Najahna, the name of the Programme is rooted in the Arabic language. Najahna means success in Arabic, thereby indicating that the programme represents a centralized platform for success.
Going on its eleventh year, and with 6,6 million refugees worldwide, the Syrian displacement crisis is the largest the world has seen in decades. Of those, 5,6 million are hosted in Syria’s neighboring countries. The Kingdom of Jordan, being one of the most affected countries by the Syrian crisis hosts over 1,36 million refugees. Syrian refugees and conflict affected youth in Jordan confront many challenges, including poverty, limited access to quality formal and non-formal education, high unemployment rates and barriers to economic opportunities. In addition, the youth often experience an exacerbation of harmful social norms, attitudes and behaviors in their communities that prevent adolescent girls and young women from achieving their full potential.
The Najahna programme aims to empower 48,000 young Syrian refugees and other conflict-affected youth in Jordan, especially adolescent girls, and young women, to become economic, social viable actors in an inclusive, healthy protective and gender responsive environment.
Three interlinked programme objectives are focused on working with Education, Economic Empowerment, and an Enabling Environment respectively, and provide a gender-transformative frame for a holistic approach to a complex problem. Against this background, the program targets different barriers that young people face from the systems level, with a weak educational system and a restrictive legal and policy environment for refugees, to the societal level characterized by harmful social norms, practices and traditions that stand in the way of young women’s economic empowerment, and finally, to the skills and capacities that young people need at an individual level.
Three strategic objectives will contribute to achieving the overall objective:
- Adolescent and young Syrian refugees and other conflict-affected youth, especially adolescent girls, and young women, have access to and complete quality primary and secondary education.
- Young Syrian refugees and other conflict-affected youth, especially young women, are economically empowered, by enhanced and equal access to decent employment/self-employment, allowing them to actively engage in the Jordanian economy and labor market.
- Adolescent young Syrian refugees and other conflict-affected youth, especially young women, and adolescent girls, have access to youth friendly services, including quality sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR)- and gender-based violence (GBV) services, and are empowered to challenge social norms.
The programme is funded by the Novo Nordic Foundation and is composed of five organizations, Plan, The Norwegian Refugee Council, The Royal Health Awareness Society, Confederation of Danish Industries (DI) and Oversees Development Institute. The programme has a duration of five years, spanning from January 2022 to December 2026.
