Chapter Seven
Mafraq, Part 2
Bright and early on Sunday morning, Hala, Ruby, and I set off to Mafraq, for another orientation workshop related to community cohesion and self-reliance with the mayors and municipal representatives of the area, where we were to meet Nebras, Riyad, and the rest of the team.
I’ve written about Mafraq before, but it’s important to note some general key facts, not just about the city, but about the greater Mafraq Governorate as well. Located on the border with Syria, it is estimated that more than a quarter of the population of the Mafraq Governorate is made up of Syrian refugees, making it the most affected area of the country in dealing with the influx of persons seeking refuge from the conflict in Syria. Thus, it goes without saying that Mafraq has experienced its fair share of challenges in terms of community building and refugee integration.
Beginning around 11:00 am, our Chief of Party opened up the event with a greeting, welcomed the guests, and quickly began updating the mayors and municipal representatives on the state of their grants. Some background information: around 6 months ago, CITIES along with USAID representatives, approached various municipalities, launching an in-kind grant opportunity for them to apply for funding for projects related to their individual municipal needs relating to the project's three technical component areas (improving service delivery, increasing responsiveness to citizen' priorities, enhancing the capacity to promote community resilience) . The grant applications, including 90% of the items requested, were reviewed and approved by USAID.
It was communicated that CITIES has, and will continue to, send out correspondences to all 33 mayors, with a status update of the items, quantities, and specifications of their requests. Apparently, as a result of these status update correspondences, some municipalities have adjusted their requests, all of which are being honored. Later, the Mayor of the Sarhan municipality spoke up, speaking about the crushing weight of the Syrian Refugee crisis that Jordan, and the Mafraq Governorate in particular, is dealing with and how the number of refugees has yet to decrease, again highlighting the gravity of the situation.
Our Chief of Party also mentioned to the mayors and municipal representatives present that USAID CITIES, could, and would, help the municipalities get to a solution, even if they could not directly provide one for them within their jurisdiction of power. Emphasizing the fact that the municipalities are sovereign in their needs and know what they need best, USAID CITIES, he went on, could bring the municipalities specific technical assistance, a service that can sometimes be overlooked by the municipalities when assessing their needs. Essentially, what the project could do is compliment material assistance with technical expertise, and municipalities should remember that when assessing all of their available options.
Zarqa, Part 2 & Tareq Al Nasser
The rest of my week was spent working with the C3 team, where I accompanied them to a regular check-in meeting with the municipal council of the greater Zarqa Governorate, regarding progress in the municipality relating to citizen-government engagement.
We met with Environmental and Investment Department Head of the Zarqa municipality, our point person for the project, and discussed various topics ranging from the scheduled social media training for municipal heads, to the issue of whether or not Zarqa’s Community Service Center can be used by MCOG (Municipal Community Outreach Group). The building is intended to be used for various activities relating to community-government engagement, specifically to hear the voice of the people, and get that voice across the municipal government. Activities would range from housing a radio station made especially to be a direct line of communication between the local government and the everyday citizen, to hosting town hall meetings, and beyond.
On the weekend, one of my coworkers surprised me with tickets to see Tareq al Nasser, a renowned Jordanian musician, who would be holding a concert at the Roman Amphitheatre downtown. Having already been to a concert there last year, when I went to see the Syrian singer Faia Younan, I was rather looking forward to the evening, and it was every bit as magical as I had imagined it. Sitting atop the old Roman amphitheater, listening to the classic melodies playing out on the stage below, a slow breeze kissing my face, all while watching the hustle and bustle of Amman carry on beyond the plaza was absolutely breathtaking and I couldn't have been happier to be where I was, doing what I was doing.