Funding for refugee response plan short by 33% in 2017

AMMAN — Jordan on Wednesday urged donor countries to honour their commitments to support Jordan as funding for the 2017 Jordan Response Plan, aimed at helping the Kingdom overcome challenges ensuing from the Syrian crisis, reached around 67.1 per cent of the required amount at the end of last year.

“We thank those who fulfilled their pledges and ask the others to follow suit,” a government official told The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

Funding requirements for the 2017 plan stand at $2.65 billion, but by the end of last year, the total funding reached only $1.779 billion or 67.1 per cent of the total amount, according to figures released by the Jordan Response Platform for the Syrian Crisis.

The official called for continued support to the Kingdom, reterating that Jordan “is doing this on behalf of the international community”.

Of the total funds for the plan until the end of December, $653.7 million was allocated to supporting refugees, $271.6 million for budget support and $854.4 million was earmarked as resilience support targeting host communities.

According to the platform’s website, $337.3 million of the total funding was dedicated for the education sector, $66.9 million for the energy sector and $272.8 million for social protection.

A total of $119.2 million was allocated for local governance and municipal services, $163.9 million for food security and $243.6 million for water and sanitations projects, among
other targeted sectors.

The US topped the list of countries committing funds to the plan with $466.3 million as of December 31, 2017. Germany came second with $233.7 million and the EU third with aid worth $140.6 million.

The UK came fourth with $76.6 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with $68.2 million and Japan ($56.5 million).

The rest was donated by several other countries including Canada, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Finland, Spain, Australia, Qatar, Austria, Sweden, Ireland, Taiwan, Belgium, Poland, South Korea, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and other countries.