Cash assistance and refugee solidarity help the most vulnerable refugees cope with exacerbated challenges

Thanks to funding from the European Union, through the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, the Madad Fund, vulnerable refugee families like Ibtesam’s receive much needed cash assistance.

By Evie Prastakou  |  16 Feb 2021

In a small two-bedroom apartment in northwest Amman, Ibtesam and her family have found a place to call home.  They fled their home in Baghdad, Iraq in 2016 as a result of the deteriorating security situation and the increasing threat of children being kidnapped from schools. Two years later, when Ibtesam met Kafi and her three children, who came from the same neighbourhood in Baghdad and had no income of their own, she offered them their second bedroom as a place to stay. Since then, the two families, 11 individuals in total, have been living together. 

“We share everything we have with them, as they don’t have any income,” says Ibtesam. Meanwhile, both families are kindly offered free Wi-Fi by their Syrian neighbours. 

This chain of solidarity, of refugees helping other refugees, is not uncommon in Jordan. With little income and few livelihood opportunities, especially for non-Syrian refugees who are not able to get work permits, refugees are often forced to make difficult choices in order to meet their basic needs. 

Since they arrived in Jordan, Ibtesam, 55, has been juggling taking care of her four children and disabled husband, Ahmed, while at the same time cleaning houses to earn some money. She relies on a network of friends to find daily work opportunities, but her availability depends on her eldest son Mustafa’s health condition.   

When they arrived in Amman, Mustafa, 15, was bullied and beaten up at school. The injuries in his head caused health issues, weakness and frequent fainting. Mustafa needs continuous care and can’t often be left alone due to his condition, meaning reduced work prospects for his mother: “I will find any solution, even working at night, so that I can care for Mustafa during the day, just to cover the rent.” 

The money she earns, though, is hardly enough and one year ago the family appealed to UNHCR to see if they were eligible for UNHCR’s monthly cash assistance. UNHCR identifies refugee families in need, using a context-specific framework to assess their economic vulnerability. Through this approach, UNHCR and partners target families and enable them to meet, at a minimum, their most basic needs, by providing monthly cash assistance. 

Now Ibtesam and her family receive JD 140 in cash assistance from UNHCR every month. They use the majority of this to cover their rent, JD 180, but are currently two months behind. 

Despite all the challenges, cash assistance has helped her children to continue to go to school. After Mustafa collapsed on the walk to school one day, Ibtesam now uses some of their assistance to cover the cost of the school bus which is JD 40 per month.  Mustafa says his favourite class is English, and he wants to study computer engineering to design applications when he grows up and his younger sister, Maria, 11, wants to be a lawyer, “so that I can defend people’s rights”. For Ibtesam, the protection of her children is of the utmost importance, “I don’t mind skipping meals, but having a shelter is very important. I just want them to be safe, to be able to go to school and complete their education. Nothing more, nothing less.” 

With the support of donors like the European Union, through the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, the Madad Fund, UNHCR distributes USD 5.5 million in targeted cash assistance to 33,000 families each month. As part of the “One Refugee” approach, based on which UNHCR works towards reducing and ultimately eliminating differences in the response based on nationality, the beneficiaries include some 3,000 non-Syrian families. As one of UNHCR’s core protection mechanisms, this assistance provides relief to vulnerable refugee families like Ibtesam’s and enables them to address exacerbated challenges and cover their basic needs in a dignified manner.