13-01-2021 | di COOPI

Jordan. COOPI and AICS alongside families and local organizations

In Jordan, COOPI - Cooperazione Internazionale is engaged since 2020 in the project "Darna - Strengthening community-based social protection and assistance services in the most vulnerable areas in the Governorates of Amman and Irbid" ,funded by the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS). The project - whose Arabic term included in the title means "Our Home" - aims to strengthen community-based social protection and assistance services in the poorest areas of the governorates of Irbid and Amman.

As mentioned before, vulnerable children from both the local and refugee (mainly Syrian) communities are at the center of the activities. Since October, however, the project also targets adults through the establishment of support groups for 80 parents.

The support group meetings, moderated by a psychologist, offer parents a place to socialize, an opportunity to share their experiences helping each other, to connect and network. During the meetings - an addition to facilitating discussion - the psychologist offers awareness-raising sessions on issues such as gender-based violence, child labor, mental health and disability.

Farida is a Syrian woman who arrived in Jordan eight years ago with her husband and the rest of her family. Her 10-year-old daughter Amina, diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, is also a beneficiary of the COOPI project.

Farida tells us: “At first I was skeptical, but I also had high hopes that my daughter's participation in the activities organized by COOPI would be beneficial for her. Now I realize that her improvement, and the new knowledge she is learning during the activities, is actually benefiting our whole family, her brothers and sisters, and also my husband and me. We are learning together with her to accept the situation, to accept the difficulties that life has put in front of us and to cooperate together to overcome them.”

The activities are implemented in four Community Based Organizations (CBOs), two in Irbid and two in Amman. The CBOs are themselves targets of the project. In fact, the project foresees the strengthening of the four local organizations in terms of administrative management, personnel management, financial sustainability and fundraising strategies, through a series of trainings and workshops.

Through the efforts of our local partner, the Noor al-Hussein Foundation, a training on protection principles and standard operating procedures on prevention and response to cases of gender-based violence and child protection was also organized. The training was attended by 32 volunteers from the CBOs that are carrying out the various project activities.

According to Kaed, manager of one of the CBOs in Irbid, "the project carried out by COOPI is different from the others, because it really cares about people and tries to provide for the psychosocial wellbeing of individuals on the margins of the community, trying to create useful life tools for families to cope with daily difficulties and trying to strengthen the bond between the communities, the host community and the refugee community."