Promotion of hygiene in Zaatari Camp

As of September 2017, approximately 80,000 Syrian refugees live in Zaatari Refugee Camp. Today, maintenance of water supply and sewage infrastructure is ongoing. Such maintenance will substitute the current water supply system by water trucks and improve the living condition of refugees in the long term.

However, this construction work also produces dust and soil from digging trenches which bring unsanitary conditions in the Camp.

My name is Amal, and I work as hygiene promotor in Zaatari Camp. In this report, I will introduce our hygiene promotion activity.

The purpose of hygiene promotion activity is to prevent or decrease infectious disease by providing knowledge of hygiene to refugees who live in highly populated Zaatari Camp, where, recently the construction works are having an impact to the daily water and hygiene activities.

By conducting hygiene promotion activity in parallel with water supply and hygiene facility maintenance, we expect synergy effect with cleaned safe water and access to hygiene facilities. We carry out this activity in all areas of the Camp together with other organizations. JEN is in charge of Districts 3, 4, and 5.

Hygiene Promotors of the Syrian community (hereunder, CHP) play an important role in spreading message around hygiene as well. Syrian refugees who take up this role contribute as volunteers to community, without receiving any money for their work.

After receiving training on hygiene-related messaging, CHPs spread these messages through group sessions to people in their neighborhoods. It is their job to spread the messages in their respective areas in charge.

Today, I am trying to increase the number of CHPs so that CHP members can spread hygiene messages by themselves in JEN’s Districts. However, I am facing many challenges in recruitment, training, and maintenance of members.

During recruitment, many refugees show willingness to participate in activity, but only a few can continue working as volunteer.

In addition, there are some other challenges. Local religion considers Volunteering as good deed, but some family ban women to communicate with other refugees, making it impossible for them to participate.

Even for those people who participate in volunteer activity for long time, those who are financially in trouble resigns when they find job that pays.

Ms. Salmais one of active participants of CHP. She lives with her son and husband. She has worked 2 years as CHP. Before she participated in JEN activity, she saw that her neighbors were taking wrong hygiene actions, and felt the necessity for hygiene promotion activity.

She told us that through participation in trainings and activities of hygiene promotion, she made many new friends, improved self-confidence and knowledge.

【Women CHP conducting hygiene promotion session in her own house】

【Meeting with men CHP members in community center】

As it requires time and energy to provide hygiene training to new volunteers, the problem of resignation of volunteers is serious. Sometimes we distribute hygiene goods to CHP and participants for the purpose of motivating participants and providing compensation to CHP member’s free services.

However, when CHP member and participants start to expect to receive hygiene goods, which we are unable to distribute every time, it becomes difficult to continue activity when we have nothing to provide.

Nowadays, we are searching for other ways to spread message other than usual group session, in order to promote willingness of CHP.

For example, one CHP realized that teaching children, who are quick to act and have more time compared to adults, brings positive change to the community. Some of the CHPs who were thinking about resigning changed their mind after participating in hygiene activity for children.

We hope that this new initiatives will be solution to our challenge, and that many CHP work together with us for long time.

【CHP member carrying out hygiene promotion activity to children】

I am proud to work for JEN, which give me chance to be deeply involved in NGO activities and emergency support for refugees. In addition, my experience in working for JEN led to improvement of my skills and knowledge.

By cooperating with my team and trying to improve hygiene action and raising awareness of hygiene of people, I hope that the three sections we are in charge become a good example as cleanest of all camp.

Amal Abuown
Hygiene promotor

△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△

JEN will be there for the most vulnerable households to keep providing the support they need.

【JEN is now accepting donations. Your help would be very much appreciated. DONATE here】

△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△▼△