It is 8 am and another sunny working day is starting in Zaatari refugee camp, in the North of Jordan. ACTED social mobilization team gathers in the base camp, where ACTED caravan offices are located, before heading to the camp districts where Syrian refugees live.
Today, the social mobilization team staff is busier than ever, operating in 9 out of the 12 camp districts, thanks to the financial support of UNICEF. The team is at the backbone of ACTED’s activities in Zaatari refugee camp. Syrian refugees living in the camp represent the great majority of the team, which they joined through the cash-for-work scheme. In Zaatari refugee camp, the cash-for-work scheme allows refugees to access cash incentives while providing quality service to the refugee community and contributing to their self-reliance.
From morning to evening, people like Ahmad, a community mobilizer living in Zaatari camp with his family, have the essential role of liaising between ACTED and the refugee community on a variety of topics, carrying out information and messaging sessions and collecting feedbacks on ACTED activities in the camp. Ahmad’s phone won’t stop ringing. One of his daily tasks includes reporting to ACTED any issue arising about the water distribution activities: “Even if it’s my day off, I always answer my phone,” he states, “I enjoy helping my own community.” Moreover, he is in charge of enrolling new Social Mobilization volunteers. He explains: “What I like about ACTED is that we always strive to keep the gender balance – in the last few months we have selected the same number of male as well as females volunteers”. Finally, he supervises the Social Mobilization assistants, who spend their time with children to deliver key health and safety messages through interactive activities: “The assistants bring the children to the Community Centres to let them play and stay away from the risk of accidents, now that there are construction works ongoing in one of the districts,” Ahmad adds.
At the end of the day, Ahmad and the rest of the team come back to the base camp: “My day was very busy,” he acknowledges, “but the feeling I have when I come back home is so rewarding that I would never choose to do anything else in the world.”