Supported Projects

One of the two projects approved at the inaugural GCFF Steering Committee meeting on July 28, 2016, in Beirut, this program began the process of bridging the gap between humanitarian and development assistance in international support for Syrian refugees and the communities that host them. In so doing, the project aims to turn the refugee crisis from a drain on Jordan’s economy into an opportunity to help fuel the country’s economic growth. The $300 million program, which consists of both grants and loans with concessional interest rates, is helping to close the gaping government budget deficit brought on by the impact of the Syrian war and the influx of huge numbers of refugees. This is allowing the government, for its part, to move forward with three key reforms that are crucial to boosting the Jordanian economy even as the refugee crisis persists: 1) granting Syrian refugees work permits, 2) improving Jordan’s investment climate, and 3) attracting investments.

This project – also approved at the inaugural GCFF Steering Committee meeting– aims to improve the operational capacity of the wastewater system serving 1.8 million inhabitants of the Greater Amman and Zarqa areas. The $48 million project is funding construction of a new 30.4 km wastewater pipeline to link the severely overstrained Ain Ghazal pre-treatment plant on the outskirts of Amman with the As-Samra wastewater treatment plant, Jordan’s largest such facility. The need for this project – implemented with support from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – stems from unprecedented population growth in the affected area driven primarily by the rapid influx of Syrian refugees.

This was the first GCFF initiative approved for Lebanon. Its objectives are to both improve the transport connectivity along select portions of the country’s paved roads and create short-term jobs for Lebanese and for Syrian refugees. The $200 million project is expected to directly create about 1.5 million work days through short-term jobs in the construction industry. Substantial additional jobs will be created in Lebanon’s supply chain industries and engineering and consultancy services. Local economies will benefit from increased demand for local goods and services, while business competitiveness will improve due to improved road connectivity. The $200 million project, financed and executed by the World Bank, includes a $45 million grant from the GCFF.

The objective of this $250 million loan is to help Jordan confront severe strains in its electricity and water sectors, along with the two sectors’ mounting public debt, both problems brought on by the influx of Syrian refugees. The program provides direct budget support to ease the government’s debt servicing bill, and delivers technical assistance to support the government’s efforts to reform the energy and water sectors. The reforms aim to improve the financial viability and increase recent efficiency gains in these two key sectors. The program, which is being financed and executed by the World Bank and builds on an earlier Bank assistance program, is officially known as the Second Programmatic Energy and Water Sector Reforms Development Policy Loan.

These loan programs were designed to increase access to quality health care for thousands of poor families in Lebanon—both Lebanese and Syrian. Health care in Lebanon suffered from structural problems even before the Syrian crisis. The influx of Syrian refugees has put enormous added pressure on health services and contributed to rising tensions in a nation vulnerable to conflict and instability. The $150 million projects are being financed in parallel by the World Bank ($120 million) and the Islamic Development Bank ($30 million). They aim to reach 715,000 people.

The project has been extended until October 31, 2023 and received $200 million in additional financing, including $58.90 from the GCFF.

This emergency loan program was established to maintain the delivery of primary and secondary health services to poor, uninsured Jordanians and Syrian refugees. The program is initially targeted at helping approximately 2.4 million people (2.1 Jordanians and 331,000 Syrian refugees), though the number of refugees covered may increase. The access of this population to critical health care is at risk, as the influx of large numbers of Syrian refugees has put severe strains on the delivery of basic health services. There is a shortage of health workers, and waiting times have increased.

The goal of this loan program is to strengthen Jordan’s resilience to the Syrian refugee crisis by addressing urgently needed rehabilitation of the wastewater treatment system in the north of Jordan, which hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees. Their presence has placed immense strain on already overstretched wastewater services. The total project cost is about EUR 44 million, including a grant of EUR 19 million from the EU Regional Trust Fund in Response to the Syrian Crisis, also known as the Madad Fund, and a EUR 25 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

The Jordan Education Program for Results (PforR) seeks to improve the quality of education for both Jordanian and Syrian refugee children by expanding access and improving quality of early childhood education, improving teaching and learning conditions, reforming the student assessment and certification system, and strengthening the education system management. The result areas have a common objective to enhance the quality of education available to Syrian refugees. By 2022, an estimated 160,000 Syrian refugee children are projected to have benefitted from the Program’s specific interventions. The Program targets an increased enrolment of 30,000 students into the formal sector. In addition, the Program provides a very comprehensive set of activities and actions for making the education system more results-oriented.

The Greater Beirut Public Transport Project aims at improving the speed, quality, and accessibility of public transport for passengers in the city of Beirut and the city’s northern entrance. Low and middle-income Lebanese and Syrians living in the Greater Beirut area will directly benefit from the project by using the system for their transportation needs. The project will also contribute to reduced traffic congestion, improved air quality, and improved mobility. The BRT system will be almost fully accessible to persons with disabilities and will introduce measures, such as well-lit stations, professional bus drivers, security cameras in buses and stations, and security guards at stations and select buses, in order to increase women’s ridership. The project will also improve traffic safety with the introduction of about 25 pedestrian bridges along the Northern Highway. The project is expected to create about 2 million labor days of direct short-term jobs in the construction industry, most of it for low-skilled Lebanese and Syrians. The project’s coverage will benefit over 50 percent of Lebanese and Syrians living in Lebanon.

The Jordan First Equitable Growth and Job Creation DPL aims to set the foundations for higher economic growth in Jordan by supporting measures that improve the competitiveness and ability to export of Jordanian business, foster a more flexible and inclusive labor market and a more effective social safety net, and improve the Government’s fiscal sustainability through revenue mobilization and more efficient government spending. These measures will benefit Syrians in the country by waiving work permit fees for them, increasing economic opportunities through work permit issuance in select sectors, introducing a minimum wage, and strengthening social assistance institutions. Other indirect benefits may come from the support to the development of services and SMEs in Jordan, a reduction in barriers in the labor market, as well as the implementation of a secured transactions regime, which will make borrowing easier for those without property.

There are about 1.5 million refugees and migrants from Venezuela in Colombia, more than 30 percent of the 4.6 million people that have left Venezuela. Of these, about 750,000 has a regularized situation, with 80 percent holding PEPs (Permiso Especial de Permanencia), while the remaining 20 percent hold visas and foreign IDs. Given the large migration numbers, there are almost 740,000 Venezuelans who are in an irregular situation, with 33 percent of these having exceeded the period allowed and 67 percent having entered the country in an irregular manner. The project will sustain Colombia’s efforts to facilitate access to jobs and basic social services for Venezuelan migrants and refugees, as well as the communities that are hosting them. Specific policy measures include efforts to regularize the status of over 260,000 migrants. GCFF funding for this project is supporting policies and programs aimed at improving the lives of migrants and refugees who have come to Colombia and the communities hosting them throughout the country.