Hajati programme faces funding constraints — UNICEF official

AMMAN — Despite continuous funding constraints, the United Nations Children’s Fund’s (UNICEF) Hajati programme has enough funding to help its 10,000 beneficiaries attend school for the upcoming academic year until March 2020, at which point the organisation is in need of funds to help its beneficiaries to complete the school year, according to UNICEF. 

“The programme is still running with continuous funding constraints,” chief of social protection and policy at UNICEF Jordan, Manuel Rodriguez Pumarol, told The Jordan Times in an e-mail on Monday. 

While the number of vulnerable children eligible for the programme is greater than 55,000, the programme is currently only able to provide aid for 10,000, due to funding constraints, according to Pumarol. 

In an attempt to increase the number of vulnerable children of all nationalities enrolled in school, as well as simultaneously reducing the number that drop out, the programme provides cash transfers to beneficiaries of JD20 per child each month, connects the children with education services and provides home visits and case management activities, according to Pumarol.

The programme provides aid to children between the ages of six and 15. Those children not enrolled in the programme have a 16 per cent higher probability of not attending school, according to UNICEF data. 

Covering the most vulnerable children in 160 double-shift schools, those who do not benefit from the programme are 44 per cent more likely to engage in hazardous economic activities, as well as being 34 per cent more likely to go to bed hungry at night, according to statistics provided by UNICEF.