Health, education and social facilities provide clear points of entry for humanitarians and donors to support refugee-hosting countries.
When large numbers of refugees or internally displaced people (IDPs) rely on public facilities – including state-run hospitals, clinics, schools, community centres and even prisons – the standards of services are likely to fall for all users unless those institutions obtain more resources.
In some places, where public facilities may suffer from power outages and diesel shortages, such as in Gaza and Lebanon, energy efficiency measures and renewable sources could provide greater reliability of supply. In the case of hospitals, constant access to power is a life-or-death issue. Community services such as schools, places of worship and other support centres may be taking on additional roles in coping with refugee and IDP needs, and would therefore benefit from more reliable electricity in order to extend their hours and provisions.
These public services provide clear points of entry for humanitarians and donors wishing to support refugee-hosting countries. Clinics, hospitals and schools are an obvious focus for humanitarian agencies that prioritize health and education. Improvement of facilities can provide opportunities for greater social cohesion. Donors may be interested in protecting the level of services and support provided by relevant ministries to cope with the increased demand. That said, donors and financiers are increasingly unwilling to support anything that does not have realistic plans to sustainably scale up these services.
Jordan’s experience during the refugee crisis
The government created the Jordan Response Plan (JRP) (see Box 2) to tackle the Syrian refugee crisis. The JRP introduced new approaches to support public facilities, particularly in the healthcare and education sectors, in handling increased energy and water demand. Rapid population growth in Jordan, with over a million people seeking refuge from the Syrian conflict since 2012, has had a significant impact on public services; some schools and hospitals in the north of the country have seen their energy (electricity and diesel) bills double in this period. Schools in the northern governorates have had to run two daily teaching sessions, one in the morning for Jordanian children, and one in the afternoon for Syrian children. This put tremendous pressure on already stretched resources in some northern governorates. It led donors as well as humanitarian and development organizations with a strong focus on education to consider how they could help support these schools. This tallied with the Schools Heating Program, which the King of Jordan launched in 2015 with the aim of bringing adequate thermal comfort levels to schools across Jordan. This later became the Schools Heating and Cooling Program (see Table 2).
