Initiative to promote inclusion to have final meet Saturday

AMMAN — The Inclusion and Social Issues Project, a community-led initiative which emphasises the inclusion of refugees, will hold its last session on Saturday, according to the initiative’s project manager. 

The training programme, which has supported 22 people, including refugees from Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Iraq, as well as people with disabilities and local Jordanians, is designed to help refugees and the local community cope with differences by addressing social issues, said Ilham Darwazeh, the project’s manager.

"The programme is to promote a sense of appreciation for diversity [and] communal living," Darwazeh said. 

The project holds training sessions to help participants better understand social issues, integration, inclusion and gender, in addition to hosting dialogues which teach participants how to listen to each other and better understand other's perspectives, according to Darwazeh. 

Abdulmoeen Dabdoub, one of the programme’s participants, said his ideas about social inclusion shifted after taking part in the project programme. 

“As a Syrian refugee in Jordan, I faced many difficulties and challenges, thinking that it was because of my different nationality and identity,” Dabdoub told the Jordan Times.

“My idea has changed significantly on the issue of social inclusion,” Dabdoub said. “I hope that all nationalities residing in Jordan will get such training for the benefit of all and to achieve internal peace and satisfaction in the hearts of all.”

In addition to training sessions and dialogues, Darwazeh said the programme seeks to help refugees who have experienced trauma, such those from Syria, by emphasising breathing techniques during sessions.