ditor@tjprc.org e www.tjprc.org MICROFINANCE INSTITUTIONS AND SOCIAL EMPOWERMENT IN PALASTINIAN REFUGEES CAMPS IN JORDAN (AL-BAQA'A CAMP AS A MODEL) AREEJ MOFEED DERBAS & PROF. DR. MUHAMMAD FAYEZ AL-TARAWNEH University of Jordan, Amman-Jordan Received: Sep 26, 2020; Accepted: Oct 16, 2020; Published: Nov 10, 2020; Paper Id.: IJEEFUSAUG20208 1.INTRODUCTION Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) represent a significant element role in socio-economic development, as they play a major role in the economies in terms of maintaining economic balance, which, in turn, improves social protection through creating many job opportunities and generating income for a large number of households and individuals. In spite of the critical role of small enterprises in the economy as they represent over 90 percent of the establishments in most countries around the world, they still face some obstacles against their development. In Jordan, small enterprises require more support through financing, Commercial banks, non-banking public agricultural credit institutions, and credit companies in Jordan are the main supporters of such enterprises. (Al Mahrouq, Original Article ABSTRACT The research aims to examine the role of microfinances institutions in the Palestinian refugee camps in Jordan. The study adopted the qualitative approach. The study sample comprised of beneficiaries from the MFI’s in Al Baqa’a Refugee Camp, who received loans from the MFI’s in 2008-2018 was taken using the snowball sample of the research population. The sample comprised of 113 male and female respondents broken down as follows: 20 respondents who participated in the in-depth personal interviews and 93 respondents who participated in the focus group discussions (18 FGDs). The results show that the majority of benefits are females comparing with males with a high school certificate or less. And they are unemployed with small amount incomes. The household size of 80 percent of the respondents was 4-8 members. According to the respondents, the majority of enterprises were related to purchasing vehicles to commute students, transport vegetables and fruits, or sell detergents; establish hairdressing or selling from home. The respondents pointed to the role of small enterprises in developing their social empowerment, enhancing their household relationships, having strong social relationships, increasing their self-confidence, developing the quality of life and communication with the surrounding community, and increasing household awareness of the importance of engaging all household members in the decision-making process. Moreover, the majority of respondents confirmed that their participation in small enterprises made them “more compliant with the laws and instructions in their communities. The respondents confirmed that the small enterprises had helped improve their quality of life in terms of better level and quality of social relationships, able to communicate with the surrounding persons and participate in the different social events as they have become able to cover the cost of such events. This emphasizes the role of such enterprises in enhancing social empowerment at the beneficiary level on the one hand, and household level and household relationships on the other, along with their community relationships. KEYWORDS: Enterprises, Social Empowerment, Surrounding Community International Journal of Environment, Ecology, Family and Urban Studies (IJEEFUS) ISSN (P): 2250-0065; ISSN (E): 2321-0109 Vol. 10, Issue 4, Aug 2020, 89–96 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd.