Jordan news

Community Welcoming a New Opening of the Al-‘Ataa Centre in Mousdar

(October 2009)

The Al-‘Ataa Centre for Training and Social Development got an enthusiastic response among the community members in its opening day in a new location in East Amman.

Loud Arabic music and a group from Hamleys Mecca Street Shop for ‘Finest Toys in the World’ providing face paintings for the children’s faces was an attraction in Mousdar on Saturday the 24th. For most of these children it was the very first time that they had their faces painted, this caused much excitement and the children’s faces were not only painted but shining with delight.

Dani Huhtamäki, a 24 years old Finnish trainee of social and youth work, performed break dance and rap music for the audience, and some local boys who had skills for that, joined him.

This all made up a successful Open Day. Many people from the neighborhood came and welcomed the new Centre after they saw almost thirty rooms prepared for activities either free of charge or with only some nominal fees.

One elderly lady came and thanked God that the great variety of activities such as training courses in IT, English language, and vocational skills are now available for the people living in the area.

Besides training courses, the centre offers health checks and health counseling. Parents can come and let the doctor check their children’s health and get advice how to care them well.

While training courses are available for adults and youth from 16 years age, free-time playing activities are arranged to girls’ and boys’ groups in different ages from 6 to 15.

After it was registered by the Ministry of Social Development, the centre worked in Jabal Amman for two years but the new location offers easier and cheaper access for Jordanians, Iraqis and any other people from non-privileged areas, who want to improve their skills and make their life better.

The Al-‘Ataa Centre for Training and Social Development is a project supported by Fida International Development Cooperation Agency in Jordan.

The restoration process is progressing in the MOAB-village

(December 2008)

Since 2005 Fida International Development Cooperation Agency in Jordan has been cooperating with The Association of Humud´s People for Restoration of Historical and Cultural Heritage (later the Humud NGO) supporting them in planning, marketing and social development. Fida International has assisted the Humud NGO in finding other partners for the restoration project of the MOAB village.  In the spring of 2008 the assistant professor Mrs. Rama Al-Rabady Ph.D. from the Hashemite University of Jordan contacted the Humud NGO to show the university’s interest in architectural and international networking matters as well as supporting the Humud NGO in planning and forming a good administrative structure for the MOAB-village project. 

Also the assistant professor from Texas Tech University Mrs. Rima Al-Ajlouni Ph.D. showed her interest as she visited the site at the end of July 2008 with Dr. Rama Al-Rabady. They were pleased with the idea of upholding old traditions and heritage of the recent history of Jordan and the Middle-East. Having an NGO as a backing organization instead of a private company is a positive factor. It enables the whole community to benefit from the proceeds of the project. 

The universities are considering documenting the present situation of the village to be used as a base for further architectural planning in the MOAB-village during the coming year. Co-operating with these universities plays a significant role for a NGO, like the Humud NGO, in getting more publicity for their important work. Getting the architectural plan done is an important step towards beginning the actual restoration work.

For more information please contact: 
Mr. Haidar Hallasa
e-mail, haidar.hallasa@moabvillage.com or 
Mr. Jouni Haverinen
e-mail, jouni.haverinen@fd-jordan.org

Cooperation has started with the Beni Hamida Women’s Society of Sirfa Village

(December 2008)

Fida International Development Agency in Jordan has started cooperation with The Beni Hamida women’s society in Sirfa village in Karak at the end of year 2007. The cooperation agreement was signed in July 2008. Fida’s role is to empower and support the people in the community to improve their living conditions by providing training, a microenterprise program and supporting the society in reactivating the spice refining factory etc.

Sirfa is one of the four villages in the Hamaydeh area of the Karak Governorate. It is located about 130 km from Amman and has approx. 5000 people living in it. The Beni Hamida women’s society has been established since 2004. The society has specialized in refining spices but during these last months it has planned to expand into growing mushrooms and making home gardens, which includes water recycling. This way they would be able to provide most of the raw material from their own gardens. The society has employed tens of women in the Hamaydeh area over the past years, when there have been resources available. 

Fida International has the Karak Community Development Team working in the village. The team has been building good relations with the leaders and the ladies of the society. The team work along with the society in studying different kinds of possibilities to improve income among women in the village. The Karak community development team will train the women in the society about community development in its wider aspects in the coming months.

Out from Poverty through Improved Life Management

New Community Development Centre opened in Jabal Amman

(September 2007)

Fida International Development Cooperation Agency in Jordan has started a new community development centre in Jabal Amman. The centre implements the holistic concept of poverty reduction focusing on long-term process of the poor themselves reaching new capabilities, strengthening their life management skills and eventually finding the way out of poverty.

The official opening of the Al-´Ataa Centre for Training & Social Development was done on the eleventh of September 2007 by H.E. Vice Minister of Social Development, Dr. Hussein Abu Al-Ruz. The opening celebration was also attended by H.E. Ambassador of Finland Mr. Pertti Harvola as well as Mr. Leo Olasvirta, the Head of the Unit for NGOs at the Department for Development Policy of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland. Fida International headquarters was represented by Development Programme Director, Mr. Olli Pitkanen.

The centre offers several kinds of vocational training and skills development courses with symbolic prices. Every course aims to give important knowledge and capacities, which have positive impact on the coping strategies of the vulnerable families. This empowering process is supported by family-based social work and health awareness campaigns. (See more information about the centre in “activities” section of this web page).

Environmental Awareness Raised in Karak

(April 2007)

One of the several training courses Fida Development Cooperation Agency in Jordan has recently arranged concerned environmental issues.

The team of the Association of Humud´s people for Restoration of Historical and Cultural Heritage (see more details in “Activities” section) attended the sessions, which demonstrated practical methods in order to protect and care for the nature in everyday life. For example our way of consuming water and electricity directly affects the nature.

The participants of the environmental training received a challenge to start applying at least one action to protect the nature at a personal level. A popular method of doing this was to begin to recycle domestic waste. This is a simple but effective way to reduce negative impacts on the local environment.

The awareness and assessment of the environmental issues are crucial also in the restoration project of the Humud village. Environmental considerations need to be taken into account already at the planning stage in order to avoid harmful effects on the surrounding environment.

Supporting the local society in Al-Khaldyeah

(July 2006)

Fida International development co-operation office in Jordan signed a project agreement with the Al-Khaldyeah society on the 2nd of July 2006. The aim of the project is to renovate badly dilapidated interior of the Al-Khaldyeah centre. The project will focus the renovation of the interior of the kindergarten and nursery and it will provide clean and safe environment for the children to play and grow when the project has been completed. The kindergarten and nursery serve about 40 children from the village and area, and it provides employment for 13 employees.�

Al-Khaldyeah village is located about 150 km south from Amman in the Karak governorate. The society has been established in 1971. Besides kindergarten and nursery the society owns class for ICDL-lessons and MOAB-centre for the disabled children for ages 6-20. About nine thousand inhabitants live in the sphere of influence of the society.

Several trainings about Community Development arranged by Fida development office in Jordan

(June 2005)

Since the opening of the office in January several training courses and workshops have been arranged. A good amount of attendants have had positive experiences about training using very participatory style and encouraging them to think and implement new ideas in community development work.
It has been realized in several studies and evaluations that training is a strategic activity for reaching the goal of empowering local NGOs to do active development work with Jordanian communities in need.

During the first part of year 2005 Fida´s development co-operation unit has arranged several training courses and workshops about Sustainable Community Development for Jordanians coming from different areas and representing local NGOs. Some 60 persons have benefited from training sessions and are now trying to apply the new ideas and tools in practise. Attendants gave very positive feedback about the participatory and nice style of learning in which the trainers are facilitators helping the trainees to produce the knowledge about key issues of the development process.

Fida development office opened in Amman

(January 2005)

Fida celebrated recently an opening of a development co-operation office in Amman with partners and invited guests. The office is used as a working base for the local Fida team and has facilities for small-scale training seminars and workshops.

The official opening of Fida Development Co-operation office in Joran took place on the 11th  of January 2004 . It was a great pleasure to celebrate this important step with our partners and invited guests. Among them was the delegate of the Jordanian Ministry of Social Development, led by the Director of Community Development Department Mrs. Nisreen Najdawi, H.E. the Ambassador of Finland Mr. Antti Koistinen from Damascus and Honorary Consul of Finland to Jordan, Dr. Rakan Rsheidat.

In his opening speech the Ambassador Koistinen underlined the positive relationship with Finland and Jordan bearing fruit e.g. in the development of Aqaba area through a joint fertilizer factory. As Mr. Koistinen referred Fida is now adding a direct civil society dimension for the Jordanian-Finnish relationships.

Mrs. Najdawi concentrated on the variety of ongoing activities in social development. The director of Fida development co-operation, Mr. Harri Hakola informed the attendants about the general vision, strategic principles in Fida´s development work, which recently celebrated its 30 years´ anniversary. Fida´s ongoing activities in the Middle East were introduced by representatives of the Gaza Community Development Program and the program empowering local NGOs in Egypt for the comprehensive development work.

The opening was also celebrated in another meeting with Jordanian friends. The new office is located in the area of Telaa Al Ali in Amman. It is used as a working base for the local Fida development team and as a facility for small-scale training seminars and workshops.

Fida development co-operation strengthening in the Middle East through registering a branch in Jordan

(November 2004)

Fida signed a co-operation agreement with the government of Jordan represented by the Ministry of Social Development on October 28, 2004. Through opening the branch in Jordan Fida aims to participate in the active social development process going on in the kingdom.

As first Finnish development agency registered in Jordan, Fida wishes to pave the way to increasing mutual cooperation between Jordanian and Finnish civil societies. The vision in Jordan is to support an indigenous development in the country through community based development program focusing on education, health and sanitation and general capacity building of rural communities. The target communities will be chosen from among the most   needy groups in rural areas in Jordan, especially concentrating on Bedouins.

During recent years Fida has gained more experience about Arab world by carrying out development activities in countries like Morocco, Egypt and Palestinian territories. Establishing a new branch in Jordan Fida will avail its services and experiences for the benefit of Jordanian people as well. By doing so Fida also aims to strengthen its own capacity to work with special development challenges of the area, such as poverty reduction and job creation through micro projects. The same kind of registration process has already been completed in Egypt.