USAID Community Engagement Project (USAID CEP) Baseline Assessment Report

USAID Community Engagement Project (USAID CEP) seeks to contribute to increased community resilience and support social cohesion in 19 communities in Mafraq, Irbid and Tafileh governorates. USAID CEP is a five-year activity which aims to achieve this goal by building community cohesion and enhancing the resilience of communities to more effectively address evolving challenges. Its grassroots approach utilizes a participatory process to engage community members in addressing community needs and stressors within the context of regional volatility and transitions associated with domestic policy reform, economic conditions, and demographic change. Specifically, USAID CEP works through and builds the capacity of Community Enhancement Teams (CETs), municipalities/local government and Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to support communities in identifying and prioritizing stressors; developing short- and long-term solutions to challenges through collaboration with relevant stakeholders; and using effective and transparent communication to strengthen community cohesion.

Implementation of USAID CEP began in 2014 in nine communities in Mafraq, Irbid and Tafileh governorates, with an additional ten communities targeted in the same governorates in 2015. At the time of writing a small pilot activity was underway in Ma’an city in Ma’an governorate.

REACH was contracted by USAID CEP to conduct a baseline assessment in the ten newly targeted communities mobilized in late 2014 and early 2015. The present baseline seeks to establish perceptions of social cohesion and resilience in Alsalhya w Nayfah, Sabha w Eldafyaneh, Um Al Jmal and Hosha communities in Mafraq governorate; Mo’ath bin Jabal, Khaled bin Al Waleed, Al Wastyah, No’aimeh region and Al Taybah communities in Irbid governorate; and Al Mansoura, Tein, Hid community in Tafileh governorate. The assessment sought to understand community members’ perceptions of different aspects of social cohesion and community resilience, in order to provide a baseline for USAID CEP’s implementation. The findings of this baseline will serve as one of the elements for on-going discussions among USAID CEP stakeholders to guide and inform evidence-based programming and project implementation.