Youth leaders in Madaba launch a civic engagement initiative
As a response to COVID‑19, youth leaders in Madaba Governorate supported by Mercy Corps launched an initiative that consists of two projects: a tourism project and an agriculture project.
The initiative aims to mitigate the impact of COVID‑19 on the most affected sectors in Madaba. The youth leaders held meetings within their community, through face to face meetings and virtually via Zoom, during which tourism and agriculture were named as the most affected sectors.
The first project of the initiative focuses on the tourism sector. The youth leaders set-up a campaign promoting the historical and religious sites in Madaba and the handicraft products through social media.
The second project aims to raise awareness and skills in agriculture among students and to strengthen the collaboration of youth with institutions in Madaba.
The youth leaders in Madaba submitted their initial proposal to Mercy Corps. After approving the proposal, Mercy Corps conducted training on entrepreneurship and digital marketing for Madaba youth leaders. The training will enable youth leaders to implement their initiative and pass on these skills to their peers.
The Madaba initiative focuses on the agricultural sector that was affected by COVID-19 crisis and installed a greenhouse in the garden of a public girls-school in Madaba.
“The main idea behind the greenhouse inside the school is to let the students participate in the planting of the greenhouse, teaching them to grow and market their products, encourage them to replicate the practice in their own gardens and to teach them to make financial profit from the agriculture,” explained Nour Amaireh, Youth Leader-Madaba.
Youth leaders aim to plant the greenhouse in coordination with the school and participation of the students. Afterwards, the youth leaders and the students will do marketing of their products and the financial profits will be used to support the less fortunate students, cover some school expenses like maintenance, as well as to ensure the sustainability of the greenhouse.
The initiative in Madaba is part of the Leadership and Community Development program, funded by FCDO (UK aid) and implemented through Mercy Corps-Jordan. Through this program, youth leaders - with support of Mercy Corps - have launched 82 youth initiatives across the kingdom. In addition to that, Mercy Corps has provided training, coaching and mentoring to more than 300 youth leaders across 36 communities in the kingdom.
Throughout the program life cycle, Mercy Corps focused on the design and implementation of youth campaigns to promote their civic engagement, to raise youth voice in governmental decisions and foster cross-generational alliances and momentum for positive engagement.
Funded by FCDO
