ReliefWeb

For over a year, ACTED, supported by UNICEF, and in collaboration with JEN and Oxfam, has been working on building an underground wastewater network in Za’atari camp. This network links households to a sewer network, enabling families to access a private toilet in their caravans.

Previously, all refugees used communal washrooms located around the districts. As the camp became more stable, the urgent need to build a proper sewer network was identified in 2014, and agreed upon with UNICEF in April 2015. The project is now coming to an end, with only one week left to connect all households to the network. By mid-June, all 80,000 residents of the camp will have their own toilet with proper septic tanks, reducing considerable health hazards, stagnant grey water, and the presence of flies and mosquitoes, as well as improving living conditions for all.

To celebrate, ACTED reunited the workforce at its technical site on 18 May 2016, with 16 Jordanian staff and 135 Syrian skilled cash for workers, who had been working on the project since November 2015. In addition to this group, ACTED employs over 400 Syrian rotational workers, actively contributing to the success of the project.

REACH Jordan was also present. REACH supported ACTED by providing regular updated maps of the camp showing pipelines, septic tanks and household connections. In addition, this project benefited from the support of our hygiene promotion and community mobilization teams that relentlessly spread awareness and messages on the project to inform communities. Hygiene promoters worked every day to keep children safe from constructions and machineries.