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About COPMENA

Project name: Community of Practice (COP) on pollution and waste management in informal settlements in the Middle East and North Africa: Jordan being a case study.

Project Brief

Development of a global transdisciplinary network of academics, multilateral organisations, NGOs, government agencies, and refugees to address the real humanitarian need of pollution and waste management in informal settlements, with particular focus on two refugee camps in Jordan – Al Baqa’a camp – as a case study.

Project Abstract

Pollution and waste management have long been a challenge in densely populated refugee camps, which lack basic services due to inadequate infrastructure because they were meant to be temporary settlements, with significant cost to public health, economic and social mobility, and dignity. Decades of humanitarian efforts have done little to improve the inadequacy of infrastructure in these camps, which have now become permanent settlements for than 80, 000 people in Al Baqa’a camp alone. To respond to some of the challenges of waste management and associated water and air pollution, the project proposes the development of a community of practice of global transdisciplinary network of academics, multilateral agencies, NGOs, government agencies, and representatives of refugee camps to develop a comprehensive knowledge-base of current best practices to reduce the vulnerabilities of refugee camps in Jordan from pollution and waste due to infrastructural gaps.

The project envisages that outcomes from focus groups, workshops, webinars and learning throughout the project will be compiled as best practice guidelines and recommendations on how to address the growing problem of pollution and waste management in informal settlements in general with a more transdisciplinary approach to collectively create an inclusive and more comprehensive understanding of the seemingly intractable challenge that should encourage the development of adequate and appropriate interventions that can improve the lives, livelihoods and well-being of vulnerable communities.