Since 2011, the war in Syria and the rise of the terrorist militia Islamic State have driven millions of people from their homes. By mid-2016, Jordan had more than 655,000 officially registered Syrian refugees – although it is estimated there are actually more than twice that many in the country. Around 250,000 refugees fled to Iraq in 2016 along with 46,000 Iraqi nationals who returned to their homeland from Syria. In addition, there are over three million people internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq. Both in Jordan and in Iraq, refugees mostly live outside the camps in host communities. All population groups need access to basic services and healthcare. Furthermore, people need more psychosocial support, education and leisure activities to help ease the tensions.

In 2016, the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) launched a programme in Jordan that addresses major challenges arising in refugee camps and in host communities. Due to limited capacities, those challenges include a lack of sport activities and psychosocial support, especially for children and youth. Therefore, female and male coaches, teachers and social workers are trained to apply sport as a tool to promote values and social competences. Sport creates a safe environment and enables children and youth to encounter peers of diverse backgrounds and to enhance their personal skills such as respect, empathy and self-confidence. With sustainability and broad effects in mind, GIZ closely works together with several strong partners. In cooperation with the Jordan Ministry of Education, the Jordan Football Association (JFA), the Asian Football Development Project and the University of Jordan the programme developed a training curriculum for using sport to foster physical and psycho-social well-being.

We invite you to have a look at the following teaching and learning material, which was created by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and our partner organizations in Jordan. You will find a more detailed description about the materials in our collection S4D Tools for your Practice/Teaching and Learning Materials. 

If you want to have more detailed and/or further information about S4D in the country, please have a look at the following publications.