Building Capacity, Building Citizens: Visits with IYAF, Ruwwad, INJAZ, Generations for Peace, Crown Prince Foundation, JCLA and Jordan River Foundation
“The best way to predict your future is to create it.”
In many instances, youth are not given enough platforms for their voices to be heard or to take part in sustainable solution decisions concerning the future — a future they will be a part of. In Amman, I met with several organizations that take different approaches to engaging children, helping them to be more involved, equipped and resourced so that they can meaningfully contribute towards the change required to address the inequalities within our society and advance progress forward.
International Youth Ambassadors Foundation, or IYAF, serves as a national and international platform that empowers youth to have technical skills and professional capacity to become ambassadors of change in their communities and professional careers through various models of innovation, research, civic engagement and entrepreneurship. IYAF provide access to its network, partners and tools to any young individual or initiative aligned to its mission, including training and simulation conferences, exposure to global experiences and markets, and skill-building in content drafting and marketing. To learn more about IYAF, visit https://iyafglobal.com.
Generations For Peace, or GFP, is a Jordan-based global non-profit peacebuilding organization founded by HRH Prince Feisal Al Hussein of Jordan in 2007. Dedicated to sustainable conflict transformation at the grassroots, Generations For Peace empowers volunteer leaders of youth to promote active tolerance and responsible citizenship in communities experiencing different forms of conflict and violence. Carefully facilitated sport-based games, art, advocacy, dialogue, empowerment, and media activities provide an entry point to engage children, youth, and adults, and a vehicle for integrated education and sustained behavioural change. To learn more about Generations for Peace, visit https://www.generationsforpeace.org/en/.
Ruwwad is a community development organization operating in Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt that works with disenfranchised communities through education, youth volunteerism and grassroots organizing. Ruwwad is based in multiple lower-income and refugee communities in Jordan, sponsoring youth organizing programs, child development programs and community-led campaigns. To learn more about Ruwwad, visit https://ruwwad.ngo.
Justice Center for Legal Aid, or JCLA, is the largest legal aid provider in Jordan, providing legal aid services at clinics located across all governorates. JCLA provides poor and vulnerable people in Jordan with access to legal aid services, including legal consultations and legal representations. JCLA is committed to empowering all poor and vulnerable people in Jordan, with a view to realising a society where everyone has equal access to justice. To learn more about JCLA, visit http://www.jcla-org.com/en.
INJAZ is an organization that seeks to inspire and prepare youth to become productive members in society and accelerate the development of the national economy through contributing to the advancement of the education and entrepreneurship ecosystems. INJAZ has enabled, empowered and advanced hundreds of thousands of Jordanians, and has a particular focus on unifying efforts and developing joint work through cooperation to implement a set of activities and programs aimed at enhancing economic opportunities for youth. To learn more about INJAZ, visit https://injaz.org.jo.
Crown Prince Foundation, established by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II, is built to inspire youth and guide them to participate in serving their communities, taking upon themselves leadership roles, and investing in available social and economic opportunities. The Foundation aims to develop the capacities and skills of youth in Jordan through its strategy, which is composed of three main strategic pillars with a scope that incorporates all the governorates: employability and entrepreneurship; leadership; and citizenship. To learn more about the Crown Prince Foundation, visit https://www.cpf.jo/en.
Jordan River Foundation, or JRF, is an organization established in 1995 with a focus on child safety and community empowerment. Driven by values of social justice, impactful interventions to alleviate poverty, and socio-economic empowerment. Focusing on women and youth, JRF continues to build a Jordan for safer children, equal opportunities, and sustainable growth. To learn more about the Jordan River Foundation, visit https://www.jordanriver.jo/en.
These organizations all have unique visions and approaches, but one theme I heard when meeting with each is that we have responsibilities to our children. We must be responsible for providing youth with opportunities to develop their interests, while sharing and advancing their skills and experience. Fundamentally, youth can excel if given the proper skills and means to become capable, active citizens within their communities. We must also be responsible for affirming youth's value as a resource and their ability to influence positive change among themselves and their communities. Youth can make great achievements if given the skills and resources to be active citizens because they have the ability to create homegrown solutions that address local problems they understand first-hand. Additionally, we can be responsible for providing resources adjacent to education, including inquiry-based learning and enhancing life coaching and counseling. There needs to be a variety of integrated programs proving a multitude of services in a manner that adopts international best practices in assessment, implementation and quality control.
Another theme I heard is the importance of leveraging a network of local and international partners to play a growing role in program development and provide funding opportunities. A great example is a recent partnership involving two of these organizations — INJAZ and Crown Prince Foundation. Al Hussein Technical University, one of the initiatives of the Crown Prince Foundation, and INJAZ signed a memorandum of understanding, with the aim of strengthening the cooperation and joint coordination between the two parties to advance programs and initiatives that enhance opportunities for the youth in the field of entrepreneurship and social leadership. This partnership will be a joint effort to support youth’s entrepreneurial skills and increase their opportunities to enter the labor market as qualified employees or promising entrepreneurs by supporting them in establishing their start-up companies, in addition to supporting, developing and implementing programs and events in areas of common interest within the entrepreneurship and educational sector.
“It is easier to build up a child than it is to repair and adult.”
