EU programme gives youth civic, political training

AMMAN — Graduates of “Strengthening the Capacity of Young Political and Civic Actors Trainee Programme” expressed their gratitude to the programme at their graduation ceremony, stating that it “gave way to constructive and inclusive political contribution”.

“Working with all these different people from various political parties, I learned something valuable: One hand doesn’t clap, so we have to work together if we want to implement political reform,” said one of the graduates at the ceremony.

The Ministry of Political and Parliamentary Affairs (MOPPA), in cooperation with the European Union (EU) and the European Support to Jordanian Democratic Institutions and Development, held the graduation ceremony for the first graduates of the programme on Saturday in Amman.

The programme was launched in 2017 and is set to hold four rounds, until its conclusion in 2022. Through its four years, it is schedule to benefit 220 participants, according to Aseel Yousef, the event planner.

“The aim of the programme is to strengthen the youth’s role in political activity, as 70 per cent of the population is under 30, and yet the Kingdom witnesses very little political contribution from this age group,” Yousef said in her opening speech.

Each round in the programme lasts for 10 months, amounting to 10 sessions in total, according to the programme's brochure, which noted that the sessions are given by experts and leaders in the political sector.

Speaking of her experience in the training, Rand Khushman told The Jordan Times: “This training was a launch pad for me. After around five months, I could transform what I’ve been taught into real steps to improve the campaigns I’m passionate about, such as the ones against sexual harassment.”

Even though the first round of the programme had a total of 60 graduates, Aseel Yousef said in her speech that "there is still room for improvement", highlighting “in our programme, out of the 47 registered parties in the Kingdom, only 16 were present, a rate that is disproportionate”.

The programme’s manager and delegate of the EU to Jordan, Michael Steffens expressed his happiness for being part of one of the institutions introducing organised political training to Jordan’s youth.

He praised women’s participation in the Jordanian society when it comes to politics, stating that, in one of the awareness campaigns, almost 60 per cent of the 200,000 volunteers were women.

Baker Abbadi, a Jordanian activist and current secretary general of the MOPPA, emphasised the training’s role in his speech, saying: “I think this is a good chance for the youth to take part in beneficial training that can help them express their political opinions without taking after the destructive way of hiding behind fake names on social media or spreading false information.”