Amman (August 6) – USAID launched a $40 million Jordan Workforce Development Project today in partnership with the Ministry of Labor to directly address the challenges facing Jordan’s job market.  The project will improve technical and vocational training, provide career counseling, mentoring, and job placement assistance, change workplace safety regulations, facilitate family-friendly work environments, and certify and accredit educational institutions.  The project aims to provide 25,000 new or improved jobs over its five year lifespan, and to upgrade the institutional capacity of 12 vocational training centers in six governorates in its first year. 

These efforts complement HM King Abdullah II’s call for a clear “national strategy with a fixed time frame to deal with the challenges confronting the education and human resources sectors.”

U.S. Ambassador Alice G. Wells echoed this call to action at the launch. “One of the key challenges facing Jordan today is creating good jobs and filling these roles with talented Jordanians,” she said. “Creating jobs for all who want them, particularly Jordan’s youth and women, is the only way for Jordan to have the prosperous, secure, and dynamic future we all want.”

Minister of Labor HE Dr. Nidal Qatamin encouraged attendees to “come together to coordinate efforts and continue to share best practices. Only a truly united effort will enable us to have the kind of impact we all desire – seeing more Jordanians employed in jobs that make them proud to be able to support their families.”

The Jordan Workforce Development Project’s main goal is to create a competitive, demand-driven workforce development system that leads to increased private sector employment, especially for women, youth, and those living at or below the poverty line.  Project activities focus on six governorates: East Amman, Zarqa, Irbid, Tafileh, Ma’an, and Aqaba.

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