Crown Prince urges comprehensive strategy to support youth
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Al Hussein bin Abdullah II on Tuesday called for developing a comprehensive strategy to support youth, and implementing it according to specific timelines.
During a visit to the Ministry of Youth, Crown Prince Al Hussein stressed the importance of offering innovative development and training programmes at youth centres around the Kingdom, urging a performance assessment within two months.
His Royal Highness also affirmed the importance of a true public-private partnership to support youth initiatives, empowering young people and pushing them to innovate and harness their energies, while also enabling them to play their part in Jordan’s comprehensive development process.
During the visit, the Crown Prince was briefed by Youth Minister Hadithah Khreisha on work to prepare a national youth strategy for the period 2018-2025, expected to be ready before the end of the year.
Khreisha added that advisory and technical committees from the ministry’s partners in other ministries, the local community, and the concerned institutions, have been formed to help in drawing up the strategy.
Young people have also been engaged in formulating the strategy, the minister noted, citing the distribution of 60,000 targeted questionnaires to those between the ages of 12 and 18, and the ages of 19 and 30 to identify their needs and aspirations.
Entrepreneurship and skill development were among these segments’ main demands, Khreisha noted.
The minister said young people are proud of the messages conveyed in the speech His Royal Highness delivered while deputising for His Majesty King Abdullah at the UN General Assembly in New York.
The speech expressed young people’s aspirations for a better future, Khreisha added.
In the briefing, the minister also outlined the programmes and activities conducted by the ministry and its affiliated youth centres, as well as efforts to develop them further, in order to hone young people’s cognitive and vocational skills, tap into their potential, and encourage them to actively participate in political life.
He highlighted the Ministry of Youth’s efforts to build youth capacities and promote innovation and entrepreneurship, in addition to volunteerism, through workshops and training programmes held in cooperation with civil society institutions and international organisations.
The briefing also touched on the ministry’s programmes to safeguard young people against extremism, violence, and drugs, as well as activities to increase their engagement in public life.
In addition, the briefing covered educational courses offered by youth centres around the Kingdom in computer science, mathematics, English, art, music, theatre, and sports.
