Prime Implementer
Implementing Partners
Project Timeline
August 2023 – August 2028
Project Goals
- Enhancing youth readiness for economic opportunities, through providing access to career counseling and entrepreneurship information.
- Strengthening youth leadership and civic engagement through targeted support to youth-serving and youth-led organizations.
- Strengthening Government of Jordan (GOJ) systems to guarantee effective youth participation and to create a youth-inclusive enabling environment.
Brief Background
The Youth Grow Activity (YGA) is an innovative five-year project funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by Q2 Impact as the leading partner. Other partners include Partners for Good, Abwab, and Spark. The project was launched in the context of youth empowerment in Jordan, emphasizing the need for positive youth development, not only for youth themselves but for society at large, to increase their meaningful participation within their local communities and the economy.
YGA’s target population includes youth between the ages of 10 and 29, with a special focus on women and rural communities who often suffer from isolation and lack economic opportunity. YGA’s work will initially concentrate on areas with existing youth centers through the Ministry of Youth (MoY), youth-led and youth-serving organizations, youth groups, and the private sector. YGA will use the following approach and methodology, which aligns with the strategic objectives of the Government of Jordan’s (GOJ) National Youth Strategy (NYS) and the USAID Mission’s 2022 – 2030 Youth in Development Policy:
- Increase youth access to high-quality career counseling information by establishing online platforms, providing information and resources needed to help youth and their families make informed decisions about their careers, and providing access to entrepreneurial readiness materials.
- Establish a Catalytic Innovation Fund (CIF), providing youth ages 18 – 29 access to capital and mentorship opportunities to unlock and support entrepreneurial talents across Jordan.
- Enhance the local youth-led organizations (YLOs), youth-serving organizations (YSOs), and youth groups to implement a positive youth development approach; advocate for economic, civic, and social development; and encourage youth-led initiatives.
- Implement an internship program with MoY to promote and support youth engagement in leadership positions in GOJ.
- Strengthen GOJ systems, including MoY, to provide more coordinated and effective services, practices, and policies that embody the principles of Positive Youth Development.
Overview of Activities
- Increase access to career planning and employability information by developing and launching a career counseling “My Future” Portal to improve the understanding that youth and their parents/caregivers have about their educational and career options in relation to actual labor market opportunities, change attitudes about decision making using the full spectrum of existing labor market opportunities, expand an entrepreneurial mindset, and counter gendered stereotypes about career options.
- Enhance youth entrepreneurial readiness by enriching entrepreneurial curriculum in the i2Z platform.
- Increase youth enterprises' access to funds and business mentorship by developing the Catalytic Innovation Fund (CIF), which will provide access to capital and mentorship opportunities to unlock and support entrepreneurial talents across Jordan.
- Build the capacity of YLOs, YSOs, and youth groups for civic engagement and advocacy.
- Enhance youth involvement in YGA decision-making, leadership, and management processes by establishing a steering committee with 50 percent youth.
- Implement a participatory approach to identify the most suitable practices to build youth leadership and civic engagement.
- Create opportunities for youth to access leadership and decision-making positions and organize a youth–led dialogue forum.
- Enhance MoY’s capacity to support youth leadership and encourage their active participation in decision-making processes and civic engagement by building the Leadership Internship Program.
- Enhance coordination and efficiency of the NYS development.
- Build the youth centers’ staff capacity to adopt the Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Model.
- Support MoY in mobilizing resources and innovative instruments that facilitate youth entrepreneurs, startups, and enterprises’ participation in the Entrepreneurship Competition.
The YES Model:
The Youth Empowerment Services (YES) Model cuts across all USAID objectives. YGA will work with MoY to transition the youth centers into YES centers. The transition will include integration of the seven core functional services:
- Career counseling “My Future” portal,
- Entrepreneurship readiness under “the i2Z Entrepreneurship” platform,
- Links to GOJ and private sector employment platform,
- Linkages with psychosocial support service providers,
- Connections to the National Youth Engagement and Volunteering Platform (Nahno) platform,
- Connection to global freelance and remote job opportunities, and
- Connections to YSO programs and initiatives.
The activity will also support the MoY's implementation of the entrepreneurship competition.
Expected Results
• Enhanced youth readiness for economic opportunities
• Enhanced youth leadership in community development
• Strengthened Government of Jordan youth support systems in partnership with youth
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