Report No: . Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Jordan Youth Engagement Summary Note . May 2018 . GSU MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA . Document of the World Bank . . . Standard Disclaimer: This volume is a product of the staff of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/ The World Bank. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect the views of the Executive Directors of The World Bank or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in this work. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in this work do not imply any judgment on the part of The World Bank concerning the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. . Copyright Statement: . The material in this publication is copyrighted. Copying and/or transmitting portions or all of this work without permission may be a violation of applicable law. 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Summary Note Jordan: Supporting Youth Engagement and Participation (P161834) April 2018 3 Acronyms and Abbreviations AF Additional Financing ASA Advisory Services and Analytics CMU Country Management Unit CSR Corporate Social Responsibility DLI Disbursement-Linked Indicator GoJ Government of Jordan ICR Implementation Completion Report JSDF Japan Social Development Fund M&E Monitoring and Evaluation NGO Non-Governmental Organization O&M Operations and Maintenance MoY Ministry of Youth PforR Program for Result TTL Task Team Leader 4 Contents Acronyms and Abbreviations ......................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 6 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8 1.1. Context ................................................................................................................................. 8 1.2. Relevance of the TA activity ............................................................................................. 10 2. TA Activity Objectives and Description............................................................................ 11 2.1. TA Activity Development Objectives ............................................................................... 11 2.2. TA Activities ...................................................................................................................... 11 3. Progress and Key Results................................................................................................... 13 3.1. Pillar 1: Mainstreaming Youth in Bank Operations .......................................................... 14 3.2. Pillar 2: Policy Advice and Outreach................................................................................. 17 4. Conclusions ........................................................................................................................ 19 5. Next Steps: Youth Engagement at Scale ........................................................................... 19 Annex A: Youth Lens Methodology............................................................................................. 23 Annex B: Proposed prioritized projects for Youth Lens in Jordan ............................................... 27 Annex C: Statement of Feedback and Support to National Youth Strategy ................................. 30 Annex D: Youth Consultations ..................................................................................................... 32 5 Executive Summary 1. Jordan is at a critical juncture for prosperity, social progress and peace, and its youth stand at a precipice. Though Jordan has done well in terms of economic growth and achievement of human development indicators in the past decade, growth has slowed down over the past few years as geopolitical repercussions are taking a toll. Despite its strategic geographic location, a downturn in investments and remittances from Jordanians living in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has resulted in limited availability of private-sector jobs. Young people in Jordan are disproportionately affected by the economic slow-down as exemplified by the high unemployment rates standing at over 30 percent. The quality of and access to services remains unevenly distributed across the country, and while Jordan’s poverty headcount is low at around 14 percent, at least one third of the population transitions temporarily into poverty at a given time in a year. Jordan’s location has also made it vulnerable to spillovers from regional conflicts. Over the past seven years, Jordan has received an estimated 1.3 million Syrians1, out of which more than half are under the age of 30. 2. While young people represent over two thirds of the country’s total population in Jordan, their needs and aspirations are not adequately addressed. Almost one third of young Jordanians (28.7 percent) are currently not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) and a lack of quality employment and a skill mismatch means that even young people with jobs are not very satisfied. The economic cost of unemployment is substantial. In 2008, the aggregate economic costs of economic youth exclusion in Jordan were estimated at US$1.5 billion (7% of GDP), mostly due to youth unemployment and joblessness, often related to school dropouts. The unemployment issue in Jordan affects not only the economy, but also the social, health and psychosocial state of those unemployed. Additionally, youth lack platforms to voice their concerns and opinions, and even where such platforms exist, young people do not think they are an adequate form of engagement. The resulting frustration can lead to violence and governance challenges. 3. In line with the 2017-2022 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and higher-level regional development objectives of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Regional Strategy, this Technical Assistance Activity (TA) sought to facilitate opportunities for youth engagement in policy making and strengthen their participation in, and benefits from, the delivery of World Bank operations. Specific activities and achievements include: (i) identification of opportunities for enhancing youth participation in specific operations and increasing their inclusive impact on young people, through a desk review of the World Bank portfolio (piloting the Youth Lens methodology); (ii) support to the design of mechanisms for involving youth in performing Youth Monitoring of Project activities, which led to the establishment of a Youth Monitoring activity as 1 The total number of Syrians includes 660,000 (April 2018) that are officially registered as refugees, leaving the majority of the rest in the count as unregistered refugees. 6 part of the Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project (MSSRP, P161982); and (iii) identification of and support to opportunities for facilitating youth participation, which included the production of an analytical youth situational brief to inform policy; support to the development and operationalization of the National Youth Strategy (2018– 2025); and support to development partner coordination of youth activities. While the World Bank’s portfolio in Jordan largely already supports many of the key areas of need for youth, work under this TA activity demonstrates a need for sustained engagement. 4. Building on the analytical framework and methodology developed through previous technical assistance in the region, the Youth Lens portfolio review component of this TA activity identifies entry points in proposed follow-on work for robust application of the Youth Lens2 across all the Bank’s projects in Jordan. The review found that all projects could utilize informing Youth Lens instruments for youth-responsive and participatory programming. Additionally, several operations may also be positioned for application and utilization of the additional two Youth Lens instruments: delivering and benefitting (see details in section 4 and Annex A). These include: 1. Jordan Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project (P161982); 2. Jordan: Innovative Startups Fund Project (P161905); 3. Jordan: Piloting Delivery of Justice Sector Services to Poor Jordanians and Refugees (P157861); and potentially a pipeline project 4. Jordan Urban and Municipal Program for Balanced and Inclusive Growth, P4R (P166577). In this regard, the recommended focus for the way forward is on intensified, measurable Youth Lens application in select transformative projects with high impact potential for young people. This would be supplemented by youth consultations, building on a co-creation method and leveraging a network approach. The youth consultations and TA activity outreach experience also reinforced that continued and amplified youth participation in development operations is critical for youth inclusion and empowerment. 5. At the same time, sustained engagement with Government policymakers is warranted, in addition to development partner coordination. In this regard, the TA activity recommends continued engagement including for example to complete the mapping and inform finalization and implementation of the National Youth Strategy, as well as extended investments by the Bank in programmatic approaches, such as supporting a Youth Advisory Board or social innovation activities. The latter will create concrete channels of engagement internally at the World Bank and externally with the Government, leveraging specific activities in a more sustainable manner. 2 The Youth Lens methodology builds on the Youth Mainstreaming methodology that was developed by the World Bank in Egypt. 7 1. Introduction 1.1. Context 6. Jordan is at a critical juncture for prosperity, social progress and peace. Though Jordan has done well in terms of economic growth and achievement of human development indicators in the past decade, economic growth has slowed down over the past few years. Real GDP growth for 2017 has been 2.3 percent, an increase of only 0.3 percentage points over the 2016 rate. Despite the country’s strategic geographic location that has helped it benefit from investments from Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries as well as from remittances from Jordanians living in these countries in the past; the rebalancing of GCC economies has led to a decline of these inflows and they are no longer sufficient to buoy the economy, or fiscal revenues, or support the external account. 7. Young people in Jordan are disproportionately affected by economic exclusion and inactivity. The social contract in Jordan has for years been based on the government’s ability to provide public sector jobs for many of its citizens and to subsidize prices for services and utilities. Given the slowdown in the country’s economy, opportunities for public sector employment have diminished, and the private sector is not generating enough job opportunities to meet the demand amongst youth. In 2017, the overall unemployment rate in Jordan was estimated at 18 per cent. However, for the same year, the unemployment amongst youth, who represent more than one third of the population, had reached 35 percent. According to the most recent Arab Youth Survey3, Jordanian youth have identified unemployment and high cost of living as two of their main concerns. A recent study by the Carnegie Center of Jordanian youth noted a general confidence in Government but little interest in participating in the parliamentary elections that took place in September 2016. 8. The country’s achievements in terms of social services availability, although noteworthy, have also led to provision of services of varying quality around the country. In terms of poverty, while Jordan’s poverty headcount was low at around 14 percent in 2010 (latest data available), one third of the population transitions temporarily into poverty during a year and poverty reduction is likely to have stalled or reversed. In particular, rising energy and transport costs impact greatly the lower quintile of households. In addition, average annual population growth in Jordan was an astounding 7.8 percent between 2004 -2015. This rapid demographic growth affected Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita and had a strong impact on unemployment. 3 http://arabyouthsurvey.com/about-survey.html 8 9. Jordan’s strategic geographic location has also made it vulnerable to spillovers from regional conflicts, with implications for social cohesion. Since the beginning of the war in Syria, Jordan has received an estimated 1.3 million Syrians of whom 660,000 are registered as refugees, and roughly half are under the age of 30. Over 80 percent of the refugee population lives in urban centers and shares services offered by the Jordanian government institutions to their own population. Other than for those living in camps (only about 20 percent of Syrian refugees as of April 2018), refugees use the same services available to Jordanians and this has placed a heavy burden on the ability of the Government to provide adequate access that can preserve its human development achievements. These pressures, along with the perception that their displacement is unlikely to end soon, contributes to social tension. 10. The Government of Jordan (GoJ) has a strong track record of progressive and inclusive youth policy, which have been expressed in national and sectoral strategies, including the Jordan Compact and the Jordan 2025 Vision. The guiding principles established by these strategies put citizens at the center of public services, including youth services. Jordan has been championing efforts to advocate for the rights of youth, both in country and globally. In August 2015, Jordan hosted the first ‘Global Forum on Youth, Peace and Security’ convened by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Jordan. During the same period, the Council of Ministers requested the Ministry of Youth to update the National Youth Strategy. The strategy update focuses on the vision and mission of the newly established Ministry of Youth (at the time still the Higher Youth Council) in its services and programs for youth. Challenges facing the Ministry’s role include insufficient budget, inadequate capacity of staff; lack of investments in youth activities, lack of clarity on the role and mandate of the Council, insufficient outreach to youth groups, and lack of adequate research; as well as overlap of mandates within other institutions, the influence of social media on youth values, a lack of interest of youth in programs offered by the Council, and the regional political situation. The strategy update is organized into five pillars - programs and activities; youth centers, quality of services, social accountability and partnerships. 11. Development Partners – including donors and multilateral organizations – have been supporting selected small-scale technical assistance activities targeting youth. For example, a UN-led mapping of youth activities in Jordan for 2014-2015 4 identifies education, skills development and employability as accounting for the largest share of youth activities, followed by support to civic engagement and participation – with most activities concentrated in Amman, Zarqa and Irbid as these account for the largest share of the youth population affected by economic and social exclusion. Youth organizations tend to rely on a range of funding resources including contributions from the private sector in the form of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and partnerships. Some of the emerging community organizing campaigns (e.g. The No Honor in Crime Campaign) rely fully on in-kind community engagements. More recently, the 4 United Nations Population Fund, Jordan: Who is doing what for Youth in Jordan? 2015. 9 European Union (EU), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Denmark, the UK, Germany and several other development partners have been providing technical assistance support to the Ministry of Youth. Additionally, USAID is implementing a community youth project in 60 municipalities in Jordan. Box: What is Youth Inclusion? The World Bank support to youth combines the ‘lifecycle approach’ to youth, as defined by the WDR 2007 on Youth in Development as ‘the period of time during which a young person goes through a formative transition into adulthood’. For operational purposes, the Bank mostly considers the 15-30 age range during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. For analytical and operational work, different definitions are sometimes used, depending on context and objectives. Taking a lifecycle approach provides a holistic and integrated methodology that connects and reinforces the various policy support measures in a coherent manner. Research shows that risky behaviors of youth are frequently inter-related and can have similar origins. Focusing on these common causes rather than the problems themselves is likely to have a deeper, lasting impact and help address multiple challenges at the same time. Youth need challenging experiences that are appropriate, diverse and sufficiently intense. All young people, whether in school, employment or without work, whether low-income or affluent, need a mix of services, support and opportunities to stay engaged. They need relevant and reliable information to make informed decisions and to understand how the choices they make will affect their lives. They need opportunities for real participation and involvement in a range of community life. Positive outcomes require an understanding of lives and young people, including their social environment, relationships and opportunities. Giving greater attention to the care, empowerment and protection of youth is the soundest way to break the intergenerational transmission of poverty and risky behavior, and to reduce vulnerability to extremism, while empowering young people and giving them the knowledge, skills and confidence to meet the global challenges of our times. 1.2. Relevance of the TA activity 12. The approach of the Jordan Youth Engagement Initiative and its support for (a) increased economic and social inclusion; and (b) participation for young people remain fully aligned with the Country Partnership Framework and higher-level regional development objectives of the MENA Regional Strategy. In particular, the Project is aligned with Pillar 1 of the Regional Strategy, Renewing the Social Contract, as the TA activity promotes an inclusive approach towards building trust between citizens and institutions and supports the strong 10 participation of beneficiaries. It is also well aligned with the 2017-2022 Country Partnership Framework (CPF) and its stated objective to support more inclusive policies, renewing the social contract through improvements in the quality and equity of service delivery, and promoting improved opportunities for youth employment. In line with both these strategies, it becomes imperative for the Bank to start addressing the needs of youth as a large segment of the Jordanian population, beyond the few of the World Bank’s projects that are addressing the challenge of youth employability.5 Through this activity, the World Bank is looking for further opportunities to support and streamline the engagement of youth across its portfolio. 2. TA Activity Objectives and Description 2.1. TA Activity Development Objectives 13. The development objective of the Technical Assistance Activity (TA) was to facilitate opportunities for youth engagement in policy making and strengthen their participation in, and benefits from, the delivery of World Bank operations. 14. Expected Results: The TA activity was designed to support a high-level policy dialogue and aimed to develop concrete mechanisms and tools for engaging youth in World Bank financed operations. It aimed at improving the inclusiveness of project processes through the enhancement of voice and participation. Through this ongoing process and policy dialogue, results and accountability in Bank financed projects are beginning to be strengthened. At the policy level, decision makers at the Ministry of Youth are starting to gain a better understanding of how youth policy and operational interventions can be tailored to strengthen the effectiveness of programs. 2.2. TA Activities 15. The TA activity was designed to rest on two pillars – (i) mainstreaming youth in Bank operations to ensure that Project processes and outcomes support youth empowerment and include the voices of youth throughout project implementation; (ii) advising government and conducting outreach on youth policy issues, supporting their efforts in addressing the marginalization of youth across various initiatives and leveraging the Bank’s knowledge and experiences. Across both these two pillars, the activity specifically considered opportunities for ensuring that female youth are represented and that participatory approaches account for gender roles amongst youth and existing barriers to their active engagement. 5 Including for example a Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF)-funded project for supporting youth services in under-served areas that was recently launched. 11 16. The TA activity would identify and support opportunities for strengthening youth engagement in policy making and their participation in World Bank operations. This involved a i) a desk review of the World Bank portfolio to identify opportunities for youth participation and increased inclusive impact on young people; ii) support to the design of mechanisms for involving youth in performing Youth Monitoring of Project activities; and iii) identification of and support to opportunities for facilitating youth participation and inclusion in policy making. 12 3. Progress and Key Results 17. Progress and key results of the TA activity per pillar and planned activity are summarized in the table below. Table 2: Progress and key results by activity Pillar Planned Activity Key Results Pillar I. Methodology and Approach Paper for Portfolio Review drafted Mainstreaming Youth in Bank 1. Conduct Jordan Initial portfolio and project review conducted Operations: portfolio review Shortlist of prioritized projects and entry points for follow-on Phase II Youth Lens activities identified; consultations with TTLs initiated. Youth Monitoring concept developed for MSSRP Terms of Reference, Implementation arrangements, and costing, 2. Design Youth and relevant sections introduced to the Project Paper. The Monitoring activity was endorsed by the MSSRP task team and the International Labor Organization (ILO), and client and relevant partners have been briefed. Pillar II: Policy Provided input and feedback to the National Youth Strategy, and Advice and Outreach Action Plan Held regular workshops with development partners and MoY Inform and and provided support to MoY to increasingly manage the overall 3. Strengthen Policy development partner coordination. Facilitating youth Dialogue Initiated geographical mapping of Youth Centers6 in Jordan and participation ongoing activities in partnership with MoY; and established a and first draft map that could potentially be enhanced and integrated inclusion in into an interactive platform. policy Youth-At-A-Glance Country Note for Jordan drafted; awaiting Analytics making peer review. Conducted more than a dozen youth consultations across the Consult country to establish a baseline of priorities and needs among with Youth young women and men. Initiated the process of cultivating a network of aspiring youth leaders and youth innovators. 6 The geographical mapping covers all 192 Youth Centers under the jurisdiction of the MoY across Jordan. 13 3.1. Pillar 1: Mainstreaming Youth in Bank Operations 18. Completed activities under pillar 1 include those to increase the impact of operations on young people and to enable youth to more actively participate in the monitoring and evaluation of World Bank supported programs as follows: Jordan CMU Youth Lens Portfolio Review: 19. As described above, a strategic review of the World Bank’s Jordan portfolio was conducted to determine opportunities for strengthening the Youth Lens (see detailed methodology including the process and instruments in Annex A). This review focused on the following nine activities (Table 3): seven active, one pipeline*, and one highly relevant ASA**; assessing the development objective and program components for youth relevance, whether or not youth are referenced in the framing of the project and/or are explicit target beneficiaries of the projects or subjects of the analysis, and whether or not individual (firm or household) level indicators are expected to be measured. This is important from a Youth Lens perspective, because it presents an entry point for disaggregating results and understanding a project’s impact on youth, even where youth may not be the targeted beneficiary. Table 3: Project considered for applying the Youth Lens Pcode Name Type TTL/Co TTL Amount Closing ($m) P161905 Innovative Startups Fund IPF Randa Akeel 50 11/30/2023 Project P163387 Jordan Emergency Health IPF Aakanksha Pande, 50 06/29/2019 Project Fernando Montenegro Torres P162407 Jordan Education Reform P4R Karine M. Pezzani 200 05/31/2023 Project P157861 Piloting Delivery of Justice IPF Klaus Decker 2.50 03/15/2019 Sector Services to Poor Jordanians and Refugees in Host Communities P159522 Economic Opportunities for P4R Meriem Ait Ali 300 01/31/2021 Jordanians and Syrian Refugees Slimane, John F. P4R Speakman, P163719 Promoting Financial Inclusion IPF Ghada Ahmed 1.05 12/31/2020 Policies in Jordan Waheed Ismail P161982 Municipal Services and Social IPF Lina Abdallah, Phoram 21.12 12/31/2020 Resilience Project Shah P160609 Entrepreneurship pilot to AA Aminur Rahman, 3.17 12/30/2020 promote economic Nabila Assaf opportunities for Jordanians and Syrians 14 P166577 Jordan Urban and Municipal P4R Bjorn Philipp, 200 Pipeline Program for Balanced and Lina Abdallah Inclusive Growth7 Jordan CMU Youth Lens Portfolio Review Results: 20. The review draws several conclusions that together present important avenues for more youth-responsive programming. All activities in the table have entry points for applying a Youth Lens. All can utilize informing instruments and benefit from youth engagement, participation and consideration; and many may also be positioned for robust Youth Lens application and utilization of delivering and benefitting instruments to deepen engagement of young people. Importantly, while all shortlisted operations respond to or directly support areas identified as key youth needs and issues in the draft Jordan National Youth Strategy as well as portfolio review research, Youth At-A-Glance Note and other analytics (especially economic opportunity, health and social services), currently only two operations (Education Reform PforR, P162407; and Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project, P161982) explicitly target the youth cohort as a key stakeholder. At the same time however, several other operations do expect results at the individual or firm level that directly respond to key youth needs identified, providing entry points for intensified youth engagement and additional Lens activities. 21. Although it could not be ascertained from reviewed documentation whether youth were consulted in the development of projects, experience shows that this was unlikely. Whether to finalize design or understand potential implications of a project for Jordanian young people, youth consultations and outreach would be a worthy undertaking for all projects. For projects that are working primarily with government implementers or at the institutional, systems level, as in the case of municipal services or economic policy projects for example, an important entry point may be facilitating dialogue between government and youth. Similarly, as projects near their end and planning for the evaluation and learning components gets underway, projects should consider how youth can play an active, consulting role as researchers, evaluators, or communicators. 22. In summary, the portfolio and methodology review portends that effectiveness of Youth Lens application likely increases when the following conditions are fulfilled (Phase I): • Mainstreaming is applied during early stage of project cycle (design or early implementation) 7 The project was considered early on but an in-depth review was postponed due to the revised preparation timeline of the P4R and based on a discussion with the TTLs. Additional conversations between the Task Team and the Youth team are scheduled to take place as soon as concept stage of the program has been completed. 15 • Continuous support to projects is provided in terms of advice and review of key project documents and or activities • It is possible to openly engage with youth and conduct data collection Following the overall portfolio review, further considerations for prioritization for follow-on Youth Lens and mainstreaming activities include (Phase II) ➢ Identification of clear entry points ➢ Buy in from the CMU/TTL: interest and willingness to take steps to apply a Youth Lens ➢ Portfolio diversity across sectors and stage of implementation. Operationalization: 23. Based on the analysis and additional considerations noted above three active projects8 were assessed in more detail using available information and consultations, with the aim of understanding both the possibility of including in these projects relevant Youth Lens actions and determining how these projects could be a model for similar projects and activities in Jordan aiming to mainstream youth. These further findings are presented in Annex B. Agreements with the TTLs of the Innovative Startups Fund Project and Piloting Delivery of Justice Sector Services to Poor Jordanians and Refugees have been reached to foster collaboration between their teams and the Jordan Youth team, i.e. for the Innovative Startups Fund Projects the Youth team will advise on how to enhance targeting of young female entrepreneurs in the project activities. In addition, a dialogue with the Education PforR team has been initiated. 24. Youth Monitoring: Under this TA activity, a Youth Monitoring activity has been designed for the Jordan Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project P161982 (MSSRP) to include the following phases: (1) Selection of Youth Monitors; (2) Training of Youth Monitors; (3) Monitoring Plans; (4) Supervision of monitoring data collection; (5) Analysis and reporting of Youth Monitoring results; and will be implemented in close partnership with the Project Management Unit, and participating municipalities. The Youth Monitoring will engage young people (18-35 years of age) to monitor activities related to labor intensive works. Actual monitoring activities could include information on (i) project beneficiary demographics (e.g. age and gender composition; participation of Jordanians and Syrian refugees; etc.); (ii) selected project results framework indicators; (iii) public works aspects (e.g. working and safety conditions; etc.); and (iv) other aspects of relevance to the project that can be monitored by youth. The Terms of Reference 8 The Innovative Startups Fund Project; Piloting Delivery of Justice Sector Services to Poor Jordanians and Refugees in Host Communities and the Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project. 16 and the Institutional Arrangements have been agreed by the client as well as partners, and the budget for Youth Monitoring has been secured under MSSRP.9 3.2. Pillar 2: Policy Advice and Outreach 25. Completed activities under pillar 2 included analytics to increase understanding of youth profile and diversified needs in Jordan; advisory and coordination support to GoJ; and engagement of youth leaders to promote youth participation in policy as follows: 26. Support to the National Strategy: The MoY has been tasked by the government to update and develop the National Youth Strategy which will primarily focus on jobs and the role of young people in the society. Under this TA activity, the Bank has been providing support in the form of content review and facilitating consultation. The National Youth Strategy is following a two- pronged approach, namely (i) Support to Youth Employability and Entrepreneurship, and (ii) Countering Violent Extremism (CVE). The strategy has been developed based on broad-based consultations with youth throughout the country, and in coordination with government stakeholders. It is designed as a platform that allows public agencies, civil society, and development partners to support comprehensive strategic goals through specific projects and activities. Under this TA activity, coordination of development partners (see below) led to the issuance of a statement of support and recommendations going forward signed by the four donors of youth activities: the EU, Denmark, World Bank and the United Kingdom (Annex B). 27. Youth-At-A-Glance Country Note: To further inform youth policy and program, an analytical brief has been prepared for final review which assesses and summarizes key aspects of the state of youth economic, political, and social inclusion (and thereby exclusion) in Jordan. Importantly, the Note also considers the costs and implications of failures of inclusion (exclusion) such as stagnated growth or susceptibility to extremism. It is expected to be peer reviewed and finalized by the end of the FY. 28. Coordination of Development Partners and Mapping of Youth Projects: Under the leadership of the MoY, the World Bank initiated the Youth Development Partners Group. The informal group is open to all development partners and is currently jointly led in partnership with Denmark and the UK (DFID), and backing of the European Union and Germany (BMZ). The group convenes bilateral and multilateral donors and development partners who are supporting and implementing youth inclusion and youth development programs by organizations including BMZ, 9 The Youth Monitoring is part of the M&E system of MSSRP and will be implemented by a recognized local organization (“Youth Monitoring Organization�). The Youth Monitoring Organization will be supported by Project stakeholders and partners during the implementation. Importantly, Youth Monitors have been established as integral part of the Project’s monitoring arrangements and wi ll report to the PMU M&E Specialist via the Youth Monitoring Organization. 17 DFID, EU, GIZ, UNDP, UNICEF, USAID. The meetings discussed youth policy priorities, new and ongoing initiatives, support to MoY for increased coordination and sharing of knowledge and best practices. The overall aim of the group is to promote collaboration, leverage activities and investments, reduce potential redundancy, and foster overall effectiveness and impact. During this TA activity, the Youth Partners Group convened multiple times10. A key achievement of the Youth Partners Group in this period was the engagement with the MoY on the advancement of the National Youth Strategy, culminating in the issuance (February 7, 2018) of a unified letter of feedback and support for the related Youth Action Plan. 29. Another development partner coordination result is the ongoing Mapping of Youth Centers of the MoY supported by the World Bank Youth team. The “living� geospatial map aims to highlight activities supported by MoY and development partners across the country and covers all 192 existing Youth Centers under management of MoY. The mapping facilitates complementarity of donor financing and reduces the risk of duplication. Progress: At the time of writing, a Geospatial Map using GIS format has been created and the location of more than half of the Youth Centers has been collected in collaboration with MoY. The key development partners have shared information of ongoing and planned activities (UNDP, USAID) which is being added. The map will remain “life� and can be updated on a regular basis once new information becomes available. The map will be owned by MoY. 30. Youth Advisory Board: The Youth Advisory Group TA activity which is currently under preparation will cover three Youth Advisory Boards for Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, which represents a cluster of countries under the Bank’s Mashreq Countries Management Unit . The youth team under this TA activity provided technical advice to the Beirut-CMU regarding the design, and also recommended that each of the three country Youth Advisory Boards would apply a flexible country-specific operating model. In addition, the Jordan Youth Engagement TA activity shared lessons-learnt, relevant recommendations from the Youth-At-A-Glance Note, and helped to link the designated Country Office Youth Advisory Group focal points to the MENA Youth Platform, and to the youth innovation ecosystem in Jordan. The Advisory boards are expected to be up and running in FY19 with slightly different designs based on the specific country context. 31. Youth Leaders: Throughout its implementation, the Jordan Youth Engagement TA activity conducted a continuous outreach to youth-led and youth-serving organizations, including social enterprises, and has cultivated relationships for long-term engagement with youth leaders and innovators in Jordan. The TA activity has connected to existing innovation spaces such as Forsa, Leader of Tomorrow, and Parachute16. The engagement also included networks, including the No-Lost-Generation youth network, and the Youth Community Based Organizations (Youth CBOs) network initiated by UNESCO. 10 The group met in August 2017, November 2017, January 2018, and February 2018. 18 32. Youth Consultations: In total, more than a dozen Youth Consultations took place across Jordan in spring 2017 to assess needs and priorities of young people and to identify barriers to social, economic and political inclusion. The consultations revealed a variety of transition trajectories of young people towards adulthood. During the meetings, the team held focused conversations with young men and women from urban and rural areas, youth with high and low educational attainment, as well as with young entrepreneurs, job seekers and young people who had completely withdrawn from the labor market due to perceived lack of opportunities (see Annex D for details). These consultations utilized and affirmed best practices in engaging with youth including for example: do prepare an appropriate accountability and feedback mechanism, aim for genuine consultation and aim to enable ownership by youth, but don’t engage in tokenistic consultations or forego follow-up engagement after consultation. At the same time, they also revealed a need for participation to go beyond regular consultations and instead create space within projects on allowing community members to co-design solutions to bring in social innovation. Working with Incubators and other organizations to facilitate such inputs will be critical. 4. Conclusions 33. While the World Bank’s portfolio in Jordan already supports many of the key areas of need for youth, work under this TA activity demonstrates a need for sustained engagement. Overall, it is recommended to expand the Youth Lens approach across the Bank’s MENA portfolio to support the strategic priorities of the region. These include improving the Social Contract and relate to more inclusive societies, increased economic opportunity (including for Syrian refugees) and better services, all of which could be directly strengthened through a scaled-up youth approach. There is a great deal of potential to further mainstream youth into the Bank’s Jordan portfolio and provide policy advice that results in more relevant, effective, participatory and high- quality projects. 5. Next Steps: Youth Engagement at Scale 34. To scale up strategic support to Youth Engagement activities in Jordan, it is proposed to implement a streamlined Jordan Youth Engagement Phase II which would be transitioned to the MENA Youth Platform.11 The objective of Phase II would be to build on the established analytical and connected youth leadership networks during Phase I and transition towards 11 The MENA Regional Youth Platform (P160149) aims to provide a forum of youth-led (external) and youth-oriented (internal) successful experiences and strategies of social innovation and resilient living. Through a combined online- offline approach, the aim in improving access is to enhance the knowledge and learning of the targeted MENA communities to encourage them to cross-pollinate and adopt each other’s successful strategies. The platform additionally aims to develop resources and strengthen knowledge-sharing on good practices within the Bank, with applicable lessons from MENA and beyond. 19 programmatic solutions to youth support. Specifically, Phase II would focus on intensified, measurable Youth Lens application in select transformative Bank operations with high impact potential for young people, a review and assessment of the implementation of the Youth Monitoring activities under the MSSRP, and recommendations on lessons learnt for roll out under other World Bank portfolio activities.12 This would be supplemented by state-of-the-art youth consultations based on the tested co-creation method and leveraging a network approach.13 Per Table 3 and the following Youth Lens narrowing criteria to filter projects (further detailed in Annex I), a tentative list of activities screened for support under the proposed Phase II is provided in Table 4 below: ➢ Relevance: Project directly relates to youth needs and priorities in country ➢ Project Cycle: Early phase of implementation (has not passed mid-point of project duration) ➢ Flexibility: There is potential scope for adjustments to apply a Youth Lens ➢ Instrument: Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA), Investment Project Financing (IPF) or Development Policy Financing (DPF) (Program for Results (PforR) are also possible, but provide fewer entry points) ➢ Representation: Consideration of different sectors and stage of implementation Table 4: Tentative list of activities to be included in streamlined Phase II High Priority Optional Projects 1. Jordan Municipal Services and Social Resilience 5. Jordan: Emergency Health Project Project (P161982) 2. Jordan: Innovative Startups Fund Project 6. Jordan: Education Reform Project, P4R (P161905) 3. Jordan: Piloting Delivery of Justice Sector Services 7. Jordan: Strengthening the Regulatory and to Poor Jordanians and Refugees (P157861) Institutional Framework for MSME Development 12 Going forward the CMU is encouraged to request Task Teams to answer a few critical questions at Concept Note stage, such as: (1) Will this project have an impact on young people that is significantly different from its impact on others? (2) Might the active engagement of young people have an impact on project delivery or effectiveness? or (3) Were young people consulted during diagnosis or in the early stages of project designed, and did their perspective play any role in determining what project gets implemented and how? 13 Co-creation is a management initiative that brings different parties together (for instance, a company and a group of customers), in order to jointly produce a mutually valued outcome. It is primarily based on Prahalad, C.K.; Ramaswamy, V. (2004) "Co-Creation Experiences: The Next Practice in Value Creation". Journal of Interactive Marketing. Volume 18, Number 3. IDEO’s Learn-Look-Ask-Try is a leading approach http://brandgenetics.com/51- top-insight-and-co-creation-techniques-for-innovation-from-ideo/ 20 8. Jordan: Economic Opportunities for Jordanians 4. Jordan Urban and Municipal Program for and Syrian Refugees Balanced and Inclusive Growth, P4R (P166577)* 9. Promoting Financial Inclusion Policies in Jordan *While no specific actions have been agreed on yet, TTLs have expressed interest in collaborating once the Project Concept Note has been approved. 35. It remains important to consult with stakeholders, especially youth, in Jordan to ensure the relevance of the Portfolio Review analysis and the selection of these projects as entry points for applying intensified Youth Lens activities. In addition, consultation with implementing entities and task teams is also necessary to ensure that proposed lens activities are possible within project timelines and budgets, and that there is client buy-in to find ways of having greater positive impacts on youth. While specific results frameworks for country-level Phase II Youth Lens activities would be co-developed with the CMU, illustrative measures could include: Table 5: Illustrative measures for a results framework for Youth Lens activities Outcome Indicators Data Sources 1. TA supported projects • Youth consultations/focus groups • Implementation reports, are more youth informed are more frequent and more participant feedback forms robust 2. TA supported projects • Grants to youth-led organizations • CMU/TTL feedback have higher levels of • Vendor/service contracts to • Implementation reports youth delivery youth-owned businesses • Financial reports/disclosures • Youth project staff 3. TA supported projects • Direct youth indicators measured • Project results frameworks have clearer, amplified • Indirect youth indicators • Implementation and benefits to youth measured Completion reports (ICR) • Age disaggregated data collected • Project performance and • New/updated policies explicitly Impact evaluations refer to and better service youth • Youth surveys • National Policies 36. At the same time, sustained engagement is warranted in continuing policy advice with the Government, and enhancing donor coordination. In its February 7th, 2018 Statement of Feedback for the National Youth Strategy, the World Bank along with the EU, Denmark and the UK pledged to “consider supporting the Action Plan if a dialogue is opened for an integrated implementation of the National Youth Strategy in full partnership with relevant stakeholders from Government, civil society and partners. Second, we therefore offer to provide you with support in finalizing the National Youth Strategy by providing technical suggestions on the written document before it is endorsed; and, third, to assist in advancing the Action Plan for the MoY 21 during a proposed follow-up meeting.� Overall the World Bank is supporting the MoY in achieving more ownership and leadership in managing the youth support agenda and context, and to reach out to national and international partners to achieve a more comprehensive approach to youth support. Ongoing donor facilitation support to the MoY, can help ensure maximum impact of the Strategy, as well as more optimal use of World Bank and partner resources. 37. Continued and amplified youth participation is critical for overall social inclusion, political stability and citizen empowerment. This includes informing and involving young people in consultation processes and ensuring their inputs are accounted for in decision-making. To better engage young Jordanians its recommended to transition towards a programmatic approach, which creates and supports concrete channels of long-term participation such as the Youth Advisory Board. Similarly, continued support by the World Bank CMU in collaboration with the MENA Youth Platform and the GoJ for youth engagement and consultation could also leverage specific topics and activities in a more sustainable manner. An example of this could be to focus on social entrepreneurship interventions which combine economic and social inclusion opportunities. 38. The findings and recommendations of the Jordan Youth Engagement TA activity are being prepared for further sharing both internally and externally. Activity outputs under all pillars will be considered for external dissemination once the internal review processes have been completed. are being shared externally. On the internal side, elements of the final Activity report will be factored into tools and resources being developed by the MENA Youth Platform and ultimately made available to CMUs to ensure best practices can be applied to a variety of operations. 22 Annex A: Youth Lens Methodology I. What is the Youth Lens? Youth Lens Definition. The Youth Lens is the process by which the benefits or outcomes of a project are better targeted towards young people, and youth participation in projects is increased. To develop such youth-responsive projects requires a meaningful engagement and can be complemented by the integration of young people into structures and activities of development projects, strengthening their participation and inclusion in the development process, and enhancing the benefits that they can derive from such investments. Applying a Youth Lens can take various forms, which can substantially differ by sector and stage of the project cycle, and is critically dependent on available project resources, and the capacity and commitment to work with youth within implementing agencies. As further detailed below, three types of Youth Lens instruments can be applied during project implementation: informing, benefitting and delivering. As young people participate in the design and implementation of projects, and as project activities are becoming youth-responsive, a Youth Lens contributes to a renewed social contract. When young people engage in the preparation and appraisal of government-led activities, they begin to understand how and why the government functions and operates in a certain way and at the same time see how public service delivery can be responsive to their needs and that their participation is welcome, which in turn is likely to increase the trust of young people in government. Increased trust can contribute to broader social cohesion and a more active citizenry. In this aspect, the Youth Lens approach helps to contribute to the World Bank’s MENA regional strategy and is aligned with the Bank’s citizen engagement agenda. Youth are a large and diverse group, often encompassing people with very different needs and preferences. Most development activities impact youth in one way or another. This makes the Youth Lens approach a need for almost every sector. However, the Youth Lens has greatest results when it focuses on sectors that have a larger percentage of intended youth beneficiaries and/or which address more immediate youth priorities. The Youth Lens works through the project cycle approach to support impact, participation and engagement for young people. Youth lens puts young people at the heart of development and can be applied at any stage of the project cycle, broadly defined as design stage, i.e. identification, preparation and appraisal; which is followed by implementation and evaluation. Young people can be involved at the identification stage in the development of Systematic Country Diagnoses, sector strategies, and by being consulted during the process of Country Partnership Frameworks. Youth can be involved in the design and appraisal of activities, ensuring that the design addresses 23 key needs of youth and that there are processes in place for youth to participate throughout the project cycle. As further detailed below, youth can be included in implementation through monitoring activities, through implementation of activities specifically designed to benefit youth, or through other activities where young people make up a portion of beneficiaries. Young people can also be involved in project evaluation and completion, providing inputs on the quality and relevance of activities. Available entry points for Youth Lens differ substantially depending on the project stage and are typically most meaningful when factored as early as the design stage. II. Instruments for Applying a Youth Lens to Project Implementation Three categories of lens instruments exist: Informing, Delivering and Benefitting. The available instruments can be easily combined and tend to be complementary. 1. Informing includes introducing the perspectives, needs, and priorities of young people into project appraisal, design or interim, progress review of project activities. Available informing instruments include for example: youth consultations and focus groups, youth surveys & polls, design thinking workshops 14 , outreach campaigns & social media engagement, participation as members of project steering committees, and rigorous data collection and analysis of youth challenges, capabilities, opportunities and economic, social, political inclusion. 2. Delivering describes the active engagement of young people to support project implementation, for example as community mobilizers; trainers, coaches and peers; as business owner subcontractors or vendors providing goods or services; as enumerators in third party monitoring and other data collection; as members of project steering committees; or as engaged citizens to strengthen accountability and safeguards at the local level. Participation can be applied during the implementation and completion phase. 3. Benefitting refers to direct and indirect youth beneficiaries of a project. For example, benefit can be increased by adjusting the Results Framework or existing targeting mechanisms; by revising selected project activities or their implementation; by amending the project operations manual; or in selected cases by a restructuring a project. Overall, the impact of Youth Lens can be very high when applying Benefit instruments, however, these instruments can also require substantial transaction costs for the Bank and clients.15 14 Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the available instruments to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for project success. 15 For example, changes in loan agreements and restructuring are require substantial resources and time and need. 24 Table 1: Applying a Youth Lens: Entry Points and Instruments Categories of Youth Lens Instruments Project Cycle Stage Inform Deliver Benefit Identification ✔ Design and Preparation ✔ ✔ Mobilization Appraisal ✔ ✔ Implementation ✔ ✔ ✔ Delivery Completion ✔ ✔ ✔ Evaluation Evaluation ✔ ✔ Source: World Bank III. Designing Youth Lens Activities To apply a Youth Lens to the Portfolio, the needs and priorities of young people need to be established. This can be done through a review of existing information on youth needs and priorities and should be complemented by consultations with young people. In fact, working with youth to clarify their needs and priorities can be the first activity to increase the inclusion of youth within a portfolio. When consultations cannot be carried out at the beginning of the process, it becomes essential to consult youth on the results of the review. After establishing the needs and priorities of youth, a systematic portfolio review is needed. The systematic portfolio review classifies all existing projects and programs, establishing where they are within the project cycle, their core objectives and activities. In some cases, time and resources will be more constrained and the team may conduct a rapid review. In this situation, a limited set of projects will be further reviewed for Youth Lens viability. The following criteria may be used to filter projects: ➢ Relevance: Project directly relates to youth needs and priorities in country ➢ Project Cycle: Early phase of implementation (has not passed mid-point of project duration) 25 ➢ Flexibility: There is potential scope for adjustments to apply a Youth Lens ➢ Instrument: Advisory Services and Analytics (ASA), Investment Project Financing (IPF) or Development Policy Financing (DPF) (Program for Results (PforR) are also possible, but provide fewer entry points) ➢ Representation: Consideration of different sectors and stage of implementation To identify specific entry points, the portfolio review then further analyzes prioritized projects. In consultation with the Country Management Unit (CMU), specific Youth Lens activities are designed in consideration of (i) development objectives, (ii) project components and activities, (iv) implementation arrangements and partners, and (v) results framework. Potential constraints such as budget, timeline, and capacity of implementing agencies are also considered. The results of the review are then presented to Task Team Leaders (TTLs) for their inputs. Lens activities for projects that have a great degree of potential impacts on youth and have good TTL and client buy-in are then further analyzed and project-specific Youth Lens activities are designed. 26 Annex B: Proposed prioritized projects for Youth Lens in Jordan I. Innovative Start-up Funds (P161905) Is the Project target aggregated by gender, socio-economic background, geographic location and citizenship status? The project target is aggregated by age and gender. It tracks the number of new jobs by gender and by age that are directly created by the project beneficiaries to assess the job creation impact on women and youth (age 18 – 35 years). Where does youth fall into the project, as main target or a segment of participants? The project key target participants are entrepreneurs seeking to create innovative start-ups with the potential for fast growth and/or own existing companies on the brink of high growth expansion. These entrepreneurs are more likely to be amongst the age range of 24-40. What are the current activities targeting youth? Youth are not directly targeted, but the project external effects will likely affect youth through financing small enterprises that could employ some youth. The Project aims at accelerating 10-12 cohorts of entrepreneurs, each cohort include 15-20 ventures (total target about 200 startups). A program of events and trainings is planned. Moreover, the project targets existing startups looking to expand their operations, or to get tailored business development services. Finally, the project will develop a network of “angel investors�. How can these activities be tailored to involve youth as active participants, in the background research, appraisal, design, planning, and implementation or evaluation stages? In principal, the project is targeting youth as beneficiaries rather as active participants. Activities can be tailored to offer a more active role for youth and can be designed to be more inclusive for the rural and vulnerable youth. In the Angel Investor Network activity, a group of high tech people who live in the major cities can be matched with youth residing in less technologically advanced areas, offering them mentoring opportunities, mobile application, programming and software development training. An entry point can be IT students in universities and colleges in/from rural areas. The project can also consider financing social enterprises, cultural and entertainment business that are usually established and serve youth. Moreover, the projects can benefit from holding quarterly consultations with youth from both urban and rural settings to discuss opportunities and barriers to employment in the private sector. Angel investors can join these consultations so they are aware of such barriers. Based on the Jordan youth context, how does the project address impediments faced by youth? The project is relevant to the unemployment challenge facing youth in Jordan. It aims at creating meaningful job opportunities in the private sector for youth. 27 II. Municipal Services and Social Resilience Project (P161982) Is the Project target aggregated by age, gender, socio-economic background, geographic location and citizenship status? The target is aggregated by age, gender, citizenship status and geographic location. Where does youth fall into the project, as a main target or a segment of participants? Youth are a segment of the beneficiaries. What are the current activities targeting youth? The project is essentially also about providing services that are intended to address social tensions/resilience at the community level, and targets youth among the vulnerable populations it targets. Though not part of core activities, the project also includes a Participatory Monitoring and Evaluation approach; such approach will recruit youth in Jordan to monitor the implementation of project activities. How can these activities be tailored to involve youth as active participants, in the background research, appraisal, design, planning, and implementation or evaluation stages? In addition to the Youth Monitoring approach which is part of the prêt design, youth consultations which are currently included in community consultations can be further utilized and expanded to identify youth needs. . Youth can be part of the capacity building sessions offered through the intuitional support. The Innovation fund can allocate a percentage of its funds to youth-led projects. Based on the Jordan youth context, how does the project address impediments faced by youth? This project aims to enhance the municipalities’ role in providing services which in effect would positively enhance the communities lies. Moreover, the project will create employment opportunities for, both, Syrians and Jordanians as a response to the unemployment challenge faced by youth in Jordan. III. Piloting Delivery of Justice Sector Services to Poor Jordanians and Refugees in Host Communities (P157861) Is the Project target aggregated by gender, socio-economic background, geographic location and citizenship status? The project target beneficiaries are aggregated by gender (women), geographic location (refugees host communities) and citizen status (refugees). Where does youth fall into the project, as a main target or a segment of participants? Youth fall into this project as a segment of participants, although youth are not motioned as a core indicator in the project results framework but might fall under the broad definition of poor and vulnerable people that are the main target of this project. What are the current activities targeting youth? The project pays particular attention to women and youth in design and monitoring. Under Component 2 of the project, the trainings and public 28 awareness of rights and legal aid services will specifically target women and youth needs and rights. How can these activities be tailored to involve/engage with youth as active participant, and in which project stage? (background research, appraisal, design, planning, implementation or monitoring & evaluation stages? The Judicial service project is currently ongoing; hence, activities discussed below are all in the implementation stage. The Project design allows a great flexibility to engage with youth as active participants. Suggested youth entry points vary to cover youth as legal specialists, activity leaders, media makers and researchers: Based on the Jordan youth context, how does the project address impediments faced by youth? How does the project affect youth negatively or positively: This project aimed at increasing demand-side governance, including an active role for civil society and improved state-society relations: supporting measures to improve governance through service delivery improvements, involving partnerships between government and civil society, and enhancing institutional performance of government institutions. It also aids in ensuring vulnerable populations can exercise rights and access services and hold government accountable for non-delivery of services. 29 Annex C: Statement of Feedback and Support to National Youth Strategy Date: February 7, 2018 Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Stakeholder Consultation of National Youth Strategy January 15, 2018 Feedback and Suggestions We would like to welcome the collective efforts under the leadership of the Ministry of Youth (MoY) that led to the development of the National Youth Strategy (2018 - 2025) . This is an important step in the recognition and harnessing of young men and women as a positive force in the civic, political, and economic life of Jordan. We therefore would like to express our support to the Strategy and its objectives. We also offer to avail our support to help MoY to coordinate the implementation of the Action Plan with the different stakeholders and implementing agencies We appreciatively note that the National Youth Strategy is very comprehensive. It lays down the foundations for sustainable youth inclusion and participation. To further operationalize its objectives and targets, we recommend that the Strategy provides additional details on the overall objectives and linkages between pillars and objectives before being finalized and adopted. We also note room for further alignment between the National Youth Strategy and other relevant national development strategies, including the Jordan Response Plan (2016-2018), and other existing national strategies on education (2018-2022), health (2015-2019), employment (2011-2020), as well as the national strategies and initiatives supporting peace and security. We propose clarifying the responsible Government agencies for priorities that may not fall within the mandate of the MoY. We also recommend separating the Strategy from the Youth Strategy Action Plan. Such separation would be critical to enable the MoY to finalize the strategy as a guiding document, while continuing to further develop the Action Plan with the Ministry’s national and donor partners. The Action Plan requires additional strengthening and should be further developed with the engagement and participation of national and donor partners. Upon its further development, the Action Plan should be regularly updated and adjusted throughout the duration of the National Youth Strategy (2018-2025), and in line with progress made and emerging needs and opportunities. 30 To help you facilitate the process, we recommend adopting a coordination mechanism led by the MoY and with the participation of national and international partners, to review the priorities and further discuss how those can be supported over the Strategy period. As specific next steps, first, donors will consider supporting the Action Plan if a dialogue is opened for an integrated implementation of the National Youth Strategy in full partnership with relevant stakeholders –Government, civil society and partners. Second, we therefore offer to provide you with support in finalizing the National Youth Strategy by providing technical suggestions on the written document before it is endorsed; and, third, to assist in advancing the Action Plan for the MoY during a proposed follow-up meeting. We thank you for your leadership and continued collaboration towards implementing a successful National Youth Strategy for young Jordanian men and women. Sincerely Anne Kahl Head of Office Danish Programme Office Hinesh Rajani Head of the Conflict, Stability and Security Fund British Embassy Amman Mario Stumm Head of Cooperation German Embassy Amman Tobias Lechtenfeld Social Development Specialist World Bank Group 31 Annex D: Youth Consultations Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: Supporting Youth Engagement and Participation (P161834) ASA Youth Consultations and Youth Center Assessments March 2017 32 Youth Consultations and Youth Center Assessments Vulnerable Youth: Priorities and Needs Consultations included representatives from local entities such as government, CBOs, schools, community members and youth. Most of the youth centers are regularly conducting activities for some youth, a significant gap remains between interest of young people and offered activities. In addition, throughout youth centers they only reach a small fraction of the youth in their communities, and rarely manage to engage youth above 18 years of age, which is directly related to content and methodology of offered activities. While youth throughout visited youth centers highlighted the importance of improved employability and entrepreneurship skills (e.g. vocational training, languages, business skills), there was a broad agreement that additional activities would need to be offered to engage with young people to activate life skills and to support integration of youth into their communities, for example through community projects; activities related to arts, culture, and creativity; and outdoor group activities (e.g. camps, excursions, hiking, sports and international culture exchange programs). In conjunction, these activities can help to address some of the most pressing challenges faced by young people, including unhealthy behaviors such as widespread reported drug abuse, violence among youth, and overall vulnerability to radicalization. Youth expressed their frustration regarding existing social norms limiting their life chances; they expressed the desire to engage with active and successful role models to emulate along with involving their parents in activities that widen their perspectives. The field assessments confirmed that youth centers are open to activities offered by local CBOs. However, currently, civil society activities at youth centers are narrow in scope and focus mostly on (i) charity events (e.g. free school bags) and awareness sessions (e.g. basic life skills). Some centers have previous experience working with international NGOs offering youth development activities, though without creating sustainable systems and often with limited results (especially employability and skill training has not been very effective). Detailed Overview Date: Thursday March 16, 2017 Location: Al Qwaismeh, East Amman 1. Al Qwasimeh Youth Center for Young Men: The center for young men is located downtown Al Qwaismeh right next to a male’s secondary school which makes it very accessible to youth aged 12-17. The center is poorly maintained, it is equipped with a sports gym and a computer lab which are both not being utilized due to poor maintenance. It also has equipment (Screen, data show) to show world cup games. 2. Al Qwasimeh Youth Center for Young Women: The center for young women is classified by the Ministry of Youth as a model youth center. It is located just nearby a Security Center which discourages some parents from sending their daughters there to avoid getting exposed to convicts/people in probation. The center has a library room and is equipped with robotics sets. 33 Activities in both centers cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). The women center has recently launched a story-writing competition to include people with disabilities in its activities. CBOs are involved in several centers’ activities and refugees are welcomed in both centers. Date: Saturday, March 18, 2017 Location: AlKoura and Ajloun; Northern Aghwar (Northern Jordan) 3. Northern Shuna Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men is located downtown in a catchment area with an estimated population of 25,000 youth. It is accessible by public transport. However, it is poorly maintained and equipped; this hinders their attempts to conduct activities that attract youth such as music or theater. 4. Northern Shuna Youth Center for Young Women The center for young women is classified by the Ministry as a model youth center. Although well maintained, it is not very centrally located and youth need to pay for transport to attend. Activities in both centers cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Northern Shuna) A consultation session with ca. 80 representatives from local entities included government representatives from the education and health departments, local CBOs, schools, community members and youth. Al Shuna community has several active CBOs, their activities are mainly focused on charity and community service /volunteering activities. Issues and Needs: The community faces high youth unemployment and rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males youth above 18 years. Youth stated that they enjoy attending the center’s activities, but they are just meant to pass time rather than enhancing their employability skills. The discussions centered on the need for vocational and technical training for unemployed youth (long term certified training over several months), however youth also indicated interest in broader activities related to skill development, for example through arts and music. Ideas for Activities: Youth suggested technical training (e.g. basic engineering for men, and sewing and hair dressing skills for young women); language training (English); cultural exchange programs; theater and music classes; and requested support of a qualified youth specialist to support the center 5. Dair Abi Sa’eed Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men has about 500 registered male youth (of which ca. 30% are active in activities) in a catchment area with an estimated population of 60,000. The center is located in Dair Abi Sa’eed municipality area. It has a computer lab and a library as well as large hall that can host up to 200 guests for community activities. 6. Dair Abi Sa’eed Youth Center for Young Women 34 The center for young women has about 500 registered female youth (of which ca. 35% are active in activities). The center is well maintained and is classified by the ministry of youth as a model youth center. Activities in both centers cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Dair Abi Sa’eed) A consultation session with ca. 45 representatives from local entities included government representatives from the MOY, local CBOs, schools, community members and youth. Dair Abu Sa’eed community has several active CBOs, their activities are mainly focused on charity and community service /volunteering activities as well as on some income generating activities. Issues and Needs:The community faces high youth unemployment and rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males above 18 years. Youth stated that they enjoy attending the center’s activities, but they want more vocational training courses especially as the vocational training center is quite far away from them. The discussions centered on the need for vocational and technical training for unemployed youth (long term certified training over several months), however youth also indicated interest in broader activities related to skill development, for example through arts and music. Ideas for Activities: Youth suggested technical training (e.g. basic engineering for men, and sewing and hair dressing skills for young women); language training (English); cultural exchange programs; national competition programs, income generating projects; Sports activities (football, basketball and hiking); Awareness programs about Jordan heritage; Talent development center or specialist, especially for football players 7. Ajloun Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men is classified as a model center; it is one of the oldest centers established in Jordan. The center is located in the outskirts of Ajloun which explains why they reach to only 2% of the youth population in Ajloun. Activities cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Due to an active CBOs community, the center also offers English language training as well as debate clubs. Youth Consultation (Ajloun) A consultation session with ca. 25 representatives from local entities included government representatives from the MOY, local CBOs, international NGOs, schools, community members and youth. Ajloun CBOs are active both in charity work and debate clubs, however there is an evident lack of coordination among them. Issues and Needs: The community faces high youth unemployment especially among university graduates. The activities offered don’t meet their caliber. Ideas for Activities: A technology and innovation center; a program that combines entrepreneurial and volunteering activities; Photography, music and sewing classes. Date: Sunday, March 19, 2017 Location: Center Region, Al Salt, Sahab and Giza 8. Al Ardha (Al Salt) Youth Center for Young Women 35 The center is very active and is considered the main hub for community activities in Al Aradha community. Activities cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities, Math/English tutoring classes and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Al Salt/Al Ardha) Two consultation sessions with 74 representatives from local entities included government representatives from the education, health and agriculture departments, local CBOs, schools, community members and youth. Al Ardha community has several CBOs, their activities are mainly focused on charity and community service /volunteering activities. Issues and Needs:The community faces high youth unemployment and rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males above 15 years. The community has high level of university students and on-campus violence is a common phenomenon. CBOs stated it is very hard to engage with university students especially if the activities are not employment-related. Youth mentioned the social pressure and the rigid mindset as barriers to their development. They indicated interest in broader activities related to skill and talent development, for example through arts, music and reading clubs. Ideas for Activities: Tutoring classes (English and Math); Reading clubs; Documentary movies, theater and music classes; Social media training; communication and conflict resolution skills. 9. Sahab Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men serves about 150 registered male youth (of which ca. 40% are active in activities) in a catchment area with an estimated population of 72000. The center has a soccer play field which attracts different age group. 10. Sahab Youth Center for Young Women The center for young women offers activities for females and their moms. They have a computer lab and a gym room but is underutilized. Activities in both centers cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Sahab) Two consultation sessions with ca. 20 representatives from local entities included community members and youth (aged 13-16). Sahab is an industrial city, a considerable number of young men and women are employed in the factories. Issues and Needs:The community faces a rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males above 18 years. CBOs community was not present but it seemed less active than their peers in other locations. Youth are interested in sports activities, which is the main reason they come to this center. Ideas for Activities: outdoor trips and camps. 11. Al Giza Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men has about 150 registered male youth (of which ca. 50% are active in activities) in a catchment area with an estimated population of 60,000. The center location is not easily accessible by 36 public transportation. Although it is quite big, but no proper equipment were installed. Activities cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Al Giza) A consultation session with ca. 32 youth aged (14-17). Al Giza community is diverse, with many residents coming from the nearby Al Talbiyya camp. Issues and Needs: The community is very poor hence the (culture of shame) phenomenon is not common there anymore. Ideas for Activities: Leadership courses; vocational training; theater and music classes; In-house Japanese volunteer. Date: Monday 20 March 2017 Location: South Region, Al Kerak, Ghour Al Safi and Al Tafila 12. Wadi Al Ghwar/ Al Kerak Youth Center for Young Women The center for young men has about 150 registered male youth (of which ca. 40% are active in activities) in a catchment area with an estimated population of 12,000. The center location hinders people to participate in the activities as it’s not close to the downtown. The center was recently opened in 2015. The center is well maintained, has a gym and a table tennis. The library has around 15 books. Activities cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). The center works with several NGOs such as UNFPA, UNICEF, USAID and IRI. Youth Consultation (Al Kerak) A consultation session with ca. 60 representatives from local entities included government representatives from the education department, local CBOs, schools, community members and youth. They have several active CBOs, their activities are mainly focused on charity and community service /volunteering activities. Issues and Needs: The community faces marginalization and is thought to be underserved. They have high youth unemployment especially among university graduates. They also face a rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among youth above 18 years. Youth stated that they enjoy attending the center’s activities, but they are just meant to pass time rather than enhancing their employability skills. The methodology of training doesn’t meet their caliber either. The discussions centered on the need for vocational and technical training for unemployed youth (long term certified training over several months), however youth also indicated interest in broader activities related to skill development, for example through arts and music. Ideas for Activities: Youth suggested technical training (e.g. basic engineering for men, and sewing and hair dressing skills for young women); language training (English); cultural exchange programs; theater and music classes; 37 13. Ghour Al Safi Youth Center for Young Men The center for young men serves about 250 registered male youth (of which ca. 50% are active in activities). The center is in a walking area in the community and is classified as a model center. However, it is poorly equipped; this hinders their attempts to conduct activities that attract youth such as music or theater. 14. Ghour Alsafi Youth Center for Young Women The center for young men serves about 200 registered male youth (of which ca. 50% are active in activities). The center is in a walking area in the community and is classified as a model center. However, it is poorly equipped; this hinders their attempts to conduct activities that attract youth such as music or theater. Activities in both centers cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities; youth parliament and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Ghour Al Safi) The consultation session included 12 youth members aged (15-17). Only one CBO was mentioned as active in the community. Ghour Al Safi is a rural area that hosts the Potash Company. Majority of its residents are employed in the Army or public security forces. Issues and Needs: The community faces a growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males youth above 18 years. Drug users can be easily seen consuming or sedated by drugs on the streets. The Youth parliament representatives talk about issues with policy makers through the center’s staff. Ideas for Activities: Youth suggested language training (English); theater and music classes; scouts activities. 15. Al Tafila Center for Young Women The center for young men is located in a walking distance from Ain-Al Baida community. It is classified as a model center and has a gym space (funded by a USAID project) with new equipment and a personal trainer. The gym serves around 70 women. Activities cover topics including awareness sessions on drugs/extremism, outdoor camps/trips, community service activities and some other short vocational workshops (mosaic, painting, accessories). Youth Consultation (Al Tafila) A consultation session with 43 representatives from local entities included local CBOs, schools, community members and youth. Issues and Needs: The community faces high youth unemployment especially among university graduates and rapidly growing drug crisis with new chemical drugs, especially among males youth above 18 years. Ideas for Activities: Youth suggested outdoor excursion trips; English language training; hiking trips; innovation labs. 38