| Administrative History | Programme spending in 1993/94, 1994/95. See annual reports for any other allocations.
SCF started working in Jordan in 1953. An SCF medical team was based at Hebron, with clinics and feeding centres in the border villages. In 1955 SCF started running the paediatric ward in the newly-built government hospital in Jericho the team withdrew in 1956, British nationals having been advised to leave Jordan due to increasing tensions, and the Jordanian government took over the paediatric ward.
SCF returned to Jordan in February 1960. SCF established headquarters in Irbid and set up infant welfare clinics and feeding centres in nearby villages. SCF extended its work to the South, with the aim of providing assistance to children of the Bedouin tribes, thousands of whom were starving following three years of drought. The SCF team was based at Ma'an, with medical clinics and feeding centres set up in surrounding villages. SCF set up an administrative headquarters at Amman. During the 1960s SCF's work in the South expanded: in 1962 SCF set up a tuberculosis unit at Ma'an; SCF funded the building of the Princess Basma Wing at Ma'an hospital, opened in 1964; and in 1966 a mobile clinic was set up to visit nomadic Bedouin tribes. Meanwhile a third medical and welfare team was established at Kerak in 1963. In 1965 the Jordanian government took over the medical work and care of refugees in the northern villages, and the SCF team in Irbid was relocated to Tafile [Tafilah] in the South.
SCF's expatriate workers were moved to Amman after the outbreak of the Arab-Israeli war in 1967, whilst Jordanian staff continued work in the villages. SCF offered to help with the influx of Palestinian refugees from the West Bank to Jordan. SCF staff worked at refugee camps at Wadi Dilail, Damya and Baqa'a, providing milk, food, clothing, and medical treatment. The child clinics at Baqa'a camp were run in co-operation with the Norwegian Refugee Council. With funds allocated by the Disasters Emergencies Committee, SCF sent another medical team to work in the camps. With the arrival of more staff the regular teams returned to their normal work in Kerak, Tafile and Ma'an. In Amman, in co-operation with the Jordanian government, SCF organised a Physiotherapy School and supervised the rehabilitation of children with physical and mental disabilities.
During the 1970s SCF gradually withdrew from South Jordan, handing the work over to the Jordanian Save the Children Fund. SCF continued to make financial allocations to Jordan and to operate a child sponsorship scheme in Jordan.
In 1990 SCF responded to the refugee crisis in Jordan which emerged as a result of the Gulf war. SCF's work included involvement at Andalus camp. |