- In December 2022, Dansk Industri (DI) and Jordan Chamber of Industry (JCI) signed an agreement with the Irbid Chamber of Industry (ICI) to work together to support employment of youth. Through the partnership, ICI member companies will employ 100 young people for at least 3 months. The employed youth will come primarily from Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) employability skills training program and may also be referred by Plan and Royal Health Awareness Society (RHAS) in the future. This collaboration between consortium partners and the ICI is a significant achievement for Najahna as it represents a concrete example of how partners together can support youth employment in Jordan. The partnership is a pilot initiative which, if successful, could be scaled up to include partnerships with other local chambers of industries in Jordan
- NRC rehabilitated two schools as part of their Safe and Inclusive Schools’ program (SIS) supported by Najahna. Rehabilitation works started during the summer and benefitted 970 students (59% girls, 68% Syrian refugee students). In addition, young Syrians from NRC’s Youth Centre in Zaatari Refugee Camp repaired broken school desks and donated them to the newly rehabilitated schools
- Although the Communications and Advocacy strategy is still being developed, it’s important to note that NRC was successful during this first year in influencing key policies and decisions in the area of education ultimately improving access to education for refugees in general and the quality of education for Syrian refugee students in Jordan in particular. These key advocacy achievements were the fruit of NRC’s work in the sector over the past five years and NRC will use these to develop further advocacy asks on Najahna over the coming four years. During Year 1, NRC was successful in influencing the following two key policy changes:
- NRC worked with Education stakeholders to advocate for a waiver on enrolment documentation for non-Jordanian students. As a result, the Ministry of Education has issued an exemption for non-Jordanian students enrolling in September 2022, improving access to education for refugee students in Jordan.
- Following discussions between NRC and the Ministry of Education on the Education Strategic Plan (ESP), the pre- and in-service capacity building opportunities for Service Contracted Teachers (SCTs) were included in the final document. The SCTs teach in double shift schools, where Syrian refugees are enrolled. By including SCT’s in the MoE’s national capacity building plans for teachers, the Ministry of Education has taken an important step towards increasing quality of education for Syrian refugees in Jordan.
- In Azraq camp, Plan finalized outreach activities and kicked off one round of the “Champions of Change” program and psychosocial support activities in November 2022, where 100 youth (49 female, 51 male) participated. The Champions of Change course consists of 18 sessions and comprises a wide range of topics such as conflict management, assertive communication, feeling management, gender equality, rights, and duties.
- NRC made progress in revising the existing practical vocational training material used in Zaatari and Azraq camps youth centers. Finally, using the modified material, two cohorts of vocational training were completed at NRC centers from August to December, with 521 Syrian refugee youth (Zaatari: 195 male/ 68 female, Azraq: 168 male/ 90 female).
- In September, DI started a pilot apprenticeship program in cooperation with VTC, one within the garment sector (14 females) and another within the food industry (26 youth, 16 male and 10 females). DI will assess the outcomes of those two apprenticeships and use the findings to inform their activities in Year 2
