Involving everyone in the water dialogue
With support from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, dialogue groups have been established in 14 municipalities. Representatives of all social groups are involved, working to improve the water supply: women, men, Syrian refugees, locals and people with disabilities. Imams were included too, because especially in rural areas the word of the religious leaders carries weight, and they were able to ensure broad acceptance in the villages.
The regular meetings in the municipalities have helped to defuse conflicts between the local population and the refugees. ‘When we lived in Syria, water was not scarce. There was enough and it cost almost nothing. That’s why our women also used a lot of water in Jordan in the beginning,’ Al-Zawbani recalls. ‘Around 200 litres a day, that didn’t go down well.’ In the meantime, everyone knows that you have to save water in Jordan, because it is only pumped into the tanks on the roofs once a week and then has to last until the next delivery.
In Ham, a village neighbouring Bait Yafa, the water always comes on Mondays. In the past, the old pipes were so rusty and dilapidated that they first had to be flushed out for two to three hours before the water was clean enough. An enormous waste. Now the entire pipe system has been renewed and, where necessary, new water tanks have been installed. As a result, water no longer seeps away into the ground unused.