Women Cleaning Public Spaces

I am responsible for coordinating activities that refugees take part in to reduce conflict in JEN’s assistance. In this article, I would like to introduce our current work and challenges in which I am involved in.

In Za’atari camp, refugees are actively working for humanitarian agencies. JEN, in charge of WASH cluster, recruited refugees for cleaning public spaces, distributing water, and constructing sewer pipes as a part of maintaining a hygienic environment in local communities.

JEN opened doors to refugees for joining cleaning public space in one of three districts where JEN has been responsible for WASH since 1 November 2013. By 1 January 2014, JEN had expanded this opportunity to the remaining two districts and launched new one in schools.

However, as JEN withdrew from school cleaning in mid-September, 2015, as a result depriving female refugees of working opportunity. To deal with this issue, JEN proposed that female refugees clean spaces between houses that had not been focused in former projects. Women who were divorced or widowed were eligible for this project.

While there were only five female participants in pilot case, five months later, there were 20 people including three leaders are in this project, and the project expanded into the other two districts.

Considering female are not welcomed to work in public places due to religious reasons and most work within the camps such as in security and construction are for male workers, we limited the number of male participants in this particular project. Female participants told us that they were glad to have this opportunity and that the hygiene of that community had improved as a result.

In Za’atari camp, main focus of assistance has been moving from emergency to development. It is not clear when refugees can go back to Syria. I personally would like to develop this project especially for vulnerable women in order to help the Syrians stand on their own feet. I hope the crisis in Syria will end soon and people can return to their homeland.
【Before and after cleaning between houses】
  

【Female refugees are cleaning spaces between houses】
 

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