Recently, the Unicef student teams in the Netherlands have been assigned to a new fundraising project: raising funds for the youth in Jordan.
Jordan is a beacon of stability in the Middle East. The country has been is a safe haven for refugees, for ages. Currently, hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees settled in camps and host communities in Jordan. Za’atari is the biggest most well-known refugee camp in Jordan, hosting around 80.000 people.
A GENERATION WITH POTENTIAL
UNICEF is committed to the children who had to build up their lives in a refugee camp. Refugee children face many difficulties, often missing out on education for years. UNICEF wants all children and young people, whether refugees or not, to be able to develop, to learn skills and to prepare themselves for the future including a study and work. A lost generation must be prevented. This is not only important for children and young people itself, but also for Jordan, Syria and the region. These girls and boys are the future of the Middle East. And this generation has a huge potential.
THE PROGRAM: THE LEADERS OF THE FUTURE
One of the biggest problems in Jordan is youth unemployment. Young people lack the knowledge and skills that are crucial for a fast changing labour market. That’s why UNICEF wants to reach adolescents in Jordan with innovative education so that they can learn the following 21st century skills:
* Tech skills - when it comes to UNICEF Jordan, adolescents will soon learn technical, creative and innovative skills that are important for future jobs. Examples are programming, making productions for creative and social media, and designing interactive (computer) games. The goal: to better prepare children for the future labour market.
* Soft skills - the skills mentioned above are not the only ones that the next generation needs to have. Potential employers also look for characteristics such as self-confidence, creativity and the knowledge of the English language. That is why UNICEF also pays attention to these so-called soft skills.
Both tech skills and soft skills are desperately needed to raise the future leaders of the Tech industry in the region. UNICEF Jordan has close partnerships with a number of companies and organisations: these partners lead the tech trainings, and offer internships and starter positions to the young people participating in the program.
‘We are proud to take one extra serious step to join the global efforts towards supporting vulnerable children and young people and adopting related initiatives within our organizational culture. Being the leaders in the telecom industry, we feel that we are responsible towards our community, with our commitment not to save any effort to be active and supportive.’ - Zain Jordan CEO
WHAT DO WE WANT TO ACHIEVE
* In refugee camps, such as Za’atari, innovation labs are being set up where 20.000 children, adolescents and young people can develop their creative skills and innovative ideas. UNICEF’s network of ‘Makani centers’ is used for this project. These are child-friendly places in refugee camps and host communities where both Syrian children and vulnerable Jordanian children can go to play and learn.
* 80.000 adolescents and young people in Jordan get technical training to increase their opportunities on the labour market. These young people learn: to program through coding bootcamps, to make productions for creative and social media, to design websites and computer games, to conduct research and scientific experiments.
* 50.000 young people are accompanied in taking their first steps on the labour market. In the Za’atari camps, together with start-ups, UNICEF has set up a textile production line. Young people and women can follow a training in making textiles. Their creations are sold in and outside the camps so that they can earn their own income.
For 1750 euros, a young person gets the chance to learn essential tech and soft skills and will be guided during his or her first steps on the labour market.
With this program, UNICEF reaches both Syrian and vulnerable Jordanian adolescents in this program. By bringing these two groups together, tensions are taken away and mutual understanding and respect grows.
‘Young people can immediately use the acquired skills, even later outside the camp, if they choose to return to Syria’, says Robert Jenkins, director of UNICEF Jordan. ‘It gives them future perspective and a sense of self- worth, an important step towards maturity.’
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