The water situation in Jordan is very precarious due to a constantly increasing demand by population growth, hosting of several fluxes for refugees and economic development's needs. Jordan's renewable water resources are limited and insufficient to meet national demand. There are growing signs of apparent overuse in an increasing number of watersheds and aquifers. National water resources and water balance are facing negative impacts due to higher demand, over abstraction and the effects of climate change. The need of water for domestic use, irrigation, industrial and environmental protection, coupled with the deterioration of water quality and control of water-borne diseases, pose serious water sustainability challenges.

Next to scarcity water resources are not efficiently used. The dilapidated, and often carelessly maintained, public and domestic water networks are one of the main reasons for high water losses and inefficient use. In this context, the overall lack of qualified and skilled employees and workers who are able to install, repair and maintain the networks correctly, play a crucial part in the increase of efficient water use and decrease of water losses.

Especially, the lack of qualified plumber's results in poorly installed and repaired household water infrastructure such as leaking water pipes and broken toilet flushes. To counteract these challenges the project "Support for Jordanian Communities in Response to the Syrian Refugees Crisis through Water Wise Plumbers" (WWP) was initiated by the GIZ for a more efficient use on household level through training measures for plumbers. The project "Vocational Training and Skill Enhancement for Jordanians and Syrian Refugees in the Water Sector (VWT)" is a follow-up measure which maintains the focus on female plumbers from its predecessor project. The recommendation to create further cooperatives in the current follow-up phase points into the same direction, as this organisational form offers better employment and working prospects for women. Women are directly involved in the consumption of water due to the roles and responsibilities thereof in use and management of water at the household level, since women perform the duties of cooking, cleaning, and provision of care to the family, and accordingly they deal most with water issues. Furthermore, male plumbers' access to households during the absence of the male head of the household is strictly forbidden so that female plumbers generally have good chances to cover this market niche in case their technical and professional abilities are up to the standard. Women direct their families towards sound methods for utilisation of water, and abstention from wasting it, in addition to their significant educational role in promoting the concepts of responsibility and ongoing conservation of water resource among their children.

PEM CONSULT in cooperation with WEE Pros has been contracted to implement the foreseen activities for VWT and will contribute within the next two years to the following objective of the project

• The improvement on capacities of sanitation professionals and experts at water utilities in Jordan.

Furthermore PEM CONSULT and WEE Pros will support (mainly female) services to increase water use efficiency. Their efforts will especially target the newly founded sanitation services and the (female) cooperatives and businesses that were initiated after the technical trainings of the earlier project WWP. It is aimed to secure the sustainability of these sanitation services trained during the WWP project through business development and business enhancement measures as well as to enlarge the services and female plumper's cooperatives.

The consulting services include:

• Advice for cooperatives on developing and implementing business plans
• Implementation of water-saving and water-loss reducing services and products by sanitation professionals
• Provision of business start-up services for micro and small sanitation enterprises
• Identification of specific employment opportunities in public and private institutions for female sanitation service providers (e.g. school for girls, universities and clinics)
• Development and piloting of a strategy for water wise plumbers
• Initiation and support for a network of sanitation providers

See also the following links:

http://www.daserste.de/information/politik-weltgeschehen/weltspiegel/videos/jordanien-klempnerinnen-video-100.html

https://www.arte.tv/de/videos/079160-000-A/neuanfang-als-klempnerin-in-jordanien/

https://akzente.giz.de/de/artikel/kostbares-wasser-grosse-chance

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=k8PFNjOIflA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEMVWAh3Eko