Where is the youth?

Very interesting news came from the UAE last week: a new cadre of ministers was appointed, all of them young.

The recipe is simple, or at least not complicated.

There is no need for new laws, new initiatives or fund-windows. All that is needed is to hire young people as decision makers and trust in them.

In Jordan, it is complicated.

Although everyone talks about the importance of empowering youth and immediately comes up with the most popular percentage in the world: 70 per cent of Jordan’s population is made up of youth. Everyone wants to help the youth, believes in youth, but no one trusts them enough to give them authority and responsibility.

As a young person, I suggest support for official youth institutes, such as the Higher Council for Youth.

These institutes’ image has to be polished. The Higher Council for Youth needs to be reinvented and new blood brought in; most importantly, it has to be headed by a young person.

The council should apply scientific innovative programmes that reflect the needs of the community and can keep up with competitive economies and societies worldwide.

The American ambassador to Jordan recently established a youth council that meets with her once every two months to advise and consult. Our prime minister has yet to do so.

Last month, the oldest local NGO in the country, the Jordan Hashemite Fund for Human Development, also took a very brave and smart decision by appointing three young deputies to the executive director, all qualified to deal with the youth problems.

We need to urgently review all the steps taken over the past 10 years to support the youth and ask ourselves why they have not worked.

Then, all the people who were in charge of that very important mission should be held to account.

Hazem Tarawneh,
Amman