‘UNHCR campaign for Syrians in Jordan raises $1.6m in 48 hours’

AMMAN — UNHCR on Monday said it has launched a major campaign during the fasting month of Ramadan to raise funds to help some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugee families in Jordan.

In less than 48 hours, the “LIFELINE” campaign managed to raise $1.6 million, which is 10 per cent of its target, the UN agency said.

UNHCR Representative to Jordan Andrew Harper said the campaign aims to raise funds for its cash assistance programme, which targets vulnerable Syrian families living in the Kingdom, particularly widows with children, the elderly, orphans and the sick. 

A UNHCR statement quoted Harper as saying that without this cash aid, many refugees could resort to desperate measures to sustain themselves.

“The cash assistance is our most efficient and effective programme to help refugees survive,” he said. 

“We have helped more than 22,000 families with monthly cash assistance, without which they would have been [unable] to pay rent or bills. But there are nearly 12,000 more families that are still on the waiting list, and we are raising the funds for them.”

In order to ensure that the money goes straight to the refugees, UNHCR has waived any administrative or overhead charges for running the campaign.

“This means that every dinar, dollar or riyal donated will go directly to the refugees and only the costs for the bank transfer will be deducted,” Harper explained.

He also thanked pan-Arab TV network MBC for “raising the campaign’s profile” on the Ramadan show “Khawatir”.

“Thanks to ‘Khawatir’ and its host, Ahmad Shuqeiri, we managed to raise $1.6 million in less than 48 hours. This means we can now take 1,000 Syrian families off the waiting list and provide them with cash aid for a whole year.”

This year, UNHCR said humanitarian organisations are facing significant financial difficulties that could affect their aid operations. 

Although donor countries and organisations pledged $35 million to help Jordan cope with the refugee crisis this year, only 20 per cent of the money was actually delivered to UNHCR, the statement said.

“We are witnessing donor fatigue at a time when refugees are becoming more vulnerable. Without the money, we will be unable to deliver life-necessary assistance,” Harper concluded. “Therefore, we call on individuals to step forward and help those in extreme hardship.”

A total of 629,128 Syrian refugees are registered with the UNHCR in Jordan, according to the agency’s website.

More information on the fund-raising campaign can be found on http://donate.unhcr.org/jordanlifeline and https://donate.unhcr.org/international/lifeline/.