Refugees as planners : Palestinian refugees in Jordan and UNRWA, 1950-1957

Abstract

This research is an institutional ethnography that documents a case for planning from the middle and planning from below. It looks at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jordan between 1950 and 1957. UNRWA started its operations in 1950 with plans for economic development. By 1957 there had been a clear shift in the agency's mandate to human development. There are many possible reasons for this shift, one of which is the refugees' involvement in the planning process, which was carried out by thousands of refugees working with the agency and performing simultaneously the role of the planner and that of the beneficiary. Refugee staff members included top administration staff as well as street-level bureaucrats. Other refugees participated also in the planning process through spontaneous uprisings, forming local action groups, networking, and building alliances.