2022 Jordan Response Plan (JRP) to the Syrian refugee crisis at a total cost of $6.6 billion.

The blueprint is the fruit of a multi-stakeholder effort with contributions from ministries, UN agencies, donor nations and NGOs.

It was approved in a meeting attended by Prime Minister Omar Razzaz, a number of cabinet members, foreign ambassadors, the UN envoy to Jordan as well as representatives of a number of UN bodies.

The meeting emphasized that the JRP is the only reference for identifying the needs arising from the crisis and ways to mitigate its overall impact on the country and support host communities and the treasury.

Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said the countries, which host refugees for extended periods of time, are in fact allocating a substantial portion of their resources to cover their prolonged stay, stressing that Jordan will always continue to honor its humanitarian commitments towards the refugees.

However, he added, the Kingdom has borne the brunt of the burdens on behalf of the international community, which requires continued support to ease these pressures.

The prime minister paid tribute to Jordan’s partnership with donor nations and organizations, and said it helped the Kingdom grapple with the socioeconomic challenges arising from the refugee crisis.

He indicated that the Kingdom does not only host 1.3 million Syrian refugees, but a total of about 3.6 million from different nationalities.

Razzaz also said Jordan is pursuing coordination with partners on major steps to support Syrian refugees and host communities and push the national development agenda forward.

"We want to remind everyone that despite the new pressing problems we have at the global level, including the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, the old problems and challenges still exist, and they did not disappear and need to be addressed," the prime minister emphasized.

Razzaz highlighted the Kingdom’s health and economic response to the COVID-19 crisis, and said his government approached the crisis with a view to protecting community health in the first place and helping vulnerable groups and those who lost their jobs.

In this context, he said: "Jordan and the whole world are fighting to combat the pandemic, which requires us to stand together side by side to address this tragic situation that harmed the economy, worsened debts, and raised unemployment rates among Jordanians and Syrians".

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Wisam Rabadi said the JRP complements national plans and is consistent with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Global Compact on Refugees.

The plan, he added, pursues a resilience-building approach targeting all humanitarian and developmental aspects, and includes a chapter on supporting the state’s treasury.

The minister said that the plan comprises three main themes: supporting host communities, institutional capacity building and supporting refugees.

With regard to the sectors targeted by the plan, Rabadi said they include education, health, water and sanitation, social protection and justice, shelter, and public services that include municipal services and local government projects, energy, transportation and environment.

The plan also focuses on economic empowerment through supporting food security and livelihoods, according to the minister.

Breaking down the plan’s $6.6 billion-cost, the minister said $1.9 billion will be required to cover the needs of refugees; $594 million for host communities, $1.2 billion for institutional capacity-building and $2.8 billion needed to support the state treasury.

Rabadi urged the international community to provide adequate funding to the plan and also to the Jordan's urgent budgetary needs. He indicated that the actual international funding to the plan in 2019 amounted to $1.2 billion or 50.4 percent of financing needs, against 63.8 per cent in 2018.

"The response plan is in line with the general policy of the Jordanian state for education, livelihoods, health and protection. This stems from Jordan's ethical responsibility towards the refugees, and its commitment to the United Nations Framework for Sustainable Development, where providing basic services to refugees and preserving their dignity remains among our priorities," Rabadi concluded.