The aim of the report is to identify the critical issues of the Iraqi refugees in 2008;; especially the vulnerable groups of children and women and their humanitarian needs. The report examines the lack of legal framework in Jordan to identify the status of Iraqi refugees and obtain quantitative information about them. Additionally;; it looks at other urgent issues including unemployment;; lack of access to education and health care and high level of post-traumatic stress syndrome among the refugees. The report summarizes key actions and achievements of the UNICEF in 2007. It also includes the organization’s plans for the humanitarian action in areas of health and nutrition;; education;; and child protection in the following year in response to the urgent issues.

The second phase of the Program Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy Program (ERfKE II) continues to build on the achievements of the first phase and follow the same implementation arrangements that have proven to be successful in (ERfKE I);; and in the same time;; focuses on schools as the locus of change as well as on the need to enhance capacity building at the central and field levels. The development objective of (ERfKE II) is to provide students enrolled in pre-tertiary education institutions in Jordan with increased levels of skills to participate in knowledge economy. Also the Mid-Term review highlighted the concrete progress achieved by (ERfKE II) in several key areas related to policy development;; quality of education interventions and school construction;; and identified the key issues as a summary of the overall progress that will be tackled and addressed during the remaining stage of implementation.