To obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the risks that Syrian refugee families – especially women and girls – face in Jordan, and to provide a deeper understanding of Syrian urban refugees’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards gender-based violence (GBV) against adults and children, including early marriage.

Priorities

Vulnerabilities identified amongst single-headed households, femaled-led households and single men due to the lack of employment and feelings of shame accompanying this issue

Needs

GBV: - Expand and improve services to responded to GBV. - Increase safe spaces in which survivors of GBV can access MHPSS. As part of this increase availability of mobile units. - Prioritize the participation of men and boys to prevent, mitigate and respond to related risks. Early Marriage: - Raise awareness of parents, community leaders, and policy makers about the rights and health implications of girls marrying young. - Develop social/economic programs for girls out of school, inc. non-formal education programs. - Improve girls access to education and retention in school. Child Protection: - Strengthen identification of unaccompanied and separated children. - Strengthen community based child protection committees to raise awareness of child rights and influence social norms. - GOJ to ensure that children exploited by labour force have access to legal services. Access to Basic Services: - Services providers to increase efforts for better outreach with information and services, particularly to women. - Raise awareness by providing information on the rights associated with UNHCR registration. Community Relations: - Improve relations with host communities by bringing together the Jordanian and Syrian communities, particularly women.

Main Findings

- In spite of high rates of early marriage, there is low awareness of its possible physical and psychosocial repercussions and risks. 51.3% of female and 13% of male respondents were married when they were still children. Half of all participants believed the normal age of marriage for girls is under 18. - Gender-based violence issues are suppressed, and 83% of respondents did not know of any services available in the community for survivors of GBV. - Refugee children are likely to drop out of school, and suffer exploitation in the informal job market. Less than 1/4 of UNHCR registed Syrian refugee children are enrolled at schools in Jordan. 47% of households who reported paid employment also reported that some of this income was from children who had entered the workforce. - Urban Syrian refugees are struggling to access basic services, and are particularly unaware of services providing legal aid, MHPSS, safety and security, and women’s and children’s centres that are available in their communities. - Psychosocial distress is a common experience among refugees but may be exacerbated among various groups for different reasons. While all demographic groups of refugees reported high levels of distress resulting from exposure to violent conflict and relocation, women and children in particular lack access to community support and social coping mechanisms due to the perceived lack of safe spaces for them to meet and socialize outside of the home.