Identify livelihood groups among the community. Evaluate the food security situation of Syrian refugees and Jordanian host communities per livelihood group. Evaluate market systems including factors affecting pricing, access and food availability. Identify current opportunities for livelihood development to meet the needs of vulnerable Syrian refugee and Jordanian host community populations.

Priorities

Economic restraints means refugee households must rely on their own resources to purchase food, livelihood constraints for Jordanians

Main Findings

Syrians and Jordanians depict significant differences in terms of their main income sources. Syrian communities remain highly dependent on the support received by aid actors. A considerable proportion of Syrians were earning some money through unskilled labour work. Jordanians had more sustainable income sources. Average monthly household income of Syrians was lower than Jordanians, and can be attributed to Syrians incapacity to obtain formal employment or start independent business initiatives. Men had generally been responsible for bringing income whilst female responsibilities were mostly limited to taking care of children and household work. People increasingly resort to negative coping mechanisms such as the selling of personal items and also buying food and essential items on credit. Both communities revealed that around 40% of their monthly expenditure is spent on food items. The proportion of families that spent on essential basic utilities such as energy, water, and transportation is not substantially different between the two communities. Further, Syrians spent less on essential social services such as education and healthcare. 90% of Syrians spent a significantly higher amount on rent than Jordanians. Household food consumption status was not dependent on their monthly household income. Even some of the households with comparatively higher income were found to have poor or borderline food consumption, and vice-versa. Overall, meat, fish and fruits consumptions were poor, nevertheless, protein-rich food intake was somewhat managed by adding eggs and dairy to the diet. Eggs and dairy prices were fairly affordable; however the higher consumption variance can be attributed to poor nutritional practices, attitude or knowledge. 1% Jordanians and 3% Syrian households were food insecure, while 15% Jordanian and 18% Syrian households were at risk. Having insufficient or no capital was the key constraint that Syrians faced to start some livelihood activity. Also, they had to have working permits in order to obtain jobs, which remained almost impossible to obtain. For Jordanians, not having opportunities due to high competition but less demand was the most challenging factor.