Measuring the SDGs in Refugee Camps: An Insight into Arab States Bordering Syria

Abstract

With the increasing refugee crisis worldwide, a great promise lies in the 2030 agenda to help ‘leave no one behind.’ This article aims to take stock of implementing the 2030 Agenda in the refugee camps of the Arab Middle East based on empirical data from Syrian refugees and Iraqi IDPs collected using a questionnaire distributed in Iraq, Jordan, and Lebanon. SDGs’ indices were calculated using arithmetic mean and principal component analysis methods. Our study finds that the progress toward achieving the SDGs is diverse in three locations, mainly due to the policy applied in the host country. The respondents in Iraq ranked the best at social and economic sustainability, Jordan ranked the best at environmental sustainability, and Lebanon was the furthest left behind in the three dimensions. SDG7 has a high performance, but accelerating the progress toward achieving the remaining SDGs is essential. Without the substantial efforts of all stakeholders, the 2030 agenda will not be accomplished.