Financial Journeys of Refugees in Jordan: Empirical FINDings I

By Swati Mehta Dhawan and Hans-Martin Zademach

The work in-hand provides a consolidated overview on the empirical findings from the first out of the three rounds of in-depth interviews undertaken in Jordan in the context of the research project “Finance in Displacement (FIND): Exploring and strengthening financial lives of forcibly displaced persons”. The findings show that the large majority of participants in our sample, in spite of being in Jordan for up to five to eight years, are stuck in what we term as the “survivelihood phase”, where they find menial work that provides a meagre pay which has to be supplemented by handouts (from humanitarian organisations or private donors) and borrowings from their friends and families. Only a small handful experience gradual “ratcheting up” of livelihoods, albeit with challenges due to legal status and documentation. Being the first of a series of three re-ports, it also includes methodological details, e.g. on our sampling approach. A core aim of the report is to share these first insights early.