UNFPA Jordan calls for urgent financial support

AMMAN — The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), on Monday issued an urgent appeal for $7 million in additional funds to meet the sustainability of the humanitarian programme UNFPA Jordan and its partners are carrying out and to meet the needs of the growing number of Syrian refugees arriving in Jordan, especially women and young girls.

A statement e-mailed to The Jordan Times said the funds that were given to UNFPA Jordan for the past two years are almost finished, and until now the agency has not received any new funds for 2015. 

This “will threaten the sustainability and continuity of the huge humanitarian work and services UNFPA and its partners have been providing since 2012”, the statement said.

“Getting extra funds is an important and major component right now to cover the emergency needs of Syrian refugees entering Jordan and sheltering mainly in the camps and surrounding communities in Jordan, and for the sustainability of all UNFPA services provided in the past two years,” the statement quoted UNFPA Humanitarian Coordinator Dr Shible Sahbani as saying.

He noted that UNFPA will provide services in more than one clinic in the newly inaugurated Azraq camp.

“One of the main challenges we at UNFPA Jordan are facing with the limitation of funds is the planning process, as instead of the yearly planning we are now working on semi-annual planning,” Sahbani added. 

UNFPA Jordan said it has been active from the onset of the crisis in responding to the needs of the Syrians both in host communities and in the established camps, as well as the “reproductive health needs of women and girls and to ensure high quality life-saving protection services”. 

To date, UNFPA and its partners are supporting 27 women’s clinics, and the agency is the only organisation providing normal delivery services in the Zaatari Refugee Camp through specialised male and female gynaecologists since mid-2013, the statement said.

UNFPA and its partners are also supporting 14 safe spaces for women and young girls; seven of them are in the camps and provide “comprehensive psycho-social support on gender-based violence issues, in addition to many recreational edutainment activities” for young people aged between 15 and 25.

In its appeal, UNFPA thanked all its donors, especially the European Commission’s Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection department, the Norwegian government, Kuwait, the US, UNFPA Programme Funds and the UN Central Emergency Response Funds.