Together with the City of Amsterdam, VNG International looked at ways to widen the scope of economic opportunities for the longer term of the Zaa’tari camp in Jordan.

Widening the spectrum of economic opportunities through Spatial and Scenario Planning
Using scenario planning techniques they prepared together with the government and the Governorate (four) holistic future scenarios that will directly influence the livelihoods and socioeconomic outlook of the people living in the camp and in the wider region of northern Jordan. Now the camp and the region are ready to act not just for today, but for tomorrow too.

Economic life and activities are very well developed in the camp and create space for many more opportunities that can be exploited.
The second focus is on possible short-term urban development of the camp and the host communities. The Amsterdam / VNG International teams prepared a Development Framework in which urban Space, transportation, water management and greening come together in a comprehensive design. The designs have been presented at the Dutch Embassy in Amman and shared with UNICEF, UNHCR, Oxfam and GIZ for funding and implementation. Host communities proposals will be developed in 2018.
The third focus is on combining the scenarios and the practical framework proposals and thus the world of the camp and that of the host communities. Discussing possible developments of camp and surrounding communities will be done in a Think Tank of professionals, representatives of the camp and host communities.
- Development Framework for further development of the camp.
- Development of a Scenario Game as a strategic decision making tool.
- Marie-Laure Hoedemakers, Ronald van Warmerdam, Cedrick Gijsbersten, Eric van der Kooij, Linda Kaput Municipality of Amsterdam
- Anne-Lies Risseeuw, Boudewijn Cnossen, Chloé Krantz VNG INTERNATIONAL THE HAGUE
- Baker al-Hiyari, Hamzah Abaza VNG INTERNATIONAL AMMAN