EBRD and donors back community clean-up initiative in Amman

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), together with the European Union (EU), Austria, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the TaiwanBusiness – EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund, has partnered with the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) to stage a community clean-up event in Amman, according to a press release. The one-day activity took place at Queen Rania Abdalla Park on 4 July 2026. It gathered young people, families and local stakeholders around sustainable waste management. The initiative promotes environmental awareness and responsible waste disposal. It also strengthens community engagement in Jordan’s capital.

The event brought participants together for a hands-on clean-up of a public park. It ran alongside a public discussion among community members, local authorities and environmental experts on waste management challenges and solutions. Creative activities were organized to raise awareness among children and families. Stakeholders also gathered public feedback on waste management to help shape future awareness campaigns and policy decisions. Attendees included Gretchen Biery, EBRD Director for the Eastern Mediterranean region, Pierre-Christophe Chatzisavas, European Union ambassador to Jordan, and Deputy Mayor of Amman, Engineer Ziad Rihani.

The activity forms part of a broader initiative supported by the EBRD and its donors to improve solid waste management systems and promote sustainable urban development in Jordan. It complements ongoing investments in infrastructure by addressing the behavioral and community dimensions of waste management. The EBRD has worked closely with GAM since 2015, alongside the EU and the EBRD Southern and Eastern Mediterranean Multi Donor Account. That account is funded by Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Spain, Taiwan Business-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund, and the United Kingdom. Joint work has financed energy-efficient and environmentally friendly infrastructure.

Investments include an additional landfill cell at Al Ghabawi landfill and a landfill gas recovery system that generates electricity from waste. Amman has also joined the EBRD Green Cities program, which helps cities identify and address key environmental challenges to improve urban sustainability. Under this program, the EBRD, alongside the GCF and with EU-backed guarantees, is supporting critical investments in solid waste management in Amman. In 2019, the EBRD and the EU implemented a solid waste awareness campaign in 20 public schools in Amman, benefiting more than 2,000 students from Jordan and Syria. These combined efforts underpin the current community engagement drive.

The community clean-up event reinforces these efforts by empowering citizens to take an active role in protecting their environment. It supports the goal of building more sustainable and resilient communities across Amman. The EBRD began operating in Jordan in 2012. Since then, it has provided more than €2.2 billion across 84 projects in the country. More than 70 percent of these have been in the private sector.