Tackling the causes for flight? The changing features and effects of German refugee policy in Jordan

Jordanian and Syrian female plumbers present their skills

Project summary

Building on a critical ethnographic approach to policy-making, the fieldwork for this pilot study sought to trace the massive expansion and map the current scope of German-funded interventions in Jordan.

Project details

Location: Germany/Jordan

Year(s): 2018

Project director(s): Katharina Lenner (University of Bath)

Lead institutions and funding:

  • CBRL

Project description

The pilot study award made possible two months of fieldwork in Jordan, as well as background research in Germany, about the changing features and effects of German refugee policy in Jordan.

Building on a critical ethnographic approach to policy-making, the fieldwork for this pilot study sought to trace the massive expansion and map the current scope of German-funded interventions in Jordan. Moreover, it sought to gain insights into the everyday dynamics of these policies by focusing on a number of projects promoting employment of Syrian refugees and vulnerable Jordanians. To this end, it analysed dynamics in and around a large Cash for Work  Project, and a project training men and women to become plumbers.

At the end of the fieldwork period, it brought together stakeholders from across different projects and organisations to discuss preliminary research findings, as well as broader issues and challenges of employment-oriented programming. An extended roundtable report including my research findings was produced and used for dissemination and discussion with stakeholders and interested colleagues in Jordan and Germany; research findings were also presented in a variety of formats (academic conferences and more informal, policy–oriented discussions).

Future work will focus on gendered dimensions of cash for work projects with a view to better understanding group-specific understandings of what constitutes decent work.

Project bibliography

Lenner, Katharina. 2020. Tackling the causes for flight? The changing
features and effects of German refugee policy in Jordan. Bulletin of the Council for British Research in the Levant 2018-2019, p 18.

Published:26 November 2021

More research projects

A Threatened Coast: Archaeology, Heritage and Development along the Northern Coast of Lebanon

Project summary The project aims at identifying traces of Bronze and Iron Age occupation along the Northern coast of Lebanon and to assess the nature of this occupation. Project details Location: Lebanon Year(s): 2016 Project director(s): Jenny Bradbury Lead institutions...

Published:2022

Sustainable water management and socio-environmental dynamics: past and present

Project summary The project focused on developing projects on water management, possibly seeking to leverage the experience of past water management throughout the Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa to assist with modern water management. Project details Location: various Year(s): 2018-2019...

Published:2021

Alluvial fans as indicators of past climate change in the Levant

Project summary This project reconstructs the past 25,000 years of landscape change in the Eastern Desert of Egypt and in Jordan and possibly significantly longer within the Quaternary period. Project details Location: Egypt, Jordan Year(s): 2019 Project director(s): Paul Carling...

Published:2021