We may have not posted for a while, but now we are back with a very engaging interview! For our fifth episode of the podcast we speak with Bothaina Qamar, a Livelihoods Specialist for UN Women (a United Nations organization). Bothaina was born and raised in Irbid, Jordan, went to university in Jordan, and then went to graduate school in the USA for development. We discuss Bothaina's unique, insider perspective (as compared to the foreigners that we have interviewed in previous podcasts) on...

For our fourth episode of the podcast, we take a slightly different look at the Syria crisis response by investigating the impact of directly training, employing, and empowering women from disadvantaged communities in social businesses. Our interview is with Mei Hayashi, a fashion designer from Japan who runs her own Tribalogy line that produces and sells beautiful bags, purses, homegoods, and clothing, often featuring handmade embroidery and/or Middle Eastern fabrics. Mei also helps run a...

For our third episode of the podcast we have an engaging conversation with Lorenz Wild, the Director of Economic Opportunities and Market Development at the American-based INGO Mercy Corps. We talk about empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses, issues that stem from a dependence on imports and exports, funding needs, and business regulations in Jordan. Plus, we touch on hiking the variety of incredible wadis (ie valleys) of the country, the lack of games in bars, and life in Jordan vs....

In our second episode we have a great conversation with Maddie Ulanow, the Jordan Country Director for Reclaim Childhood, a 501(c)(3) organization based in Amman, Jordan that seeks to empower refugee girls and local Jordanian women through sport and play. We talk about how Maddie came to Jordan, how much the RC girls love a unique of variety of sports including basketball, skateboarding, and squash, and we dissect life and traffic in Amman. We also delve into how funding cuts may affect her...

For the inaugural episode of the Working a Refugee Crisis: Jordan we have a great conversation with Matt Richard from UNHCR (the United Nations' Refugee Agency). He is an Information Managment Officer for Syria Cross-Border. We discuss Matt's day to day work of coordinating different types of aid going to internally displaced people in Syria from Jordan. Plus, we talk about his previous work in Palestine, discovering a development career in England, and living life and raising a baby as an...

We have authentic conversations with men and women living in Jordan working on the Syria Crisis response with refugees and locals for big and small development, aid, relief, and/or funding agencies. Our goal is to help people living the West understand more about the NGO world, the crisis, programs, funding, and life in the Middle East. www.workingacrisis.podbean.com