World Bank provides US$8.8 million to support Jordanian municipalities scale-up service delivery and deal with the COVID-19 impact

The Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and the World Bank virtually signed an US$8.8 million grant agreement to support Jordanian municipalities affected by the influx of Syrian refugees to scale-up their delivery of services and employment opportunities to Jordanians and Syrians. The grant will also contribute to offset the adverse impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the delivery of municipal services in Jordan.

Jordan is currently hosting nearly 1.3 million Syrian refugees, more than 80 percent of whom live in host communities. This has significantly strained the country’s systems and added pressure on basic service delivery in water, sanitation, electricity, solid waste management, health, and education.

This new grant represents the third additional financing to the Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project, initially launched in October 2013 as an emergency operation to help Jordanian municipalities address the immediate service delivery impact of refugee influx and strengthen municipal capacity to support local economic development. The cumulative contributions under this project since 2013 amounted to over US$102 million.

“Municipalities have an important role to play, not only in delivering services to host communities and refugees but also in building resilience at the local level,” said Saroj Kumar Jha, World Bank Mashreq Regional Director. “With the support of the international community, Jordan has demonstrated a commendable resolve and ability to address the strain of the refugee crisis by providing immediate emergency humanitarian assistance and then shifting to building the medium-term resilience of communities with a stronger focus on institutional and systems development.”

Implemented by the Ministry of Local Administration in coordination with the Cities and Villages Development Bank, this additional grant is financed from the Multi-Donor Municipal Services and Social Resilience Trust Fund, comprising of the United Kingdom Department of International Development, as well as the Governments of Canada, the Netherlands, and the United States Agency for International Development, which is being administered by the World Bank.

The project has also successfully launched an Innovation Fund which provides competitive grants for sub-projects based on criteria such as labor-intensive works and high share of women and youth as direct beneficiaries, as well as collaboration across municipalities with other stakeholders. Of the 30 proposals submitted by 25 municipalities at the concept stage, nine proposals have been approved for funding. These include, sub-projects with social and economic benefits such as a sewing factory, a product exhibits, tourist area development, parks, and community centers, among others.

Original source: World Bank