US embassy cable - 03AMMAN4417

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 004417 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR PRM/ANE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/17/2013 
TAGS: PREF, PREL, KPAL, SY, JO 
SUBJECT: US-FUNDED NEIRAB REFUGEE HOUSING PROJECT NEARS 
COMPLETION, QUIETLY ENCOURAGES CHANGE 
 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires David Hale, per 1.5 (b) and (d). 
 
1.  (U) Embassy Damascus cleared this message. 
 
2.  (C) Summary and Comment:  The first U.S.-funded units in 
UNRWA's Neirab housing project in Syria are ready for an 
August handover to Palestinian refugees, with all 28 units 
scheduled for completion in December 2003.  While there have 
been some delays and design problems, the project already is 
having a positive impact on the refugees and the way UNRWA 
does business.  Through the project, UNRWA is exploring new 
approaches to social services, cost management, donor 
relations and overall project management.  The project also 
prompted the Syrian Government to form its first-ever camp 
committees and experiment with international NGOs in a 
refugee camp.  The Canadian Government approved a 6.5 million 
CD (USD 4 million) contribution to the project on July 11 but 
UNRWA still needs a further PRM contribution of USD 500,000 
to maintain momentum while Canada finalizes its contribution. 
 We recommend PRM approve the second contribution, keeping 
this quiet experiment in refugee resettlement in motion.  End 
summary and comment. 
 
3.  (U) Refcoord monitored progress on the U.S.-funded 
housing project at Syria's Neirab and Ein Al Tal refugee 
camps on June 26 and 27.  After weather-related delays during 
the winter, the first group of U.S.-funded housing units is 
ready for an August handover to the refugee families, who 
will be responsible for finishing the units' interiors in 
accordance with UNRWA's self-help policy on shelter 
rehabilitation.  The entire tranche of 28 U.S.-funded units 
will be completed by December 2003, at which point UNRWA 
would like to hold a formal inauguration ceremony and 
announce further contributions to the project. 
 
4.  (U) Just prior to refcoord's visit, UNRWA Syria Deputy 
Director Lex Takkenberg selected the 28 families who will 
move into the U.S.-funded units.  A total of 280 families 
have now registered with UNRWA to apply to move from the 
Neirab barracks and UNRWA expects the number to continue to 
grow.  The 28 families were all chosen from a group 
identified by the newly formed Neirab and Ein Al Tal refugee 
camp committees, but UNRWA had the final say in the families' 
rank-ordering.  Priority was given to families in the worst 
housing conditions, with some extra consideration given to 
UNRWA special hardship cases.  Although donors (including the 
U.S.) had previously expressed concern that UNRWA could 
inadvertently create a new slum by moving special hardship 
case families, a June 26 meeting with some of the families 
selected to move revealed a far more dynamic community than 
would be expected based solely on socio-economic statistics. 
In one family, for example, a teenage daughter who dropped 
out of school after seventh grade told refcoord that the 
prospects of moving to a new home had inspired her to resume 
her studies.  Another seven-person family had been forced to 
move into a one-room barracks home after the disabled male 
head of household lost his UNRWA special hardship benefits 
and the family was unable to pay rent on the wife's 
schoolteacher salary alone.  The move will give the children 
more room to study and play. 
 
5.  (SBU) UNRWA recognizes that it must incorporate some 
social services programming into the Ein Al Tal housing 
project, to ensure that the move-generated dynamism results 
in real and lasting changes in this refugee community.  To 
that end, UNRWA plans to invest in greater vocational 
training opportunities in the Ein Al Tal women's program 
center and also to use seed money from the US-funded Relief 
and Social Services' microcredit lending program to establish 
new consumer and home improvement lending plans (for existing 
Ein Al Tal residents).  The housing loan program will be 
implemented in partnership with U.S.-based NGO 
Community-Habitat-Finance (CHF), a first for Syria.  The 
newly created Neirab and Ein Al Tal camp committees (no camp 
committees had existed in Syria prior to the initiation of 
this project) also are working with UNRWA to develop their 
own socio-economic development ideas for the two camps. 
 
6.  (U) A May 2003 Swiss-led technical mission to Ein Al Tal 
camp revealed some design flaws in the project, which have 
led to significantly higher unit costs.  UNRWA, for example, 
has failed to group together the houses' "wet units" 
(kitchens and baths), added unnecessary beams and stone 
facing for purely ascetic reasons, built stone perimeter 
fences and sunk the foundations deeper than required.  The 
Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency and the Syrian 
Government estimate that UNRWA could reduce future housing 
unit costs by 50 percent (to nearly USD 6,000) if the agency 
corrected these design flaws.  UNRWA plans to hold a housing 
policy workshop in October (with Swiss technical assistance) 
to assess the US-funded construction and recommend design 
corrections.  UNRWA assures us that the costs of any future 
US-funded units will reflect these changes. 
7.  (SBU) Amman-based CIDA representative Monika Vadeboncoeur 
reported that the Canadian Government on July 11 approved a 
multi-year contribution of 6.5 million Canadian dollars 
(roughly USD 4 million) to phase one of the Neirab/Ein Al Tal 
housing project.  The Swiss Government is ready to contribute 
another USD 300,000 to the project's management and 
communications needs.  UNRWA hopes PRM will contribute 
another USD 500,000 to the project, to keep construction 
moving ahead while the Canadians and Swiss finalize their 
contributions. (UNRWA's draft project proposal has been 
forwarded to PRM/ANE by e-mail.)  These contributions would 
cover the entire costs of phase one of the project.  UNRWA 
reports that the EU is considering a substantial contribution 
to phase two of the project, renovation of the Neirab 
barracks. 
 
8.  (U) The Canadian and Swiss governments are pushing UNRWA 
to adopt a "harmonized" approach to donors, including a 
memorandum of understanding (MOU) that would set up a shared 
framework for project implementation and monitoring. 
Specific subjects to be covered in the MOU could include:  a 
common proposal outlining the terms of the project, common 
financial accountability requirements, common monitoring, 
reporting and evaluation requirements and a joint stakeholder 
committee (including UNRWA, donors and the SARG) to oversee 
progress of the project.  UNRWA HQ has agreed to this 
approach and has authorized Syria Deputy Director Takkenberg 
and the Legal Department to draw up a draft MOU.  The 
Canadians and Swiss also would like the harmonized approach 
to include a "trust fund" for the project, a separate account 
into which donors would contribute their lump-sum 
contribution up-front, to finance the multi-year project. 
(Refcoord already cautioned UNRWA and other donors that PRM 
might not be able to participate in a trust fund.) 
 
9.  (C) Comment:  In addition to serving as a quiet 
experiment in refugee resettlement, the Neirab/Ein Al Tal 
housing project is prompting UNRWA to take a fresh look at 
relief and social services policy, cost management, donor 
relations and overall project management.  The project is 
also prompting the Syrian Government to explore new camp 
leadership policies (through the newly created camp 
committees) and the potential involvement of foreign NGOs in 
the refugee camps.  Many of these successes are due to the 
solid work of UNRWA's Director and Deputy Director in Syria, 
both of whom are likely to leave Syria in the next 15 months. 
 Donors and the Syrian Government will have to work hard to 
ensure progress on the project does not end with the change 
in UNRWA leadership.  Nevertheless, the project's potential, 
far-reaching impact on the way UNRWA and host governments do 
business, as well as the obvious humanitarian impact on 
refugees' lives, argues for continued US support for the 
project.  We recommend PRM approve a second tranche of 
funding as requested by UNRWA and that PRM participate in the 
proposed "harmonized" MOU. 
HALE