Refugees with Disabilities in Jordan: Challenges and opportunities for participation

Title of Project: Refugees with Disabilities in Jordan: Challenges and opportunities for participation

Project Period: 2024-Present

Principle Investigator (PI): Dr. Fawwaz Ayoub Momani, Yarmouk University (Irbid, Jordan)

Co-Investigators: Dr. Max Stephenson (Director, Virginia Tech Institute for Policy and Governance (VTIPG)), Dr. Lyusyena Kirakosyan, Non-Resident Senior Research Associate

Description of Project:

This inquiry explores a range of challenges faced by, and opportunities available to, Syrian refugees with disabilities in Jordan that shape their capacity to engage in their communities. Motivated by this gap in scholarly understanding and seeking too to chart a share of Jordan’s efforts to comply with its international obligations under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (ratified by the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan on 31 March 2008), this study will draw on the lived experiences and insights of Syrian refugees with disabilities currently living in Jordan and staff members of relevant civil society service and support organizations

Project Goals: 

• What challenges do Syrian refugees with disabilities face in terms of their sustenance, health, housing, employment, education, mobility, access to technology and communications and other everyday needs?
• How does the Jordanian government seek to support UNHCR, and local and international organizations, and the Noor Hussein Foundation as those entities work to address those needs?
• What opportunities are available to this group and their families to construct belonging and active participation in their host communities?
• What are the prospects for this group, as envisioned by themselves and by a sample of service-providing organization staff members?

Project Outcomes:

• The group plans to publish the study’s results in scholarly journals and possibly book chapters in edited volumes and present them at academic conferences.