About
Double Shift explores the impact of the Syrian conflict on public schooling in Jordan, both from a macro view as well as from a detailed perspective, focusing on one double-shift school, the Al-Arqam school in the industrial city Sahab, southeast of Amman. The interactive transmedia documentary gives an insight into the everyday live of Jordanian and Syrian students, their classrooms, their needs, and their dreams. Double Shift aims to raise awareness of Jordan’s hospitality and efforts concerning the enrolment of Syrian refugee children into public schooling by telling the stories of all students, Syrians and Jordanians alike, going to school together.
Double Shift is a joint project of the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction Development (EBRD) with support from Madrasati.
Its creators are Paula Ellguth and Marjam Fels (Designers, WZB), Philip Albert (Economist, WZB), Heike Harmgart (Head of EBRD, Jordan) and Steffen Huck (Director, research unit Economics of Change, WZB).
Key support was provided by Tala Sweis and Jameel Matalka (Madrasati) and Wa’d Taweel (EBRD, Jordan).
If you want to know more about the project’s background, click here.
Social Science Center
The Berlin Social Science Center (WZB) is an independent non-university research institute located in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1969 and is funded by the Federal Government of Germany and the state of Berlin. The WZB conducts basic research with a focus on problems of modern societies in a globalized world. German and international researchers work at the WZB, including sociologists, political scientists, economists, legal scholars and historians.
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) helps businesses flourish. Through their financial investments, business services and involvement in high-level policy dialogue, they're well-placed to promote entrepreneurship and change lives. EBRD’s tailored solutions share a consistent goal of fostering the transition to market economies, whilst promoting innovation, growth and transparency.
Madrasati
Madrasati Initiative (My School) was launched by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah with an overall goal of creating safe and dynamic learning environments that significantly contribute towards improving the quality of education in 500 of Jordan’s neediest public schools. Madrasati continues to mobilize the efforts of different parties to guarantee children safe spaces for learning, raise teacher morale and motivation, and garner societal support for education.
University of Arts
The Berlin University of the Arts (UdK) is one of the biggest, most diversified and traditional universities of the arts in the world. Within the framework of the course of study Visual Communication (Design), the Visual Society Program (ViSoP) is running. In ViSoP, Master’s students of Prof. David Skopec’s “Visual Systems Studio Class” realize projects together with social scientists in the research units of the Berlin Social Science Center (WZB).
The project was made possible with the valuable help of many people.
Thanks to Jutta Allmendinger, Dana Buyx, Jessica Haase, Martin Rennert, David Skopec and Katina Sostmann.
Special thanks to the Al-Arqam school: Sawsan Abu Hammad, Halima Abu Zaid and all students participating in the project. Fadia Wajih Abdallah Assad, Samer Ayyash (CC Group), Ezz El-Din Ahmed El-Soss, Ahmad Humeid (Syntax), Michelle Lindner (USAID), Shaman Ma’abrah, Farrukh Mirza and Bassam Saleh (UNICEF), Volker Schimmel (UNHCR), Ibrahim Youssef and the Madrasati team, especially to Mohammad Al Hijawi and Shereen Shakeen.
A very special thanks to Jameel Matalka, Muna Sukhtian, Tala Sweis and Wa’d Taweel. Their invaluable support helped to realize this project.
