Main activities
Main activities
At UNHCR, our primary goal is to protect the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee their homes. For over 70 years, UNHCR has assisted millions of displaced or stateless people globally in finding safety and rebuilding their lives. UNHCR Jordan works to protect and assist registered refugees, regardless of their nationality, by ensuring delivery of services such as registration, legal assistance, community engagement, shelter, basic needs assistance etc.
UNHCR Jordan also works to strengthen national systems, support refugee inclusion in public services, and foster partnerships that benefit both refugees and host communities. Through advocacy, technical expertise, and strategic investments, UNHCR helps maximize the impact of limited humanitarian resources, contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective responses in a challenging funding environment.
Beyond providing protection and assistance to refugees, UNHCR Jordan works to strengthen national systems, support refugee inclusion in public services, and foster partnerships that benefit both refugees and host communities. Through advocacy, technical expertise, and strategic investments, UNHCR helps maximize the impact of limited humanitarian resources, contributing to more sustainable and cost-effective responses in a challenging funding environment.
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Registration
UNHCR registers refugees and supports access to legal identity that prevents statelessness and enables refugees and asylum-seekers to access services and humanitarian assistance. The registration documents are valid for one year, after which refugees need to approach UNHCR for renewal. In the first half of 2026, more than 127,000 refugees renewed their UNHCR-issued documents. UNHCR also conducts registration missions in remote areas to limit the need for refugees to travel to Amman to update their data and renew their documents, reaching over 5,000 refugees in the first half of 2026.
UNHCR in Jordan was among the first UNHCR operations worldwide to introduce iris-scanning biometrics technology for its refugee registration in 2013. Today, biometrics are used both for registration, and identity management and verification. This verification enables access to various services, including receiving assistance from partners, withdrawing cash, and buying groceries at supermarkets in camps. In 2025, UNHCR used biometrics as a key integrity feature to roll-out self-renewal kiosks. These allow refugees to update their data and renew their documents independently and efficiently. Until June 2026, over 18,600 families in urban areas and camps renewed their UNHCR-issued documents using the kiosks.
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Protection
UNHCR and its partners provide comprehensive protection services, including legal assistance, counselling, documentation support, and referrals for child protection and gender-based violence (GBV) cases as well as support through hotlines and outreach mechanisms. Services include psychosocial and legal assistance, and assistance to find a safe shelter if needed. Individual case management is coordinated with government institutions, national organizations, and humanitarian actors to ensure a holistic, survivor- and child-centred response. The approach upholds age, gender, and diversity considerations to promote equitable access to protection and specialized services for all individuals in need. In the first half of 2026, UNHCR provided support to nearly 1,700 child protection and GBV cases.
UNHCR offers a variety of ways for refugees to contact the organization with pressing protection matters. The UNHCR Helpline managed over 640,000 calls through an integrated voice recognition system and ten dedicated staff until the end of June 2026. In addition, UNHCR manages dedicated crisis hotlines, which refugees can use for urgent and sensitive cases, including detention matters.
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Community Engagement
UNHCR maintains regular communication with refugees to ensure they are meaningfully consulted and engaged in activities that affect their lives, empowering them to play a leading role in driving positive change. UNHCR cooperates closely with a network of Jordanian and refugee volunteers across Jordan.
UNHCR also operates mobile helpdesks to reach vulnerable refugees in remote areas. In the first half of 2026, UNHCR provided counselling support, including through mobile helpdesks, to more than 15,000 individuals. UNHCR also consulted over 2,500 refugees through focus group discussions, community meetings, and helpdesk interactions, all feeding into a large participatory assessment.
In addition, UNHCR has strengthened two-way communication through digital platforms, such as mobile messaging groups, the Helpsite, and social media, to keep refugees informed about important developments, support their access to services, and help prevent protection risks. UNHCR engaged with refugees over one million times via digital channels, including the Helpsite and a dedicated social media page. Furthermore, UNHCR regularly reaches out to refugees through mobile messaging groups to inform them and raise awareness about important developments.
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Basic Needs Assistance
UNHCR Jordan runs a robust cash assistance programme, helping refugees meet their basic needs. In the first half of 2026, UNHCR provided cash assistance to around 140,000 vulnerable women, men, and children, channeling approximately $13.1 million into the local economy.
UNHCR continues to improve the efficiency of its cash assistance by optimizing cash distribution methods. By the end of June 2026, over 60 per cent of refugees receiving UNHCR cash assistance accessed their support through mobile wallets, which provide a safe, flexible, and private way to manage household finances.
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Livelihoods & Economic inclusion
UNHCR collaborates with private sector partners such as the Syrian International Business Association (SIBA) and the Jordan Investors Association (JIA), development actors such as the International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the World Bank, and partners, to help refugees become economically independent.
This includes linking refugees with market demand, providing counselling, supporting home-based business licensing, facilitating freelancing, and offering vocational training. These initiatives aim to build refugees' capacities both during their stay in Jordan and in preparation for potential return to the country of origin or resettlement to a third country.
Furthermore, and in view of the fact that over 47 per cent of the population in Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps are of working age, in both camps, Information Centres have been established in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO), the Syrian Refugee Affairs Directorate (SRAD), and the Jordanian Social Security Corporation, which provide essential employment-related information and counselling services.
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Health
Refugees in Jordan can access hospitals and medical facilities run by the Ministry of Health at the non-insured Jordanian rate, as opposed to the more expensive foreigner rate. Over 90 per cent of refugees report being able to access essential health services when needed, noting generally positive experiences during their facility visits. Still, financial constraints remain the main barrier to obtaining care, while awareness of subsidized access to public health services remains limited among some refugees living in host communities. UNHCR and the Ministry of Health continue to work together to facilitate refugees’ access to public health services. In addition, UNHCR and health partners continue to support access to primary and secondary healthcare services for refugees in camps and communities through a referral system.
UNHCR also supports several partner-run health clinics in the camps, where public health facilities are not present, though these are increasingly strained with funding for them rapidly decreasing.
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Education
UNHCR works closely with the Ministry of Education (MoE) and other actors to coordinate access to quality education for refugees of school age, with around 100,000 school-age refugee students registered with UNHCR currently attending schools in Jordan. The MoE facilitates two school shifts to accommodate refugee children in urban areas and camps. Refugee students are exempt from school and textbook fees.
UNHCR also advances access to higher education under the 15by30 Goal, aiming for 15 per cent enrollment of refugee students at higher education institutions by 2030. UNHCR is working with Jordanian universities to broaden refugee students' access to higher education. As a result, refugee students in Jordan are now able to enroll in any available course offered by universities participating in the Higher Education Alliance across the country. Refugee students can either pay the same fees as Jordanian students or receive a fee waiver at selected institutions. Together with the Alliance, UNHCR Jordan pledged at the Global Refugee Forum to expand higher education for refugees and vulnerable Jordanians.
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Shelter
In its role as camp manager along with the government, UNHCR Jordan provides shelter to refugees living in Azraq and Zaatari camps and works to improve infrastructure. Almost all shelters in the camps have exceeded their lifespan and need maintenance or even replacement. However, due to funding constraints, UNHCR and its partners have only been able to repair and replace 10 per cent of the caravans in the camps so far in 2026.
In line with UNHCR's Global Strategy for Settlement and Shelter, pilot market-based mechanisms were introduced in both camps, allowing refugee families voluntarily returning to Syria to sell their caravans to approved private-sector buyers. The initiative supports the recycling and reuse of shelter materials while providing returning households with additional financial resources for reintegration.
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Access to Energy and Climate Action
In line with UNHCR’s Global Strategy for Sustainable Energy, UNHCR in Jordan provides access to clean and renewable energy in Azraq and Zaatari refugee camps with the first-ever solar plant in a refugee camp and the largest one in a camp worldwide, which covers a large share of the energy needs in the camps.
In order not to purchase electricity from carbon-based power plants for the rest of the needs, UNHCR reached a multi-stakeholder agreement, including the Green Deal for Jordan, which allows a solar power plant in South Amman to complement the electricity generated in the camps. Together, these power plants provide 9 to 24 hours of electricity per day, and the two camps now run exclusively on solar energy, reducing carbon emissions by nearly 32,000 metric tons annually.
Until the end of June 2026, UNHCR and its partners had installed energy dispensers in the shelters for over 11,000 families in Azraq and Zaatari camps. Refugees who have a dispenser can monitor their own electricity usage, allowing them to have access to electricity 24/7, as opposed to others in the camp accessing electricity only at set hours every day.
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Durable Solutions
UNHCR is working closely with the Government of Jordan, partners, and refugees to support refugees wishing to voluntarily return to Syria. In response to the needs expressed by refugees, as of June 2026, UNHCR has supported almost 74,000 refugees with assistance for voluntary returns, including information, counselling, legal aid, and free bus transportation and cash assistance. In addition, over half a million accessed information relating to voluntary return through UNHCR’s digital channels.
For refugees with the most acute protection needs, UNHCR facilitates resettlement to third countries that offer permanent residence and legal status. In 2026, UNHCR Jordan estimates that approximately 32,500 vulnerable refugees will require resettlement. In the first half of 2026, over 600 refugees were resettled, underscoring that resettlement remains a highly limited solution relative to the scale of needs.
UNHCR also explores other third-country options for complementary pathways, such as education, family reunification, and labour mobility, while a network of trained refugee youth guidance counsellors provides information sessions, skills workshops, and individual support to raise awareness and improve access to opportunities. By the end of June 2026, UNHCR assisted over 200 refugees in accessing different regular mobility pathways (complementary pathways) to third countries through counselling, referral, and support with travel formalities, though the actual number of departures is likely higher as many arrange such opportunities independently.
