Jordan Response Plan for Syria Crisis funding deficit reached $1.9 billion by August end

AMMAN — Total funding provided by donor agencies to the Jordan Response Plan for the Syria Crisis (JRP) during the January-August period amounted to approximately $373 million, representing 16.4 per cent of its funding requirements amounting to $2.276 billion.

According to the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the funding deficit of the JRP reached about $1.9 billion by the end of August of this year, which represents 83.6 per cent of the annual budget allocated to support Syrian refugees in Jordan, which is estimated at $2.276 billion.

As funding is split between different aspects of the plan, support for host communities reached $85.5 million by the end of August, while support for refugees amounted to approximately $282.6 million. The plan allocated $5.5 million to support infrastructure development and institutional capacity building, but funding for the Treasury support and the COVID-19 response had yet to be secured.

The ministry reported that the US was the leading donor with a contribution of about $106 million, followed by Germany with about $69 million and the European Union with about $27.5 million. The European Union funded projects directly with about $23.2 million, while projects worth about $4.3 million were implemented through the EU Regional Trust Fund for Responding to the Syrian Crisis (Madad Fund)

The Ministry of Planning extended the current 2023 JRP, in line with the needs and priorities outlined in the previous plan. 

The ministries, government institutions, donor agencies and UN organisations agreed to develop a new methodology during 2023 for the 2024-2026 response plans.

The ministry said that the financial needs for the upcoming 2024-2026 plan will be announced after its final preparation, which will involve sectoral teams from relevant ministries and representatives from donor agencies and NGOs. 

These financial needs will reflect the needs of Syrian refugees inside and outside the camps, as well as the needs of the Treasury and host communities, with allocations spread across key sectors.

On the international front, the ministry reiterated that the government will continue to raise awareness about the Syrian crisis and its impact on the Jordanian economy, to highlight the importance of financial commitments from donor countries and the international community, given that part of the decline in funding can be attributed to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

Funding for the JRP in 2022 amounted to approximately $760.3 million, representing 33.4 per cent of the plan’s total funding requirement of $2.276 billion.