Programme supports youth in becoming fully fledged actors in society

AMMAN — Sami Hourani is a young Jordanian entrepreneur who turned his back on a lucrative job in robotic surgery to establish a youth educational and training platform. 

A motivated and proactive young man, he strives to make a difference in a country where youth unemployment and exclusion have become a major concern for policy-makers, a concern echoed across the whole region.

The prevailing sense of loss of hope among youth in region served as an inspiration for the creation of the NET-Med Youth programme, a project focused on young beneficiaries.

Hourani is one of many Jordanians who benefited from this three-year project which provided him with training and day-to-day guidance, helping him to take his business to a level capable of competing in a competitive market.

NET-MED Youth is a joint EU-UNESCO response to the issues of high unemployment and low representation in public and political spheres, disinterest in civic engagement, exclusion from mainstream media and economic marginalisation, according to Dareen Abu Lail, an associate project officer with the project.

“The NET-Med Youth project has done great work with local assets, developing them according to local needs. It is clearly a unique project with a substantial added-value for he country,” Abu Lail said.

EU partners in the project believe youth in the region have great potential, but need guidance and training to realise their goals, and that is precisely what the project seeks to achieve: empowering youth to help them engage in the creation and implementation of national policies on education and employment that focus on their rights, responsibilities and potential.

Net-Med Youth: helping young people to help themselves

Having completed his studies in robotic surgery at Stanford University, Hourani had the world at his feet. But, instead of opting for a comfortable life in the US, he took a different path and chose to make use of the support he received to help his fellow youngsters, establishing a one-stop-shop for education and capacity building in Jordan.

His portal, For9a.com (meaning “Opportunity” in Arabic) has challenged the status quo whereby access to educational and skills development opportunities is very limited. He has worked to create awareness and promote the practicality of internships as a way of giving new graduates a chance to enter the labour market.

“We wanted to break all these cycles of cronyism and lack of access to education. So we said that we were going to use cyberspace and social media to reach more young people freely and equally,” Hourani explained.

Launched in 2011 in the midst of the political upheaval fuelled by youth frustration, For9a.com seeks to resolve part of the problem by providing a link between educational facilities, vocational training centres, companies and NGOs, and eligible and motivated young talent.

NET-MED Youth cooperates with several partners in the Kingdom to implement various programmes in three focus areas: youth public policies, youth and media, youth and employment.

One of these is the Luminous Media project, the first “Creative Media Incubator” in the region, where aspiring young entrepreneurs are provided with a space to start a business and enter the business environment. 

Wejoud Al Naboulsi, the 24-year-old managing director of the 3D printing company “Geo Clone”, is an example of how ambitious young women have learnt to conquer the business world with the help of the Luminous Media project.

Sitting behind her 3D printing machine next to a shelf filled with 3D objects, which bear testimony to her creativity and ambition, Al Naboulsi assembles the pieces as she prepares for her next production. 

After a year of endless paperwork and red tape, she managed to set up her business, find clients and start operating from a studio in the Luminous Media group, a private sector media company that trains students on a variety of media related projects.

The woman took several training courses on preparing feasibility studies and business strategy planning, and was offered a small studio at the Luminous Academy to work from, as well as guidance throughout the initial stages of her project.

“The space given to me is a godsend. I used to work from home, but now I have an office where I can meet clients, show them my work and dream about expanding my outreach,” she said.

“The programme has changed me greatly. I used to find it hard to deal with the public, or pitch for financial support, but now I have gained experience and self-confidence. I managed to overcome the wall of fear,” Naboulsi added.

Both Hourani and Naboulsi said they now feel that they have a social responsibility to pass on their experience and knowledge to other young men and women who aspire to success and inclusion in their societies.

EU Neighbours South is part of European Neighbourhood Instrument (ENI). EU Neighbours South contributed this article to The Jordan Times.