UNICEF is the leading United Nations agency on child rights (www.unicef.org) and...
UNICEF is the leading United Nations agency on child rights (www.unicef.org) and works in 190 countries around the world. UNICEF’s Global Strategy focuses on supporting child survival and development, basic education, child protection and policy advocacy, and WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). In countries affected by crises, UNICEF leads the humanitarian efforts to help children and women living in challenging circumstances and provides support to help them to survive and to maximise their development potential.
In Jordan UNICEF is implementing a youth programme with the vision to support a safe and successful transition of youth into adulthood. UNICEF aims to support a generation of young people across Jordan who are engaged, empowered and employable. This entails approaches to achieving employability and resilient adulthood, which are underpinned by mentoring and coaching, with the expectation to improve three key outcomes for young people: transferable skills building, engagement and employment.
The Syrian refugee camps of Zaatari and Azraq host under 20% of the registered Syrian refugee population of Jordan. However, youth in the camps face particular challenges in accessing opportunities for skills building, engagement, employment or even higher education. These challenges are exacerbated for young girls in camps where rates of early marriages and pregnancies are high, and increasing as a result of the aftermath of COVID-19 and the ensuing economic crisis. UNICEF has been playing a key role in providing services to children, adolescents and youth ever since the refugee camps were created in 2012 and 2014 for Zaatari and Azraq respectively.
As lead of the education sector in camps, UNICEF has built a strong understanding of the needs of young men and women, which has informed programme implementation. UNICEF currently operates 3 Youth Centres (2 in Azraq camp and 1 in Zaatari camp), which provide comprehensive and tailored services to young people in the areas of skills building (e.g. digital and financial literacy, English and human-centred design); engagement (e.g. volunteering and youth-led community projects) and employment (TVET, social entrepreneurship and home-based business). Support to youth is underpinned by consultation with and participation of youth in programme design, and guidance on pathways for young men and women accessing UNICEF’s services. Programmatic interventions in youth centres are closely coordinated with UNICEF’s Makani programme, which provides services, including skills building, to children and adolescents.