Middle East Research and Information Project NGO Governance and Syrian Refugee “Subjects” in Jordan by Sarah A. Tobin ( /author/sarah-tobin ) , Madeline Otis Campbell ( /author/madeline-otis-campbell ) published in MER278 ( /mer/mer278 ) The typical image of the Syrian refugee camp in Jordan is one of suffering. Journalistic account after account introduces spectacular stories of devastation and loss. While perhaps dramatized, these tales are not false. Syrian refugee camps have forced hundreds of thousands of strangers to live together in austere, unequal and artificially constructed communities, which are subject to new national laws. To live in the camps is indeed to endure or have endured some form of suffering—but also to be part of a collective of survivors. As M. Cameron Hay puts it, [1] ( #_1_ ) suffering is “an assault that forces adaptation,” and it “is a problem that needs solutions—not necessarily long-term solutions, but ways for a sufferer to get through the everyday batterings that undermine his or her horizons.” Refugees seek such solutions daily—finding work, making marriage or new family arrangements, and pursuing education or training—to alleviate present suffering in exile and to forestall future suffering, whether in Jordan or back in Syria. The Jordanian government, and the non-governmental organizations to which it has outsourced the provision of humanitarian aid and services in refugee camps, also attempt to find solutions to refugee suffering. The aid regime in Jordan is a neoliberal formation—a political-economic arrangement wherein the role of government is minimal and private-sector actors are supposed to be the key problem solvers. In practice, however, neoliberalism winds up putting the responsibility for solving problems on the shoulders of those who have them. Neoliberalism is also often understood as a moral endeavor in which market-oriented, idealized and entrepreneurial individuals hold out the “best” and most effective hope for resilience. In the case of Syrian refugees, the Jordanian government has largely limited its activities to regulating camp access and deploying police. [2] ( #_2_ ) Hundreds of NGOs operate in camps throughout Jordan. Chief among these sites is Zaatari, the second largest refugee camp in the world, and home to nearly one sixth of the Syrian refugees in Jordan, with a regular population of 80,000-100,000. Neoliberal governance of the Syrian refugees has resulted in both the privatization of the refugee experience and attempts at cultivating new moral subjects and, indeed, the “ideal refugee.” As part of the neoliberal framework, NGOs working with Syrian refugees in camps in Jordan have tried to inculcate certain “proper” or “ideal” understandings of women and work, youth, and early marriage, or the marriage of teenage girls. In each of these cases, the NGO guidelines for the “appropriate” understanding differ from those anticipated by Syrian refugees—and the outcomes are unexpected as well. NGOs in Zaatari Over 200 NGOs are currently working on Syrian refugee response and relief in the Middle East. [3] ( #_3_ ) A large number of these organizations are present in Zaatari. The NGOs are local, national and international. They provide a dizzying array of services, from schooling and training—vocational or otherwise—to food aid, first aid or health care, and water and sanitation. Entering Zaatari, one cannot help but be struck by the bustle of activity. As Jordanian officials check papers for permission to enter, children on bicycles or pushing wheelbarrows roll by. Women and men carrying large bags of goods presumably for sale or trade walk by, as do Jordanian and Syrian NGO staffers in colored vests. Cars and trucks emblazoned with NGO logos drive by. Ask a refugee where an NGO is located, and the likely response is, “Check at base camp.” Base camp is the colloquial name given to the administrative offices of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as well as most of the NGOs. These offices sit in the northwest section of Zaatari, closest to the main entrance and exit. Every morning hundreds of Jordanian and foreign staffers arrive at base camp by bus, truck or car to commence their duties. Many NGOs will then bring the foreign staff to the centers they occupy throughout the camp. All NGO staff reverse this process around 3 pm, when they come back to base camp and load up in buses, trucks and cars for return to Amman, Jordan’s capital. Among the NGO staff we interviewed, a common frustration was that they rarely engage with Syrian refugees themselves. Those staff whose offices are in base camp may encounter a few refugees there, but they are rarely if ever given permission to enter the camp. In fact, base camp maintains a “line of sight” barrier to such exposure in the form of chain-link fencing, barbed wire, and dark colored mesh and canvas. In 2014, Sarah was told by the UNHCR administration that this barrier was erected to keep the NGO staff safe. There had been complaints of children and others throwing rocks and trash at NGO workers within base camp. The physical separation between many NGO staff and Syrian refugees serves to limit interaction between the two groups. As a result, Syrian refugees are left to navigate the wide array of NGOs largely on their own, relying on extended family networks and connections for information and access. Refugees are thus required to work hard not only to manage their everyday survival and sustenance, but also to calculate their daily schedules in accordance with those of unseen administrators. On a given day in Zaatari, a refugee will go to the World Food Program for the daily bread distribution, then to one of the stores that will accept food coupons for perishable goods such as milk and eggs, and return home to cook breakfast. Following breakfast, the same refugee may send a kindergartener to a Save the Children center for school, while sending an older child to a different UNHCR-run elementary school at another end of the camp. During school hours, parents may attend educational or vocational trainings of their own at any number of NGOs around the camp. They might be interested in learning English, for example, but find that English lessons are only offered two days per week from one NGO and three days per week from another, which also teaches a highly desirable computer class in the same time slot. All the while, refugees may pursue informal projects—from sewing to tutoring—to bring in some additional cash. Refugees do all of the above while attending to the maintenance of their housing structures with UNHCR, medical care from one of the many different clinics or hospitals in the camp, and distribution of other resources—such as water—which comes from yet another NGO. Syrian refugees must manage not only the type of aid provision they seek and the location for distribution, but also the schedule of the offerings around the camp. Managing aid provision schedules has become a form of unpaid labor for Syrian refugees. As with the irregular work schedules of the poor in the United States, [4] ( #_4_ ) the irregular “work schedule” of aid provision requires a massive investment of time and energy in order to avoid further insecurity and suffering. This investment sets the stage for the moral “work” of NGOs in creating ideal refugees and future citizens, whether in Jordan, Europe or back in Syria. Women and Work NGOs have become part of the Zaatari aid landscape by hiring refugees in so-called Cash for Work programs. Through these programs, NGO Governance and Syrian Refugee “Subjects” in Jordan | Midd... http://www.merip.org/mer/mer278/ngo-governance-syrian-refugee... 1 of 4 6/8/16, 9:55 AM