Installation and repair of toilets in Za’atari refugee camp

My name is Mohannad Abu Siam. I am in charge of the assessment to install and repair toilets in Za’atari refugee camp. I would like to share about the project today.

Za’atari camp was established in 2012. People who evacuated here have lived in tents that were provided by UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). Public sanitary facilities including toilets, showers and kitchens were also set up by UNHCR and shared within the area of the camp. However, residents in the camp have started to install their private toilets in their houses due to inconvenience of the shared ones and security issues at night.

Some of them made their own by themselves. Others asked people to make theirs. As a result, the number of people who use the shared toilets started to decrease, and the shared toilets became obsolete and were finally dismantled.

On the other hand, some families could not install their own toilets because they did not know the method or did not have money for them. Even if they could have installed the toilets, most of them did not meet the minimum hygiene requirements that are set by professionals in the camp. Toilets that are just holes in the floor, toilets without walls, or toilets without ventilation are examples of toilets that do not meet the requirements.

To solve these problems, JEN initiated a project to install and repair private toilets in April 2016. In the first stage, we installed toilets for families that do not already own them. In the second stage, we repaired existing toilets that do not meet the minimum requirements in the camp.

<At a house where we visited for the preliminary survey, the toilet has neither walls nor roof>

Three staff from the maintenance team and three staff from the mobilization team formed the assessment team and they took training courses before the assessment. The assessment was done in groups of two and was carried out based on the defined standard. First, the mobilization team evaluated whether the toilets needed repair. Then, they did a technical assessment and checked if the toilets were necessary for the residents.

We faced many challenges in this project. The biggest challenge was whether or not people accepted our preliminary assessment. Refugees who live in the camp wanted to use the building materials that were difficult to get to improve their living environment, instead of using the materials for toilets.

Among 1,850 households that we planned to assess, 50 households rejected JEN’s assessment and even partial repair.  As a manager, I visited those families and explained JEN’s standard and the conditions of their toilets.

One family has changed their mind and accepted our proposal, however, another family intentionally broke their roof and doors that they wanted to be repaired. They tried to get new building materials by persuading JEN’s staff.

The following are some challenging cases.
Based on our assessment, one family needed a door and a wall to install a toilet. The family once accepted our proposal, however, changed their mind on the day of the construction, and requested to install the toilet outside of their house and not in the current place. I revisited the family and explained JEN’s standard and their toilet’s situation. However, they did not accept JEN’s proposal and refused to repair their toilet. In the end, persuasion by my supervisor and also by the maintenance team did not work.
Another challenge was limited time. In this project, we needed to cover all three areas in this Za’atari camp within 13 months. The maintenance team needed to work in different ways for each house because the situation was different for each of them. To adhere to our timeline as well as to ensure the quality of our work, we increased the number of maintenance staff and also carried out post-assessment after we installed the toilets.

Through this project, we did prior assessment for 2,300 households and also technical prior assessment for more than 1,850 households. In total, we set up 168 new toilets and repaired 1,783 toilets. This is a great achievement through our teamwork.

It has been two years since I have worked for JEN. I am proud that I can support Syrian refugees as a JEN staff member. After this toilet project, I am now supporting a project that builds water and sewerage networks. I would like to continue working at JEN and develop myself further in this humanitarian field.

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