I have arrived in Amman two days ago, on June 7th, visiting this city for the first time. And an important first learning, Jordanian's friendliness and hospitality are not myths. From the first moments, every person I encountered has been incredibly friendly. People here will have you in their homes in no time, hosting you with legendary kindness and meals. Even though I spent the past 10 years of my life in North Africa, I realized I had never visited countries in the Middle East beyond Egypt. Amman is an incredibly vibrant city. Around 4 million people live in Amman, representing 42% of the total population. Jordan being one of the largest host country for refugees from the region, all communities coexist.
So, what am I doing here beside enjoying this dynamic city and its people’s friendliness? I will be here until September, 1st workin with the UNICEF’s ADAP team. More particularly, I will be assisting the team with reflections and documentations on policies and projects related to adolescents’ participation and youth civic engagement across the region. The topic is of particular importance in the region as 1 in 5 people in the MENA is an adolescent. This, combined with the highest unemployment rate in the world and the lowest labor force participation rate, it makes for a time-sensitive matter for policy makers and development workers in the region. In many countries conflict, violence and climate change are aggravating factors for the lack of inclusion. In an upcoming post, I will dig deeper into the figures related to the situation as well related to the demographic transition happening in the region. While here, I am hoping to get a broader understanding of the situation in the Middle East as my previous work was mostly in North Africa. I also hope to learn about how an organization as large as the UNICEF designs, monitors and evaluates programs. as well as supports country offices It’s an exciting opportunity for me to be working on this topic in Jordan in particular as an important number of initiatives have been or are currently being developed by both civil society and the authorities given the important proportion of youth, as well as because of its similarity to my home country Tunisia in terms of demographics and economic development.
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